Podcasts about Mayberry

Host: Allan NewsomeRunning time: 0:48:40 The Clubmen was the 42nd episode filmed and the 42nd aired of The Andy Griffith Show. (S2.E10) We’ll play Mayberry trivia all about The Clubmen. Plot Summary The Clubmen: One of Andy’s big-city fishing buddies invites him to join the Esquire Club, an exclusive Raleigh men’s organization. Barney is also […]

Host: Allan NewsomeRunning time: 1:17:27 You are in for a treat this episode as we’ll be hearing/seeing the entire interview with “Opie’s Pals” Keith Thibodeaux (Johnny Paul) and Dennis Rush (Howie) from April 12, 2025. Keith and Dennis we’re interviewed once on Friday and then again on Saturday in Granville, TN at the Mayberry – […]

Send us a textJack Mayberry, Cash Levy, and Steve Bruner are seasoned stand-up comedians who each bring a unique perspective to the comedy stage. Jack Mayberry, with his charming Texas drawl, cleverly weaves in serious topics like religion and drug use, turning them into humorous narratives that resonate with audiences nationwide. Cash Levy, celebrated for his dynamic improvisational style, excels in engaging audiences directly, creating a lively atmosphere full of laughter and memorable moments. Steve Bruner, with his sharp observational humor, transforms everyday experiences into comedic gems, captivating audiences through his witty takes on mundane situations, such as unusual foods and hotel quirks.(00:00:22) "Unique Humor Styles of Top Comedians"(00:05:21) "Heavenly Humor: Jack Mayberry's Religious Comedy"(00:16:58) "Steve Bruner's Hilarious Everyday Observations"(00:23:02) Steve Bruner's Comedic Take on Hotel Rules(00:25:09) "Tag Team Talent: Comedy and Beyond"Check out NEW Video Podcast: "Tag Team Talent Podcast" on Spotify & YouTubeSupport the show www.StandupComedyPodcastNetwork.com Free APP on all Apple & Android phones....check it out, podcast, jokes, blogs, and More!"NEW" Video Podcast: Tag Team Talent Podcast on Spotify & YouTube My suggestions for stuff I purchase on Amazon, Ck them out! Ice tea: https://amzn.to/4miicDu Portable Mics: https://amzn.to/3Faqix2 RODE Recording Board: https://amzn.to/3YIpEO2 Apple Watch: https://amzn.to/4kiZIRu Please Write a Review: in-depth walk-through for leaving a review.Interested in Standup Comedy? Check out my books on Amazon..."20 Questions Answered about Being a Standup Comic""Be a Standup Comic...or just look like one"

Host: Allan NewsomeRunning time: 0:49:14 Aunt Bee’s Brief Encounter was the 38th episode filmed and the 41st aired of The Andy Griffith Show. (S2.E9) We’ll play Mayberry trivia all about “Aunt Bee’s Brief Encounter.” Plot Summary Aunt Bee’s Brief Encounter: Aunt Bee falls for traveling handyman Henry Wheeler. Andy soon realizes Wheeler is not as […]

Taleya Mayberry was inducted into the TU Hall of Fame on April 26th, and here is her induction speechSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Host: Allan NewsomeRunning time: 0:43:07 The Perfect Female was the 37th episode filmed and the 40th aired of The Andy Griffith Show. (S2.E8) We’ll play Mayberry trivia all about “The Perfect Female.” Plot Summary The Perfect Female: Once again a feminist theme is brought to the fore when Thelma Lou arranges a blind date between […]

Okay a lot of weird stuff happened to Marty before and during this episode and we're going to talk about it a lot. But you'll be thanking us because it's a lot better than talking about Andy Griffith Show season 6 episodes 10 and 11, "Aunt Bee on TV" and "The Cannon."If you like this, leave a rating and review or visit our Patreon or email us at breakingmayberry@gmail.com.

Send us a textPhil Nawrocki joins us for our second Nightcap with the Noras! Listen in as he takes us on a journey from Chicago loft living to becoming a central figure in the Western Springs community. What makes this conversation fascinating is Phil's natural path to local governance. After sending a hopeful email to the village caucus, he was told to "become president of your subdivision first"—a challenge he embraced wholeheartedly. Soon he was walking every street in Ridgewood documenting potholes and transforming neighborhood social gatherings. His hands-on approach demonstrates how accessible small-town governance can be when residents roll up their sleeves.The episode takes a delightful turn when Phil reveals the origin story of Western Springs' famous "Penguin House"—an inherited tradition featuring 80 illuminated penguins that his family arranges in themed displays each Christmas season. From boxing rings to red carpets, these creative scenes have become a beloved community attraction created with the help of his four children. Equally charming is the tale of his wife Amanda's legendary jello shots color-matched to team uniforms at their children's sporting events.Beyond the entertaining anecdotes lies a thoughtful exploration of what makes communities thrive. Phil describes Western Springs as "Mayberry-like," where neighbors know each other, stop to chat on sidewalks, and even knock on the village trustee's door with concerns. It's a refreshing reminder that meaningful connections still form the backbone of truly special places to live.Have you witnessed how small acts of community involvement can transform a neighborhood? What traditions have you started that bring people together? Listen, reflect, and perhaps be inspired to take that first step toward deeper community engagement wherever you call home.Mike Haggerty Buick GMCRight on the corner, right on the price! Head down to 93rd & Cicero & tell them the Noras sent you!Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Host: Allan NewsomeRunning time: 0:50:57 Crime-free Mayberry was the 41st episode filmed and the 39th aired of The Andy Griffith Show. (S2.E7) We’ll play Mayberry trivia all about “Crime-free Mayberry.” Plot Summary Crime-free Mayberry: Two crooks posing as an FBI man and a photographer come to Mayberry to congratulate the Sheriff’s Department for achieving a […]

Host: Allan NewsomeRunning time: 0:41:41 Opie’s Hobo Friend was the 40th episode filmed and the 38th aired of The Andy Griffith Show. (S2.E6) We’ll play Mayberry trivia all about “Opie’s Hobo Friend.” Plot Summary Opie’s Hobo Friend: Opie becomes fascinated with David Browne, a vagrant hobo who uses his wits to live on the edge […]

In this powerful episode of The Truth In This Art, join host Rob Lee for an insightful conversation with Chad Helton, President and CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore's renowned public library system. Explore Chad Helton's transformative vision and dynamic leadership, diving deep into the future of the Enoch Pratt Free Library and discussing its vital role as a cornerstone of the Baltimore community.Chad Helton, a collaborative leader who believes no single person holds all the answers, shares his strategies for enhanced community engagement, the library's unwavering commitment to equitable access to information and resources, and the power of innovative library programs to transform lives. We also discuss the challenges and triumphs of leading a vital community anchor and the importance of creating a 21st-century library system that serves all of Baltimore's residents.Eager to learn more about Chad Helton's journey, from his Mayberry-esque small-town roots to leading one of Baltimore's most beloved institutions, and discover how his dedication to addressing diverse community needs is shaping the future of the Enoch Pratt Free Library? Listen now to this episode of The Truth In This Art! Host: Rob LeeMusic: Original music by Daniel Alexis Music with additional music from Chipzard and TeTresSeis. Production:Produced by Rob Lee & Daniel AlexisEdited by Daniel AlexisShow Notes courtesy of Rob Lee and TransistorPhotos:Rob Lee photos by Vicente Martin for The Truth In This Art and Contrarian Aquarian Media.Guest photos courtesy of the guest, unless otherwise noted.Support the podcast The Truth In This Art Podcast Fractured Atlas (Fundraising): https://www.fracturedatlas.orgThe Truth In This Art Podcast Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thetruthinthisart.bsky.socialThe Truth In This Art Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truthinthisart/?hl=enThe Truth In This Art Podcast Website: https://www.thetruthinthisart.com/The Truth In This Art Podcast Shop: Merch from Redbubble ★ Support this podcast ★

Don and Tom dive into how to properly build a diversified portfolio, using a listener question about Paul Merriman's “Four Fund Portfolio” as a launch point. They explore the essentials of asset allocation, including U.S. vs. international exposure, large vs. small cap, and value vs. growth, while comparing Merriman's approach to models from DFA and Avantis. Along the way, they bust myths around Social Security, early retirement, and the tax implications of tweaking existing portfolios. As always, a few detours into Mayberry and Chick-fil-A make the ride more entertaining. 0:04 Listener questions fuel today's deep dive into proper portfolio design 0:50 The basic building blocks: stocks and bonds, plus deeper diversification 1:57 Financial literacy fail: is a stock or a mutual fund safer? 2:43 Listener question: what about Paul Merriman's “Four Fund Portfolio”? 4:01 U.S. large vs. small, value vs. blend—and why emerging markets matter 6:50 Paul's long-term results: 12.1% annualized since 1970 with higher volatility 8:07 Comparing allocations: DFAW, AVGE, and how Apella does it 9:13 Which funds to use for large cap value, small cap value, and more 11:38 Rebalancing: the hard part most investors ignore 13:10 Summary: yes, Merriman's model works—and it's easier than you think 14:13 Retired at 34 with $30M—why early retirees still face emotional challenges 16:15 Social Security and early retirement: COLAs vs. your top 35 earning years 18:10 Listener with $500K in STAR fund: worth selling and buying AVGE? 19:36 Actively managed STAR fund isn't horrible, but there are better options 21:04 Can I use my Roth IRA for future family needs? (Short answer: probably not) 23:26 Mayberry trivia, candy, and the correct answer to Angela's Roth question 24:21 Final thoughts, calls for spoken questions, and the exhaustion post-RetireMeet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host: Allan NewsomeRunning time: 0:40:10 Barney on the Rebound was the 36th episode filmed and the 37th aired of The Andy Griffith Show. (S2.E5) We’ll play Mayberry trivia all about “Barney on the Rebound.” Plot Summary Barney on the Rebound: Barney’s head is turned by lovely young newcomer Melissa Stevens, the more attractive half of […]

Host: Allan NewsomeRunning time: 0:34:22 Mayberry Goes Bankrupt was the 39th episode filmed and the 36th aired of The Andy Griffith Show. (S2.E4) We’ll play Mayberry trivia all about “Mayberry Goes Bankrupt.” Plot Summary Mayberry Goes Bankrupt: Andy teaches Mayberry exactly what “Love Thy Neighbor” means in this episode. Andy is forced to evict Frank […]

The Pastords chat about a Patrick Mayberry song...and a few sports tidbits.

Host: Allan NewsomeRunning time: 0:32:22 Andy and the Woman Speeder was the 35th episode filmed and the 35th aired of The Andy Griffith Show. (S2.E3) We’ll play Mayberry trivia all about “Andy and the Woman Speeder.” Plot Summary Andy and the Woman Speeder: Andy arrests beautiful big-city woman Elizabeth Crowley. By the time she reaches […]

Dan and Marty take a little break from the doldrums of Mayberry with the classic(?) action movie TimeCop, starring our favorite cokehead gymnast Jean-Claude Van Damme. Dan remembers a repressed shame, we talk JCVDs terrible acting, and we fantasize about using time travel very irresponsibly. 

Host: Allan NewsomeRunning time: 0:35:39 Barney’s Replacement was the 33rd episode filmed but the 34th aired of The Andy Griffith Show. (S2.E2) We’ll play Mayberry trivia all about “Barney’s Replacement.” Plot Summary Barney’s Replacement: Barney’s pride gets the best of him when Bob Rogers, a book smart rookie from the state attorney’s office, is sent […]

Send us a textTwo great standup comics...Jack Mayberry and Jay Leno share some very funny comedy material, recorded live on stage. Jack talks about getting lost and traveling with his Grandpa, and Jay shares some funny material about flying...so sort of a "Travel" episode...Ha!Jack Mayberry and Jay Leno are two stand-up comedians who have made significant contributions to the world of comedy with their distinct styles and perspectives. Jack Mayberry, hailing from Lubbock, Texas, is known for his storytelling and observational humor that often incorporates personal anecdotes and social commentary, engaging audiences with topics like politics and the absurdity of capital punishment. In contrast, Jay Leno, with over four decades of experience, has charmed audiences with his witty takes on everyday life and current events, gaining fame as the host of The Tonight Show and for his collaboration with R. Scott Edwards on stage shows. Together, Mayberry's dark humor and social insights combined with Leno's classic wit and observational comedy create a dynamic and engaging experience for comedy fans, each offering their unique lens on the world around us.Please Listen, Laugh, and Share!(00:01:35) Navigational Misadventures with Jack Mayberry(00:03:46) "Granddad's Driveway Reminiscences: A Family Comedy"(00:09:03) Southern Charm vs Quick Wit: Stand-up Duos(00:14:53) "Jay Leno's Comedic Take on Marketing"Support the showStandup Comedy Podcast Network.co www.StandupComedyPodcastNetwork.comFree APP on all Apple & Android phones....check it out, podcast, jokes, blogs, and More!For short-form standup comedy sets, listen to: "Comedy Appeteasers" , available on all platforms.New YouTube site: https://www.youtube.com/@standupcomedyyourhostandmc/videosVideos of comics live on stage from back in the day.Please Write a Review: in-depth walk-through for leaving a review.Interested in Standup Comedy? Check out my books on Amazon..."20 Questions Answered about Being a Standup Comic""Be a Standup Comic...or just look like one"

Darnell Mayberry loves when the Bulls drive Bernstein crazy full 804 Fri, 07 Mar 2025 21:09:53 +0000 rdLNmZ8NayDoaQszOhb43rhxWfPQg1xM nba,chicago bulls,sports Bernstein & Harris Show nba,chicago bulls,sports Darnell Mayberry loves when the Bulls drive Bernstein crazy Dan Bernstein and Marshall Harris bring you fun, smart and compelling Chicago sports talk with great listener interaction. The show features discussion of the Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs and White Sox as well as the biggest sports headlines beyond Chicago. Leila Rahimi joins the show as a co-host on Wednesdays. Recurring guests include Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards, Pro Football Talk founder Mike Florio, Cubs outfielder Ian Happ and Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer. Catch the show live Monday through Friday (10 a.m.- 2 p.m. CT) on 670 The Score, the exclusive audio home of the Cubs and the Bulls, or on the Audacy app. © 2024 Audacy, Inc. Sports False https://player.amperwavepodcasting.com?feed-link=https%3A%2F%2Frss.amperwave.net%2Fv2

In this episode of Trap Talk, we sit down with Brad Mayberry, the Trap & Skeet Manager at the World Shooting Complex in Sparta, IL—home of the Grand American!

Host: Allan NewsomeRunning time: 0:30:28 We finished up season one episodes of The Andy Griffith Show (TAGS) last week and I received a question/topic idea from Eric Self. He thought it would be interesting to go over the commercials filmed during the original run of the series featuring the characters from TAGS. I thought it […]

Filmmaker and author David Dylan Thomas stops by the Mayberry studios to talk about 2024's I Saw The TV Glow, a movie that's about the horrors and freedoms of nostalgia but also about trans/queer stuff and also maybe about a short-lived McDonald's Ad Campaign.Support Dave's Kickstarter for "White Meat: Appetizer": https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/daviddylanthomas/white-meat-appetizerListen to the White Meat Podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-white-meat-podcast--6272000Listen to Kill James Bond: https://www.killjamesbond.com/If you like this, leave a rating and review or visit our Patreon or email us at breakingmayberry@gmail.com.

Host: Allan NewsomeRunning time: 0:39:37 Bringing Up Opie was the 32nd episode filmed and the 32nd aired of The Andy Griffith Show. (S1.E32) Plot Summary Bringing Up Opie: Opie is banned from the friendly confines of the Mayberry courthouse when Aunt Bee decides it is not an atmosphere conducive to the proper upbringing of a […]

Darnell Mayberry talks Bulls' missed opportunities at NBA trade deadline full 1033 Thu, 13 Feb 2025 21:11:16 +0000 xARlmvxKllz6ZOaO2ftEy9icjIZsjwRw nba,chicago bulls,sports Bernstein & Harris Show nba,chicago bulls,sports Darnell Mayberry talks Bulls' missed opportunities at NBA trade deadline Dan Bernstein and Marshall Harris bring you fun, smart and compelling Chicago sports talk with great listener interaction. The show features discussion of the Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs and White Sox as well as the biggest sports headlines beyond Chicago. Leila Rahimi joins the show as a co-host on Wednesdays. Recurring guests include Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards, Pro Football Talk founder Mike Florio, Cubs outfielder Ian Happ and Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer. Catch the show live Monday through Friday (10 a.m.- 2 p.m. CT) on 670 The Score, the exclusive audio home of the Cubs and the Bulls, or on the Audacy app. © 2024 Audacy, Inc. Sports False https://player.amperwavepodcasting.com?feed-link=https%3A%2F%2Frss.amperwave.net%2Fv

Darnell Mayberry talks Bulls' missed opportunities at NBA trade deadline (Hour 4) full 2344 Thu, 13 Feb 2025 21:15:45 +0000 R7rwB3Ti72RhbSpoQK3RajzllUh7Zs1F sports Bernstein & Harris Show sports Darnell Mayberry talks Bulls' missed opportunities at NBA trade deadline (Hour 4) Dan Bernstein and Marshall Harris bring you fun, smart and compelling Chicago sports talk with great listener interaction. The show features discussion of the Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs and White Sox as well as the biggest sports headlines beyond Chicago. Leila Rahimi joins the show as a co-host on Wednesdays. Recurring guests include Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards, Pro Football Talk founder Mike Florio, Cubs outfielder Ian Happ and Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer. Catch the show live Monday through Friday (10 a.m.- 2 p.m. CT) on 670 The Score, the exclusive audio home of the Cubs and the Bulls, or on the Audacy app. © 2024 Audacy, Inc. Sports False https://player.amperwavepodcasting.com?feed-link=https%3A%2F%2Frss.amperwave.net%2F

On Episode #10 of Tedi Talks, Tedi welcomes back special guest Kimara Mayberry, Founder & Principal Consultant at Platinum Consulting Group, located in Southeast Michigan.  Tedi, true to fashion, kicks of this episode with some stats he found on the Googler, which leads to a fascinating conversation on Gaslighting. Kimara explains what Gaslighting is and how damaging this can be, both personally and professionally, to those who experience it (especially members of a marginalized group).  Kimara shares with us what Code Switching is why this is necessary for a lot of people to use to survive in the workplace.  Kimara explains what Psychological Safety is and why we need to make sure to maintain this.  Another great conversation with another amazing professional.  You can learn more about Kimara at:Kimara Mayberry, Founder & Principal ConsultantPlatinum Consulting GroupFacebook:  https://www.facebook.com/platinumcgllc LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimara-mayberry-mba-phr-shrm-cp-chaa-52a4a213/Email: platinumhrconsulting@gmail.comResources:March of Dimes of Metro DetroitMiDEC Diversity Education Series, Session #1 (2/19/2025)Combating Gaslighting in the Workplace (Article: 6/30/2020)Episode Sponsor:2b Inclusive LLC (Website)The opinions and statements made on the Tedi Talks Podcast are/or do not necessarily reflect those of the Tedi Talks Podcast or Tedi Parsons. To learn more, please visit: https://tediparsons.com/tedi-talksThe music used for this podcast was provided by: afterparty-review-by-sascha-ende-from-filmmusic-io. https://filmmusic.io/standard-license. License (CC BY 4.0):

Darnell Mayberry talks Bulls trade of Zach LaVine, who could be moved next full 803 Mon, 03 Feb 2025 19:45:06 +0000 8EXdQ0dd1BPfs4V1unZQcT3092YztOf7 nba,chicago bulls,sports Bernstein & Harris Show nba,chicago bulls,sports Darnell Mayberry talks Bulls trade of Zach LaVine, who could be moved next Dan Bernstein and Marshall Harris bring you fun, smart and compelling Chicago sports talk with great listener interaction. The show features discussion of the Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs and White Sox as well as the biggest sports headlines beyond Chicago. Leila Rahimi joins the show as a co-host on Wednesdays. Recurring guests include Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards, Pro Football Talk founder Mike Florio, Cubs outfielder Ian Happ and Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer. Catch the show live Monday through Friday (10 a.m.- 2 p.m. CT) on 670 The Score, the exclusive audio home of the Cubs and the Bulls, or on the Audacy app. © 2024 Audacy, Inc. Sports False https://player.amperwavepodcasting.com?feed-link=https%3A%2F%2Frss.amperwave.net%2F

‘The Full Go' returns as Jason welcomes The Ringer's Wosny Lambre to the podcast. The two chat about the NBA's lack of interesting characters and why interest has waned. The two also chat about Zach LaVine's trade value, what the Bulls should be looking to recoup in a trade, and the direction of the Bulls before diving into the Jimmy Butler trade drama. Next, Jason welcomes The Athletic's Darnell Mayberry to the pod. The two discuss what the Bulls will do at the trade deadline, how the team is handling the trade drama, and Coby White's leadership and value.The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit http://www.rg-help.com/www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available.Host: Jason Goff Guest: Wosny Lambre and Darnell Mayberry Producer: Kyle Williams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of the Limitless Podcast, Dr. Matthew Preston and Dr. Thaon Simms dive into the fascinating world of Jamaica Broilers Group (JBG). From its vertically integrated chicken empire to its ambitious US expansion plans, we analyze what makes JBG a standout company on the Jamaica Stock Exchange.

Host: Allan NewsomeRunning time: 0:40:39 As the new year begins, I have been reflecting that there are many folks out there that love The Andy Griffith Show but may not be in the graduate studies program. They are “First Years” in that they enjoy watching the episodes but may not know all the things students […]

Host: Allan NewsomeRunning time: 1:01:50 You may be asking who’s “little Miss Mayberry?” Well, on the Cruise to Mayberry 2023 our special guest was Joy Ellison and she played several characters on The Andy Griffith Show with one of them being “Mary Wiggins” who was Miss Mayberry Jr. where Floyd sang to her in the […]

Louise Mayberry joins the podcast to read from her latest release, THE SONG OF THE MAGPIE, set in early industrial-age Australia. She discuss the nuances of blending historical fiction with romance, the complexities of redemption stories, and the challenges of writing characters with realistic flaws. Louise also talks about her research process and the inspiration behind her captivating tales. Subscribe and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for more great content and author interviews!   00:00 Introduction to the Historical Romance Sampler 00:34 Meet Louise Mayberry 01:30 The Song of the Magpie Excerpt 15:39 Interview with Louise Mayberry 27:46 Love It or Leave It Game 30:35 Conclusion and Where to Find Louise's Books Find out more about Louise Mayberry at https://louisemayberry.com/   HRS is an affiliate of Libro.fm! Sign up for a new monthly membership and get three audiobooks for the price of one with code HISTORICAL! (As an affiliate, HRS may earn a portion of your purchase, for which we thank you!) Sign up here: https://tidd.ly/3WrMY0w   Find out more about your host Katherine Grant: Instagram (@katherine_grant_romance) TikTok (@katherinegrantromance) Facebook (@Katherinegrantromanceauthor) Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19872840.Katherine_Grant) Bookbub (https://www.bookbub.com/authors/katherine-grant)   Follow HRS on social media! TikTok (@historicalromancesampler) Instagram (@historicalromancesampler)

Along with her first two team members (who are still with the team today), Treasure Davis built the #1 real estate team in Colorado Springs - a team of 15 agents who closed more than 400 units last year.More than 20 years into the business and more than a dozen years into building the team, Treasure reflects on the people, processes, and technology that allowed her to persevere and thrive in various market conditions. The amount of grit required just to start this journey makes it all the more impressive and wonderful. Treasure also shares insights into working with developers and builders, including the story of two years of follow-up that led to ground-up work on what will be a community (and city!) of more than 2,500 people.We recorded this conversation in person at Unlock 2024 at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Throughout, you'll hear themes of honesty, integrity, authentic connection, and thoughtful reflection.Watch or listen to this conversation with Treasure Davis for insights into:- Developing market resilience for yourself and your team through adaptability, flexibility, and relationship-building- Doing things you don't want to do and that few people will … because there's no database- Getting your team agents to achieve success faster than they could as solo agents- Starting a team nearly by accident but from the common position of having too much opportunity to handle yourself- Weighing the pros and cons of making your name the team's name- Reflecting on the people, processes, and technology behind a high-performing team (including a 226-item task list that's 20 years in the making)- Getting involved with developers and builders on new construction projects- Following up for two years to create the opportunity to develop the marketing, sales, and product strategies behind a new communityAt the end, get lessons on coaching and practicing before performing, celebrating the journey over the destination, getting out for summer sports, and getting out of your local bubble.Treasure Davis:- https://www.instagram.com/treasuredavisrealtor/- https://www.facebook.com/treasure.davis.5- https://www.treasuredavis.com/- https://www.tiktok.com/@treasuredavisteamReal Estate Team OS:- https://www.realestateteamos.com- https://linktr.ee/realestateteamos- https://www.instagram.com/realestateteamos/

For the new year, I want to tackle some of the questions that have been piling up in my inbox, starting with how to deal with neighbors who aren't very neighborly. Listen in for four tips on getting through to the people who live nearby. Show Notes VERSES CITED: - Matthew 5:14  - “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”   - Proverbs 27:10 – “...Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away.” - Matthew 22:36-39 - "... You shall love your neighbor as yourself." RELATED LINKS:  - 25 Ways to Be a Good Neighbor -  a blog post I wrote several years ago - On Loving Your Neighbor - more about our move into the Mayberry-ish neighborhood - Love Your Neighbor Coloring Page - hand-drawn design featuring Mark 12:31 - Good Neighbor Conversation Starters - to prompt good family discussions on this topic - The Gospel Comes with a House Key - book by Rosaria Butterfield - Loving My Actual Neighbor - book by Alexandra Kuykendall   STAY CONNECTED: - Subscribe: Flanders Family Freebies -(weekly themed link lists of free resources) - Instagram: follow @flanders_family for more great content - Shop my books: Flanders Family Store - Family Blog: Flanders Family Home Life (parenting tips, homeschool help, lots of free printables!)  - Marriage Blog: Loving Life at Home  (encouragement in your roles as wife, mother, believer)  

We're back in Mayberry for season 6 and the vibes are OFF for reals. Everyone's really tense and awkward and somehow Goober is the highlight. It's a really low point friends. But on the other hand, Marty gets to use a joke he's been holding onto for a while.It's Season 6, Episode 1 "Opie's Job" and Episode 2 "Andy's Rival"If you like this, leave a rating and review or visit our Patreon or email us at breakingmayberry@gmail.com

Allen County, Kansas is not a place most people will be familiar with, but the story is one you've probably heard before. Located in southeast Kansas, an hour and a half from the nearest major city, it features much that's typical of rural America. Iola, the county seat, is a city of 5,300 people. It has a classic town square and lies at the junction of a couple of state highways. The beautiful Flint Hills and its majestic cattle ranches are not far away.But after the community lost its hospital in the early 2000s, the usual questions emerge - is Iola, and the whole county on the verge of permanent decline?Out of this tragic circumstance was born Thrive Allen County Jared Wheeler, their Economic Development Director, joins me to talk about the path that Iola, Humboldt and the whole county have taken since that time. And, the remarkable successes they've achieved. Humboldt, for example, was featured in 2024's “15 Best Small Towns to Visit” in Smithsonian Magazine.You might not know much, or even care much, about rural Kansas. But I think you'll still find this to be an inspiring conversation and story. Jared and I cover a lot of ground, talking about rural community development, place-making, a culture of experimentation, and even bike paths.Find more content on The Messy City on Kevin's Substack page.Music notes: all songs by low standards, ca. 2010. Videos here. If you'd like a CD for low standards, message me and you can have one for only $5.Intro: “Why Be Friends”Outro: “Fairweather Friend”Text Transcript:Kevin Klinkenberg (00:01.158)Welcome back to the Messy City Podcast. This is Kevin Klinkenberg joined in studio today by a special guest from Central, what did you call it? Central Kansas? Southeast Kansas. Southeast Kansas, yeah. Southeast Kansas, all right. Well, shout out to my buddy Jason Carter-Solomon who hooked us up. He said, you know, just was out in Iowa, Kansas and I met this guy doing really cool stuff and it's like, you've got to talk to him.And it sounded intriguing and here we are. So welcome to the show for Jared Wheeler. You got it. Jared Wheeler. I am economic development director for a nonprofit in Southeast Kansas called Thrive Allen County. So I'm thrilled to be to be here today. Well, it should be a lot of fun. I have I've been through the area a little bit, have not stopped in Humboldt, which I know is like the big.tourist draw now. Right, right. Who would have thought that a community of 2,500 people would be in the Smithsonian magazine, New York Times, all these national publications saying you got, you have to come check this place out. Yeah. So why don't we start a little bit by just talking about, first of all, what thrive Allen County is, and how you came to be a part of it. So thrive Allen County.was initiated when the hospital in Iola, Kansas was closing. And as part of the agreement, anytime a hospital closed at that point, the idea that assets would be sold and then the money put it into the, with the intention of creating a 501c3 nonprofit, specifically dedicated towards public health initiatives. So Thrive Allen County was born out of really a crisis. So it's kind of birth from a crucible.the hospital in a small town closes. If you speak rural life fluently at all, that is a recurring theme that the hospital in town closes and you are left with some amalgamation of clinics or some specialty shops or just a general practice with limited beds, no overnight stays, that sort of thing. So the hospital closes, thrive, Allen County is born.Kevin Klinkenberg (02:20.988)And its initial mandate is to improve the community health. Just to interrupt for just a sec. So give people perspective. How big is Iowa? Yeah. Iowa, Kansas is about 5,200 people. Relatively small. It's the county seat of Allen County, Kansas. The next largest community is humble of 2,500 people. So the entire county's population is 12,000. Right. So for those of you who are in urban context, you are.probably struggling to imagine that sort of lack of population density, population scarcity. It's funny. It reminds me. So I went to high school in a small town in central Missouri. That was about 12,000 people. Okay. But when I hear you say, you know, Iowa is 5,200, it just reminds me that like when you're in a smaller town, like the hundreds matter. my. Saying 5,200 versus like 5,600, that's like a big deal. Right. It's the same way, you know,parents of young children still measure their kids age in months. It's like, is it about 27 months? It's the same situation for those of us who are doing our best work in rural communities, like 5,200. Because if I say, it's about 5,000 people, somebody out there is listening going, my graduating class was 5,000 people. That makes no sense. So Thrive, that's our context in which we work. And for the last,17 years Thrive has existed to enrich the health of citizens in Allen County. And that was initially in specifically related to physical health. So we have healthcare navigators that try and make sure that as many people as possible are insured. We operate vaccination clinics throughout the county, especially in even more rural and remote context. And thenabout halfway through the lifespan of Thrive, economic development was added. And economic development is really pursued from the perspective of community health. What is going to be a source of good, benevolent disruption? That's my approach constantly is what is going to disrupt the systems that are in place that contribute to the lack of health?Kevin Klinkenberg (04:45.788)for our community members through economic development. So that's my role and I am part of, technically I'm a one man department, but we all work together at Thrive and with our partners, both public and private partners in the communities. So how big is the organization overall? We have just under 30 employees right now. Yeah, and so we're fortunate in that some of those employees are in a transition period because we operate Allen Regional Transit.which is a public transportation organization in a rural context, which I know some of y'all out there are picturing like covered wagons. That's not exactly what's going on. But so we operate a public transit organization. And then we also have within our organization, the seed of another nonprofit that will probably spin off called Thrive Kansas, which is working for the same sort of rural community health goals.that we do in Allen County, but is trying to create statewide networks to do that. And how did you, are you from the area? Man, my rural bona fides are legit. I am, I am from a town of 500 people originally called Thayer, Kansas and in the same region, Southeast Kansas again, born and raised there. And really, so you have to remember I grew up in the nineties, early two thousands. So my experience of the wider world.was purely through pop culture. We didn't go anywhere. I was as hasty as they come. I knew what sushi was. did not eat. I had not had a bite of sushi until probably when I was on my honeymoon. And my cousin and I had a wonderful time. I'm just kidding. And so that's my baseline understanding of the world. But then I...I lived and worked in churches and schools after that. Did my grad school in Portland, Oregon. And so I did intensive weeks out there. So I was spending time in Portland in the Pacific Northwest for a couple of weeks at a time for four or five semesters. And so I've experienced a lot of different contexts. And then we moved back to Southeast Kansas, my wife and family and I from Kansas City actually. And so we lived up here.Kevin Klinkenberg (07:12.294)and then moved back about nine years ago with the choice to locate our family in a rural context. that's my route towards economic or community development is incredibly circuitous. And I really, I've found that that was a point of embarrassment for me initially when I took the job, because I just thought, everybody knows this stuff better than I do. And now I'm learning more and more about our conversation off mic before that.You were in architecture school before you got into community development. And I think that's, that is true for so many people that the reason they end up in community development, economic development, especially in a rural context is because they love the place. They love the place. They are invested in it and they have lived it. And again, bear the burden of what could be, or they have lived it and they are so quintessentially formed by it.that they believe other people should benefit from that formation as well. And the same is true for me in both directions. So, really the only experience I have with your area has been driving back and forth between Kansas City and Tulsa, which is kind of like the most direct route, really. Maybe not the fastest route, it's hard to say, but it's more interesting anyway, a little more scenic.been through Iowa. don't think I actually have driven through Humboldt yet. Humboldt, as you mentioned, has been a place that's gotten a lot of attention in recent years and it's kind of on the radar for, you know, like glamping and for cycling and everything else. Why don't you talk a little bit about like how and why has the area started to get the level of attention that you mentioned before?I think there's two categories I should speak to. The first is material and then maybe the second is going to sound a little weird, but it's mythological. So materially, one of the reasons that the area has gotten attention is because quite frankly, it's cost effective to develop and to try things in Allen County. The economic ecosystem in rural Kansas has typically been one of either extraction or exploitation historically.Kevin Klinkenberg (09:35.81)It is a wildcatting pioneering economy since my goodness, since the 19th century. And so the, industries that boomed the turn of the 20th century into the 19th century were extraction based businesses. Let's pull things as pull natural resources out. mean, my goodness, near Iola, Kansas, there is literally a city called gas and it is called gas because you, you made your bones.as part of a natural gas business there, that that's the way you made it so that the name stuck and in Humboldt and Iola there, there were massive, concrete businesses. there are these huge firms that, mined a mineral from that area and then use it to turn it into cement and concrete. So it's one that's still an operation monarch cement company in Humboldt, Kansas, butThat is the case. either you're pulling a resource from the landscape and when that is exhausted, you leave. And so that that also funnels into that exploitation idea. It's extraction or exploitation. So there's a sense amongst the folks who live and this may be true if you're a real person listening, you might be nodding along or you might want to fight me either way. WhereThere's an idea, the scarcity mindset that blends in that says, well, everybody who could have left did. Everyone who had the chance and the means and the capacity to leave when it was time to leave did, and we are what remains. I don't think that's accurate. I think that's sometimes, unfortunately, the way that small communities understand themselves. They either become bitterness factories or hope factories. That's very rarely.in a community that is somewhat remote and rural, is it in between those two extremes. You're either a community of hope or you're a community of bitterness. What could have been and what might be. So those are your two extremes. And I'd love to talk to people if they feel like they live in a community that exists right in the middle of those.Kevin Klinkenberg (11:51.238)So the first reason why the community, the area is getting more attention is because materially it's more cost effective to try something new there. That economic ecosystem of extraction or exploitation is given way to one of experiment. Let's try something new. And so there are people who are either coming back to the area or they are relocating from other parts of the country.because they have an idea that is impossible due to the cost constraints of where they live. I am assuming even for our folks who are listening in Kansas City, that if I started doing cost analysis comparison between opening a storefront business of some sort in Prairie Village compared to Iola, Kansas, you will not get the population density for traffic or tail lights, butfor your permit cost, you might be able to buy a building in Iola. So that's really at end of the day, it's more cost effective in our area just because things are cheaper. I don't mean to be crass, but that's what it comes down to. That's the material side. The second one, the one that I'm maybe even more interested in is the mythological side. Why are people so interested in that area? And I wanna ask this question as I hold this off in my head.How do you think people from non-rural contexts experience or how is their perception of the rural world formed by what pop cultural artifacts, so to speak? in the fifties and sixties, I would say it's probably Mayberry, you know, it's the Andy Griffith show. And what's the essence of the rural experience? Well, everybody knows you, you're not going to get away with anything because you'reyour mom's hairdresser's aunt saw you do that. And so they're going to report back. And then as it moves forward, what there's kind of this, it's dearth of pop cultural artifacts that have, kind of monolithic effect, except I believe there is now a new pop cultural phenomenon that everyone at least is aware of that is giving people a lens to look through.Kevin Klinkenberg (14:16.988)and see the rural context. And this is going to be absolutely ridiculous to most people, but stay with me. If you're familiar, if you, if you are familiar with the incredible pieces of art, they're known as hallmark movies. You have had a rural experience because those movies never take place in urban settings. Or if they do, it's only momentary because they're trying to escape it to getto the rural place in which you are going to fall in love, achieve your dreams and feel your stress melt away. And that's silly, it's ridiculous. But at the same time, I believe there is a, I think that is a very kitschy way of seizing on a groundswell ofCollective emotion right now where people are looking for something that is more simple. Our lives are incredibly hectic. We know they're hectic. We know that we are addicted to everything and anything. So how can I simplify? And then how can I take charge of my life and do what I want to do and have some agency? And with a little bit where your dollars go a little bit farther and maybe the pace of life slows down, people feel like they have a little bit more agency.And then finally, where can I still access some version of the American dream, whatever that is? And I think that is a piece of mythology that has been so twisted and turned, but there's, it's still baked in somewhere to us. And I think at the end of the day, part of that dream in a rural context is can I be known by people and can I know other people? I'm sure you are aware of thethe emphasis and the buzzwords of, you know, quality spaces, place making third spaces. mean, we are, we are addicted to those. And in a rural context, I think the perception is when you look through the lens of an artifact, like a hallmark movie, that the entire community is a third space because you're going to bump into the person you work with elsewhere. You're going to see someone.Kevin Klinkenberg (16:38.764)at one of the three restaurants in town that you saw yesterday crossing the street or so on and so forth. So I think that's one reason why the community has been so, or the area has been of interest is because mythologically, it provides an avenue towards some essential thing that we want out of living life in community that may be a little bit more difficult.in, if not an urban context, certainly a suburban context. So if I were to put a dot in Iowa and then draw like a circle 100 miles around it, there's an awful lot of small towns within that circle. Right. What has distinguished Iowa and Humboldt that you see more positiverebound and attraction than maybe some other towns that are within that context. One thing that has really helped so much are collectivist approach to problem solving. for example, my organization Thrive Island County, especially in the area of economic development, we would be completely inept and ineffective if we didn't haveclose and active partnerships with local government and local business leaders and confederations of industry leaders as well. So that's one of the first reasons that Iola Allen County has been successful is because it's taken a collectivist approach to problem solving without any sort of political machinations behind that, or sometimes even completely devoid ofpolitical ideology, just because, something needs to change. What do we do about it? Another reason is because folks who have been successful in Allen County have taken it upon themselves, even though there isn't a whole lot of philanthropic infrastructure, or they don't see philanthropic models that you might see in a larger community. you start a foundation, that foundation does this, this is the way in which you...Kevin Klinkenberg (18:59.088)you know, are able to recoup some of what you've given away through tax breaks and so on and so forth. That infrastructure doesn't really exist in Southeast Kansas and small communities, but successful individuals have taken it upon themselves to think critically about the complex issues that their communities face, identify the areas in which they can have an impact and aggressively pursue that impact. So, andI'll be somewhat discretionary simply because the individual in question is not a huge fan of publicity, but there's an individual, a family in Humboldt, Kansas, that at the time of the pandemic redirected a considerable amount of its workforce towards making community improvements as opposed to laying off workers at their industry. That's turned into almost a parabolic story.but it is exemplary of this individual and this company's approach to community improvement. And even without a model that said, is how you do this. There's no, there's not a Carnegie library in Humboldt, Kansas, even serving as a beacon of what philanthropy looks like. This individual became a quintessential philanthropist to solveproblems and it's in his small community again, because he loves it. And that example has had a profound impact throughout the region where there are more and more folks who have been successful and have realized that their success has resulted because someone else made a provision for them and they've turned around and said, okay.How do I address the complex issues? Not merely I'm gonna endow a scholarship, which by the way, we love that, keep doing that everyone, but we need new curb and gutters in the road. I bet I could do something with that. I bet I could have an effect in that direction. So we've been very beneficial through collectivist solution making and then also,Kevin Klinkenberg (21:19.676)the inspired philanthropy of successful folks. mean, that's so interesting. It kind of hits on a broader topic. know Aaron Wren on his podcast has he's talked about this as well. But like one of the real differences today versus in communities, say 100 years ago, is that 100 years ago, the bank in town was locally owned. Right. The department store was locally owned.Right. You know, most of the, and this is true in cities of towns of almost all sizes, that your local leadership class were people who owned prominent businesses in the town. Right. And that is something that has been lost in an awful lot of communities because of, you know, just changes in the economy and so muchSo much of a shift towards sort of larger corporate owned Businesses that then just have branches in places and you just never have the same buy-in right you're like if you're like the branch manager of a bank that's got 500 Locations right you're gonna have a different buy-in than if you're like the owner of the bank. Yeah and and the same goes for for a lot of industry so I think that's it's really interesting what you mentioned that you sort of start starting from a kernel of somebody who ownedan important business and lives in the town and says, just like you said, I'm not going to just do a scholarship fund, but I'm going to invest in things that make, improve quality of life where I am. Right. And I guess that's, as you were, as you were talking about that, I, I couldn't help but wonder, and I'll, I'll ask you directly if you, do you think a community can outsource its self identity? no. Okay. Okay. So, but that's, that's the tug.When so many things are operated or owned remotely is what happens is this, I really think an existential crisis for a community to go, then what are we and who are we? And if you don't have a thing to point to that provides an place of orientation for your community, it gets really hard to then invite people to invest in that community.Kevin Klinkenberg (23:44.63)And so I think that's, I think you're exactly right. That when, when that autonomy evaporates, then you do have a, identity crisis, so to speak. And so that's one thing that's been really interesting in both Iola and Humboldt is, you know, the businesses that are added, we have some community investment, groups and, some microloan groups andso on and so forth. The businesses that have been added are not, mean, there is no retailer that's saying we'd love to drop a branch in your town of 5,000 people. It doesn't make sense for them. So what's added is homegrown. It's local entrepreneurs who we claw to find capital for them and then they take a swing and we're fortunate in that. I sit on a board of what we call a entrepreneurial community.a lending group, micro loans. although, you know, to us, they're not micro to other folks. might be, we have over 25 loans on the book right now and 99.9 % of them are making their payments with regularity. And we have businesses that are crossing that year to five to year six, year six threshold, which is enormous for anybody in the entrepreneurial world. And we've just been fortunate because, there's nobody coming to rescue us.think that is, that is a shift in mindset for small communities. That's so important and it requires a bit of, I mean, you, have to be brutally honest with yourself that you, you need to empower the folks who are there to ask why not instead of why here. Yeah. AndIf something else comes along, if something locates itself in your community, that is an extra. But if you can empower the folks who are local to take a chance, then I think you're onto something that could be sustainable. Yeah. I wonder if you can talk a little bit more, maybe some specific examples of like the homegrown approach. The reason I ask that is I'm old enough to rememberKevin Klinkenberg (26:09.818)that the standard approach to rural economic development for a long, time was go plat an industrial park on the edge of town, put the infrastructure in, and try to attract what basically were like low wage industrial jobs from big companies. that's how you will save your community. what you're describing is a really different sort of a bottom up approach to working with people who are already there.I wonder if you could talk more about like some of the successes or some of the other couple of stories you can share. Absolutely. and we still do that. I mean, I, got, I got two industrial parks right now that are planning and ready to rock. So if you're out there listening and you, and you want to, know, you need a spot for your biofuel company, hit me up. Cause I am ready to talk. so we're not, we're not opposed to that approach. I just think that, charting that as the only course is, really risky.And to be honest, I don't know how much, how reliable it is. I think it's a part of a solution model. But so for example, we have a coffee shop in Iola, Kansas. Every community has got a coffee shop at this point. It doesn't matter how small you are. This coffee shop, shout out Wild Bloom Coffee in Iola. And this coffee shop got started as alower level commercial space on the square. Like every other cute coffee shop in a small town bought the bare minimum square footage that they could afford as just one half of a building, one half of the lower level of a building. And the coffee shop has been so successful and it's been able toapply for and receive grant funding. It's been able to benefit from a neighborhood revitalization program that's a tax rebate program when they made improvements to the space. It works considerably with our organization in small business coaching and in capital pursuit through our micro loan program. And this coffee shop has now purchased the entire building that they're in. They offerKevin Klinkenberg (28:29.468)kind of a subscription based bourbon taste in nights and cigar bar evenings. And they're going to expand to catering and they they serve brunch now. And in our little coffee shop in Southeast Kansas, the other day I had the best ramen I've had in years. we have, they're really talented folks who are owning and operating that shop, but it's been able to expand consistently.due to again, these collectivist approach because there's so many people, it's not only that they serve a great product, they do. It's not only that they provide a great customer experience, which they do, but it's also because they have been willing to not only want help, but ask for help. And that's an enormous difference. Wanting help is just the awareness that you need something. Asking for help is putting your hand in the air,I said, okay, I'm willing to reach out and grab whomever is going to help out, but I'm asking for it. And so that's an example that we've had in Iola. In Humboldt, Kansas, and I can take no credit for this, there's a group known as a Boulder Humboldt. And that is a confederation of business owners, entrepreneurs, movers and shakers who have added businesses throughout Humboldt. So the best...And from my money, the best little honky tonk in Kansas is the Hitching Post in Humboldt, Kansas. And they have live music every night, every weekend night, excuse me. Probably the most expansive collection of whiskeys that you could want or need. And it is an incredibly successful business and an incredibly successful gathering place. And again, was started.by an individual who moved to Humboldt who had connections with people who had multiple generations of their family within Humboldt. And they were able to continue to build that business and be patient as it was built. they live, to your point earlier, they live and work in the community. The gentleman who owns that business is a city council person in Humboldt, Kansas. And...Kevin Klinkenberg (30:48.88)is really devoted towards overall community health and community growth. those are, and those businesses are now moving beyond. So Hitching Post is moving towards, I think it's third year of operations. So kind of living past that initial start at birth. Wild Bloom, I believe is to year four and five in Iola. So we have some wonderful businesses that are outside of what people would expect in a small community.again, because there've been collectivist approach. So hitching posts exists because of the collective that is a bold or humble and humble. Wild Bloom exists because of multiple collective groups within Iola that were, had a vested interest in these success stories. So the one, I confess the one business I remember from going through Iola is I stopped at the butcher shop right off the highway, which was a pretty incredible operation.And I think at the time I was kind of thinking about, we're not very far from ranch country. I had a cooler with me. want to buy some steaks or whatever and take them home with me. And of course the selection was incredible. The prices were way better than when I get in the city. And it's pretty much like fresh off the ranch. Right. I mean, you might have driven by cattle that were lamenting that their buddy was gone and ended up in your cooler instead.Yeah. So one of the thing I definitely I know about the area is you have this north south bike trail. Yeah. That comes through that goes for, I don't know, 100 miles or something. Yeah. Is that the Prairie Spirit? Prairie Spirit Trail. Yeah. What impact has that had on the area? So one, we have a very high rate of folks who bike or walk to work. Comparatively, I just pulled that data.We are higher than the state average, I think almost twice as high as the state average and people that walk or bike to work. So to me, that signifies two things. is it's pedestrian or bike traffic is built into the community. think part of that is because of the trails. There's 60 miles of trail in Allen County alone.Kevin Klinkenberg (33:09.622)so that's around the, what will become the new state park, Lehigh Portland state park. That's going to be on the edge of Viola. let's say it was a lake that was publicly owned and privately owned and then was deeded over to the state of Kansas and, Kansas department of wildlife and parks is turning that into a new state park. So there's a lot of trails around that and people have access to those trails for a while. Thrive Island County, maintenance is those trails on behalf of KDWP right now.we have trails though, that also we, we think of in, in rural communities, you think of your trails as out somewhere out towards the woods. I mean, you're go ride around and walk around, but there's also dedicated trails in Iola, that go to the hospital. spoiler alert, we did get a new hospital. I started the story talking about the, this, closing of the hospital, new hospitals added, to the elementary school, a new elementary school and to the high school, middle school, and also to around.Not to, we're working on getting trails all through the main thoroughfares in town, but there's also trails around Allen Community College in Iowa as well. So we are addicted to trail building and maintenance because we have a population that in many respects is income challenged. And an automobile, even though to most of us is an automatic purchase to a lot of our neighbors and friends, it's a luxury.And so if you do not have an automobile, but you need to get to work or you need to make your appointment or you need to get to school, you need to have a safe way to do so. And so I think that that trail system is. It's part of a wider, pedestrian and bike travel understanding and folks in our community are not embarrassed to do so. And it's because there's not.There's not the income stratification that exists. I mean, in some communities, if you see someone that is riding their bike to work, there's three categories either, they're, they're a granola type that just wants to show us that they're more fit and better than the rest of us. They are too poor to purchase a vehicle or they get a DUI and they can't drive right now. I mean, that is the truth in, our community because the, because of the prevalence of the trail system.Kevin Klinkenberg (35:35.002)If someone is walking or biking to work, it's really hard to codify them. I wonder if they fall into this category or that category just because it's the norm. So we're very fortunate that those trails exist and they do. It also affects, as you mentioned, the glamping outdoors, outdoor recreation, infrastructure and commercialization that exists in our area. That's very helpful. So again, in Humboldt, there is a camping, kayaking,and BMX riding facility known as Base Camp. And it is located at a trailhead. And so you can jump off Prairie Spirit or Southwind Trail. You can go into Base Camp. The, again, the state park is full of trails and also on Prairie Spirit and connect to Southwind Trails as well. Yeah. And then if you ride it far enough, you'll connect to the Flint Hills Trail. Yeah, exactly. Which is.over a hundred miles East West trail. Right. Exactly. My wife and I have ridden a few times. Okay. Cool. Yeah. we, we, one of our favorite events of the years, we go to the symphony and the foothills. Yeah. which is, I almost hate to talk about it because I don't want, I don't want it to become too popular. You don't want people to show up. Yeah. I really don't want people from the coast flying in and, and, making this, you know, too expensive, but my God, it's an incredible thing. Right.just one of the coolest events that we do on a regular basis with where the Kansas City Symphony goes out onto a active cattle ranch in the Flint Hills and performs a concert. But we've made a habit of going and writing a different section of the Flint Hills Trail every year, which is really a fun experience as well. But haven't done the Prairie Spirit, so I'm...Interested to do that. You absolutely should. mean, we, we talked to cyclists who do the same thing, who are connected using the Prairie Spirit to get to the Flint Hills. We're doing a major ride and they're always impressed with the quality of the trails. the Prairie, I, I can only say I only ride or have ridden a portion of it. so, and if you happen to see me riding, can, you can, guess a, is it.Kevin Klinkenberg (37:46.192)Poverty is a DUI or is it granola? one? What's the reason? But no, we're very fortunate that that trail system exists and fortunate that we are the custodians of that trail system. And that's one thing that I would say to, if you're in a rural context and you're just trying to think of something that you could add that would improve quality of life, would be a quality of life amenity, which by the way is an absolute necessity now.That's reason people are choosing to locate themselves in different places. Obviously housing matters, obviously childcare matters, obviously the possibility of earning a comfortable income matters. But if those three things are satisfied, they're making decisions about where to land based on, you know, is there a quality of life, amenity that I can connect myself with? You have, you have space and you have dirt. You are almost there. You are almost to the, to having a trail.or a system of trails in your community on the edge of your community. Please, please talk to Thrive Allen County. We have a lot of experience of doing trail work. We have blown it and messed it up in different places so we can help you avoid those problems as well. But that is a way in which you can activate your community and you can also contribute to the overall health of your community as well. So I want to talk a little bit more about the place making aspect of this.Like I mentioned before, went to high school in a small town in central Missouri and before that I did first through eighth grade in a small town in southern Minnesota.things that were memories that really stick out for me was, know, if you live in a small community and you're a kid, like riding a bike is a normal thing. Yeah. And I used to ride my bike everywhere. And it was accepted. It was normalized. It was easy to do and safe. There's very little traffic on most of the streets. But as soon as you hit 16 years old, like it is theKevin Klinkenberg (39:54.78)uncoolest thing in the world. You've got to have a car. You've got to be cruising around. there, one of the things that has really interested me that I've tried to, I've tried to articulate, I haven't done a great job of it, but I've thought a lot about, which is most small towns are absolutely natural places for the sort of walking, biking lifestyle that.quote unquote urbanists talk about all the time. it's actually, they were built for that originally. But it also bumps up against like the, there's a culture aspect, which seems to not embrace that in most small towns. And I experienced that. I still see it all the time. And I've often thought like really, I guess maybe I want your reaction to this. One of the things I've thought is thatone of the best economic development approaches for a lot of small towns is to be the antithesis of the big city and the big city, people think of it as urban with all this cool stuff to do. But the reality is most people are spending a ton of time in a car, getting from place to place, commute, whether not just commuting, but going shopping, kids activities, et cetera. Looking for a parking spot. Looking for a parking spot. but in a small town,those, it almost ought to be like, that's the place where you could really sell this idea of a lifestyle where you get on your bike and get to a lot of places. You could walk to the town square and that should be a real competitive advantage. wonder if you could, you think that's. Yeah. So why does that not happen? No, I think that's a, I think that is such an insightful question. and one that we struggle with a lot. so I want to, I want to tackle it in a couple of different ways.One is back to the mythology. What's a marker of success? Marker of success is to be able to have your preferred automobile and typically multiple automobiles. And that doesn't end just because you're in a small town. People still want to virtue or virility signal with their automobiles. And because of the work and the terrain in which people live in small towns in rural Kansas, automobiles are typically bigger. Automobiles are bigger anywhere.Kevin Klinkenberg (42:13.868)Always constantly. that again, back to the American dream model, excess is our love language as a culture. so at the same way you got, you have a lot of big vehicles and we need, we're going to signal that we're doing well via this big vehicle, especially if you struggle with multi-generational poverty. Here's a purchase you can make that is a signal that does not require the type of overhead as a home.So I'm going to buy this vehicle. It's going to show everyone that I'm doing okay. The only way to show everyone that is to use said vehicle until I can't make the payments on it anymore. that's not a, that's not a purely rural experience, but it's one that shows up a lot, especially in socioeconomically, depressed areas. Yeah. Here's my $50,000, vehicle in front of my $40,000 house. Sure. Sure. yeah. So that, that, that occurs a lot. There's still,There's still status signaling through via vehicles. That's the first one. Second one is it costs communities more to provide the infrastructure necessary for safe pedestrian and bicycle traffic. If you have X amount of dollars in your county budget or in your city budget to build roads and it's going to take, you know, 5 % more to add a bike lane.to change the width of your sidewalks and you have to decide either we do the project without those things or we don't do the project at all because everyone is clamoring for those things. In most cases, they're going to choose to add the infrastructure without these dedicated spaces. Part of my organization's efforts is to educate communities that you can do that in a cost effective way. You can add those things in a way that's cost effective. So,I think we're moving the needle in that direction. I think that that's still a big issue. we have some, so there's some cultural status signaling. We have some infrastructure cost challenges there. And then also the antithesis of the big city idea is very interesting because typically when people see adults riding their bikes, if you are from a rural community,Kevin Klinkenberg (44:34.576)You only see that when you go to larger communities. I remember having, again, I did grad school in Portland and Portland is an incredibly bike friendly community. If you talk to people who drive in Portland, who do not also cycle there, they lament how bike friendly it is. But if you are a person traveling in a large city, from a rural context to a large city, you see for the first time.city infrastructure that has bike lanes, has bike crossing, pedestrian cross, a lot more foot traffic, a lot more bike traffic. And it can be really alarming to your sensibility of what it is to get from place A to place B. And so, man, did we have a scare, I almost hit that person on a bike. Do I really want to deal with that back home? In a place where you're sharing literal traffic lanes as opposed to driving next to a bike lane.so on and so forth. So I think you're right. think there there is a sense in which, you do want to be the antithesis of the big city. But where you say that and you go, so make yourself more walk walkable and bikeable. There are folks in smaller towns who go, yeah, man, there's a lot of cyclists in that big city that I that I visited. And it was really difficult to navigate. I think that's shifting. We're very fortunate in that even in our town of five thousand people, there are folks who are interested in.making a transition from predominantly using their vehicle, their automobile to get around to using their bike or just walking again, twice as high as the state average of folks who getting to work that way. So I think we're seeing that, that shift. And I think that is a selling point for why we're inviting people to spend time in our area or consider moving to our area. Because if that is a lifestyle change you would like to make or that you've already embraced, thenThere's probably a way in which you can get everywhere you need to go in Iola or Humboldt or elsewhere in Allen County on your bike or on your own two feet.Kevin Klinkenberg (46:38.566)Another thing that has been really interesting the last few years, in the wake of COVID and all of the policies and changes that happened, there's been an awful lot written and talked about in regards to like people moving. People leaving cities, looking for smaller towns. Sometimes they're leaving the city and moving to the suburbs. Sometimes they're maybe moving from the suburbs to a small town or an exurb.And obviously, I don't need to rehash all of that, but there's been a lot of conversation about that for the last few years. And it feels a little bit like there's been a shift in perception in the culture about small town living in a positive way. What have you noticed the last four or five years? First, a little bit of a, I don't want to dampen that.that exuberance for small town living. But I think the data is starting to show us that people dip their toe into rural life and then they have went back to the cities or to the suburbs or so on and so forth. But in some cases, that's that's true. Just people have chosen a city, a new city, and they've left. So Austin's a great example. Austin boomed post pandemic and now their vacancy rate in particular apartments, condos, things like that.is astronomical because people are like, well, this was cool. And now I'm ready to go back to where my job is or where I lived previously. And so I think that's happening. The shuffling of the deck is resettling itself, so to speak. I do think you're right that there is a more positive perception of rural living than there used to be. I think it's because COVID taught us that everything could be truly remote.And if you can survive and maybe even thrive, and you talk to some folks and the best years of their life, with all due respect to people who lost loved ones during COVID or struggled with that, or still dealing with the health effects following COVID, there are some people who will tell you that COVID changed my life. I was at home with my family. I was taking more, more direct self-care. I was making efforts toKevin Klinkenberg (49:00.964)identify some things in my character that I want to change. It changed my life. So being remote was a positive. And so I think, what if I did that geographically as well? What if I did that socially as well? And I located myself in someplace a little more remote. Would that also be advantageous to me? And I think COVID also reminded us of the power of knowing people and being known by people.I think that is probably the primary reason in which people are choosing, if they're not business owners or entrepreneurs, people are choosing to live in smaller communities or move to smaller communities, even if the numbers aren't as great as they were immediately post-COVID, because they see an opportunity to be known by their neighbors and to know their neighbors. Because when that was taken away from us, for so many of us,that was relationally cataclysmic. And it made us, it gave us all, but it also gave us time to go, okay, how well do I really know the folks that I'm not seeing anymore? And does that bother me that I don't know them? And could I know them better? And I think in a rural context, there's still that capacity to know the people that live on your street and to really interact with them. And not that it's impossible.in an ex-urban or suburban or urban context, but it might be a little less immediate than it is in a rural context. Yeah, it kind of reminds me of the joke that the best thing about living in a small town is everybody knows everybody. The worst thing about living in a small town is everybody knows everybody. For sure. That's absolutely true. I think maybe COVID reminded us though.The worst thing isn't as bad as the best thing could be good. doubt. What are, what are some of the things that your communities need to get better at? like what, if you were to chart a positive course or continue the improvement, what, what do you need to do better? What are you trying to work on now? So one thing we need to do is accentuate a positive that I mentioned earlier, more firm and reliable collective approaches to problem solving.Kevin Klinkenberg (51:22.138)So that's one thing. A second thing that we need to get better at is our anchor institutions need to position themselves as irrepressible agencies for good. So, for example, our school districts, our community college in Iowa, Kansas, and then the city governments and county governments, they need to, we need to work together to see ourselves as innovation agents.and benevolent disruptors as opposed to status quo maintenance agencies. And again, I think that's applicable in most rural contexts and probably applicable in a lot of community contexts, because again, you are either moving towards becoming a hope factory or bitterness factory and status quo will lead you to bitterness because those who don't achieve it will become in bitter that they didn't achieve it.or those that you're trying to force feed it to as the end result of their life will wonder why you didn't chart a more hopeful course for them. So we need our anchor organizations to see themselves as agencies of good and do so without shame. And I think that is obviously a difficult thing to map out or reverse engineer, but what it requiresis leadership that is constantly in pursuit of not utilitarianism or what works, but what is going to have the best long term effect on the quality of life of the people that work for the organization or that the organization serves. those are two things that I would say even more collective approaches to problem solving. So housing is a great example.Everybody's struggling with housing right now, whether you're in an urban context or a rural context. And the old ways of solving that, just, you know, here's a here's a platable era, you know, several plaits, plaited land that the city owns. And we want a developer to come in and you can build a subdivision. And we're going to give you these tax breaks. We're going to incentivize this in so many different ways. I think that's still maybe possible in certain contexts and rural contexts. It's just not possible.Kevin Klinkenberg (53:44.828)One, because the city typically doesn't own that much land. And two, a developer then has to say, can I, what are the margins going to be? Because I'm going to have to bring a crew down here. I'm going to get supplies down here. Are there already contractors down here? There's already people. There's master craftsmen and so on and so forth. But there's not a contractor and there's not a readily available crew. So, for example, the state of Kansas right now, the Department of Commerce has offered the frame grant.that is going to give capital to community colleges that have a building trades program, construction program to help identify the gap in the housing ecosystem and address it. And I think things like that, ideas like that are going to be so important moving forward because they're going to be necessary for everyone to get on the same page. In Humboldt, Kansas, the most reliable developer, with the exception of maybe in the past year,was the school district. High school built one house every two years or so. And it was a guaranteed reliable development. One house in Kansas City, who no one will notice, in a community of 2,500 people, a new house is, I guarantee you, is the talk of the town. So I think that is something that's going to be necessary is that we continue to embrace and expect collective solutions.collaborative solutions to complex problems. And then that our anchor agencies, and this could even include our anchor institutions and maybe even our industrial partners, see themselves with a responsibility to be benevolent disruptors.One thing kind of as part of that conversation, I might be reading a little bit into this, but I certainly know from my experience that oftentimes in rural communities, there is more of an acceptance of just status quo. It is what it is. I don't mean to say this like an insulting way to anybody, but.Kevin Klinkenberg (55:58.22)not necessarily a push for excellence or striving. Maybe the better way to say it is not as much striving to achieve. And I think part of that's because it's more comfortable and easy to live in a smaller town, costs are less, et cetera, et cetera. In a big city, you find a lot more people who really striving for something. Is that an aspect at all of kind of like, as you think aboutthe next phases are achieving more in your county? No. I'll elaborate. No, if you don't, if you don't believe that striving for excellence is part of the rural expectation, you have not been to a county fair. So if you go to a county fair and see the effort that people put into things that will neverbe recognized outside of a three day event and the sweltering heat at the end of July in rural Kansas, then I don't know what to you. if it's speak with, communicate with folks who are trying to grow the best stand of wheat that they have in their life every year, speak with people who aredo not care about commodity prices, but are proud of the way that they're being fields look, or the person that is growing the best beef you've ever eaten in your life. and I think that pursuit of excellence is still there. I understand what you're saying that, and I think the, what you're, what you're actually articulating is something that's present in rural communities, which is the reluctance to be disruptive. I don't, I don't want.to in any way rock the boat because rocking the boat will, could potentially bring shame on myself. And they still on the honor and shame, social economy and small towns is still very real because most people are multiple or are part of a multiple generation. you know, family tree it's been in that area. So my gosh, if you mess up, then the shame that bring on your family.Kevin Klinkenberg (58:21.628)it moves up and down that family tree. It's not isolated to just yourself. If you are an entrepreneur in Atlanta and you have no connection to the community, you just landed there, and you try a business and it flops, but then you're able to go somewhere else. There's no shame involved in that. You, you are.a pioneer. You are, you know, you're an entrepreneur and everyone is going to be impressed by you because you had a great big idea that just didn't work. And here's 18 reasons it didn't work that you had no control over. If you're an entrepreneur in Iowa, Kansas and your business flops and you still have to live in that community and everybody's going to ask your aunt when she goes to church on Sunday, well, you know.We saw that he started that your, your nephew started that auto body place. Is this, is it still open? Didn't seem like there were many cars there. Didn't seem, didn't seem like he's doing, is he doing okay? he's, they had to close. that's terrible. And your aunt's the one who has to answer that question for you. And so I think, I don't think it's a reluctance to pursue excellence. I think it is a fear that they will somehow.do something that will be shameful. Interesting. And I think that that's very real. And that burden of failure sits heavy in a rural community. failure in a rural community historically is very obvious. It is driving by a field that is fallow. It is driving by a farmhouse that's in disrepair.because there's not money to take care of it. So it is so much louder than it can be in other places. Interesting. I appreciate that. last thing I wanted to ask about, as I've looked before at coming to Humboldt in particular, I was really impressed by just the amount of activity that is programmed in the town on a regular basis.Kevin Klinkenberg (01:00:33.979)That's something that most small towns don't do much of. I wonder if you could speak to a little bit. So like, I always think about that, like in a community there's hardware and there's software and that's like the software side and talk a little bit about what Humboldt has been doing and what that has meant for the overall success of the place. And the credit again goes toward Boulder Humboldt, that group, and then also theirCity Administrator Cole Herder, shout out Cole Herder. Listen, if you want to know what it is to be a good City Administrator in a small town, which is part PR Director, part Public Works Director, part Ombudsman and Accountant and everything else, Cole Herder and Humble Matt Rader in Iowa, those are dues that you need to put on your radar and have a coffee with.In Humboldt, that software analogy is so perfect because that directly connects to their sense of self. And so all of these events take place. For example, they brought back an event called Water Wars in the summer in which the municipal fire department is involved and it's a part parade, part massive citywide water balloon fight, part public water sports.events on the town square. And there is, it is pure frivolity, but they have embraced it because it is a spectacle of joy for the community. And in that capacity as a spectacle of joy, it ceases to be frivolous because again, if you are driving or trying to move your community toa becoming a hope factory, you need spectacles of joy. You need reasons that people can revel in the fact that they live in that place, because so often we are told as rural people, it's a shame you live there. Gosh, wouldn't it be great if you just moved somewhere else? So these spectacles of joy in which people can fully embrace, my gosh, I'm so proud or even because we don't have to defend it.Kevin Klinkenberg (01:02:54.96)And that's typically what a small town person is told they have to do. Defend why you want, why do you live there? No, I'm just going to be happy that I'm here right now. Iola just had their Christmas block party on the square in which, you know, Santa visited and kids played games and the businesses served hot chocolate. And it's, mean, it's, it is very Hallmark movie. By the way, one of the, one of the largesttown squares in Kansas. So come and visit if town squares are your thing. First of all, you and I probably aren't going to hang out at parties, but if that's what you love, come to the Iowa block party for Christmas and you will get a taste of Americana that you have been hankering for. But again, it's just a spectacle of joy and communities need those things.They need those spectacles of joy. And I think that's also to your point earlier about why people are choosing to locate themselves in rural communities, because they can do it in an unabashed way. They don't have to defend why they're doing it. doesn't have to be cool. It doesn't have to be on trend. It can just be a thing that's fun that you can revel in. And in in Humboldt and in Iowa, in Humboldt especially, there have been a group of folks who have sought to addto the community calendar, these spectacles of joy that have become a collective experience of hopefulness and celebration. And I don't know that you need to defend that. And I think we would probably all live in healthier communities if we engaged in those things without the need to qualify why they exist.Jared, I think that's a great place to wrap. Very, very, very interesting. This was a lot of fun. I think at some point down the road, I might like to have you on again and talk some more. There's probably four or five more questions that I still have in my head. I'd love to talk about. But this is super interesting. If people are trying to find you and find your communities, what's the best way to do it?Kevin Klinkenberg (01:05:09.084)ThriveAllenCounty.org. You can find out everything about the organization that I work for and you can connect with all of my colleagues there. You can email me at Jared, J-A-R-E-D at ThriveAllenCounty.org. And that's the best way to get in touch with me. I'm on LinkedIn because I'm trying to be a grownup right now. But other than that, I am willfully disengaged from social media.beyond that, for minutes, not because I'm a rural lead, but because I'm trying to protect my peace in that way. So shoot me an email, find my phone number on, on the internet. And I'd love, I'd love to talk to you. If you are rural and you want to argue with me about this stuff, please, if you are a person living in a different context and you want to chat more about this, I would love to do so. Fantastic. Jared, thanks so much.Good luck with everything and I'll definitely make a point to bring the family down and come visit one of these days. Sounds great. Thank you so much Kevin. Thanks Get full access to The Messy City at kevinklinkenberg.substack.com/subscribe

Hi everyone! Happy New Year! We hope that your week is going well. Today's episode focuses on exciting holiday games, Hannah's recent trip to Mayberry, and Jimmy Carter's life. Have a blessed day.

Host: Allan NewsomeRunning time: 0:16:35 This episode will be shorter than usual as I know we all have busy schedules around Christmas. I have a couple of special treats for you from my friend and fellow Mayberry fan, Russell Estes. Russell is a bestselling author and motivational speaker known for his Christian and inspirational books, […]

Host: Allan NewsomeRunning time: 0:54:13 It’s Christmas time once again here in Mayberry so it is time for the annual Christmas episode. The Andy Griffith Show had only one episode centered around any holiday and that holiday was Christmas. Fans have watched that episode time and again as Ben Weaver tries to get himself arrested […]

For this episode, TJ Mayberry joins the show! He is the driver of the #777 - 602 Sportsman and the owner of High Side Apparel out of Pennsylvania! Discussed: Climbing the rungs of the ladder to where he's at now in the 602 Sportsman series. Where did the idea for High Side Apparel come about? 2024 racing season and results. Heavy on Grandview Speedway Future goals for racing and apparel PA Speedweek, Western PA Speedweek, Eastern Storm, and more! Favorite establishments out his way: Buckeye Tavern, JT Bankers, Philly Philly Where you can find High Side Apparel? Highsideapparel.shop , Facebook, Instagram. Check it out for shirts, coozies, stickers! (Ends around 50:00 minute mark) We also have a loaded Stoking the Fire segment, stop for a cup of coffee in the Feature finish and a loaded The Smoke segment. Starting here: Stoking the Fire FAST on Dirt & BOSS sprints join POWERi sanctioning More schedule releases. Anything stand out? Louie Vermeil Classic returns in August to Calistoga Speedway Jake Swanson going full time with USAC National in the #5T The Dome recap Mr. Smooth back for a big racing slate in 2025 Chili Bowl A main shortened to 40 laps Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 has been sold ISW opens at IMS next July Gateway Dirt Nationals purse increase and other changes coming in 2025 Is there a new WoO Late Model title sponsor? Social media of the week(s) "The Draft" (Ends around 1:41:00 minute mark) Feature Finish Gateway Dirt Nationals @ The Dome Jr. Knepper 55 @ DuQuoin XR 604 Late Model Nationals @ All-Tech Raceway (Ends around 1:44:00 mark) The Smoke Charlie changes it up and visits Wendy's Chicken pot pie annihilation Bubba's 33 cheesesteak & garlic knots Twisted Tomato, and Fazoli's Ikea cafeteria Wolfies wings

Bruce Suffern, owner of Banbury Fair, joins Lisa Dent to talk about Bartlett. Resident and business owner in Bartlett for 41 years, Suffren talks fondly of the community and likens it to Mayberry, a community where everybody knows your name.

Host: Allan NewsomeRunning time: 0:34:48 The Inspector was the 26th episode filmed and the 26th aired of The Andy Griffith Show. (S1.E26) Plot Summary The Inspector: The state inspector visits the Mayberry jail to check on police procedures and is horrified at the lackadaisical approaches he finds. After threats to remove Andy from office, he […]

Patrick Mayberry joins Loop Community Founder Matt McCoy to talk about his latest music, tips for worship leaders and more! The post Ep. 171 – Patrick Mayberry: What To Do When You Feel Stuck first appeared on WorshipFuel.

Host: Allan NewsomeRunning time: 0:36:37 A Plaque for Mayberry was the 25th episode filmed and the 25th aired of The Andy Griffith Show. (S1.E25) Plot Summary A Plaque for Mayberry: After discovering the descendant of a local Revolutionary War hero sought for a commendation by the Women’s Historical Society is none other than Otis Campbell, […]

Learn more about NetSuite Planning and Budgeting: https://tinyurl.com/bdhm7phf   In this special episode of the NetSuite Podcast focusing on the CFO's agenda for 2025, cohost Megan O'Brien sits down with Jess Wijesekera, SVP of Global Accounting at Vytalize Health, a leading value-based care platform. They start the episode by discussing Jess' background and what brought her to her current role [1:55]. Jess then delves into Vytalize Health and its exponential growth over the last several years [6:26]. Megan and Jess discuss technology and talent issues [15:49]. They end the podcast episode by covering Vytalize Health's priorities for 2025 [31:52].   Follow Us Here:   Vytalize Health: https://www.vytalizehealth.com/   Jess Wijesekera LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-wijesekera-7290196/   Oracle NetSuite LinkedIn: https://social.ora.cl/6000wKFhC X (Twitter): https://social.ora.cl/6007wK2zD Instagram: https://social.ora.cl/6003wK2Hv Facebook: https://social.ora.cl/6005wK2Dv   #NetSuite #CFOAgenda, #Accounting   --------------------------------------------------------   Episode Transcript:   00;00;04;21 - 00;00;28;20 Hello, all you Suite listeners. Thank you so much for tuning in to the NetSuite podcast. I'm Megan O'Brien, a co-host of the podcast. Now you all are in luck because today's episode marks the start of a mini series we are doing called The CFO Agenda. As we approach the end of 2024, we wanted to gauge what's on the docket for finance and accounting leaders.   00;00;28;23 - 00;00;50;23 In the first installment of the series, we have Jess Wijesekera, SVP of Global Accounting for Vytalize Health, a leading value based care platform. If you attended SuiteWorld or if you tuned into NetSuite OnAir to watch the main keynote, you would have seen her make an appearance with NetSuite Founder and EVP Evan Goldberg.   00;00;50;25 - 00;01;19;08 Vytalize Health has grown by a casual 90,778% over the last three years, so this episode is a great pulse check on what high-growth companies are prioritizing this coming year. We talk all about Jess' background and her current role of Vytalize Health, the company's exponential growth, and her plans for 2025. With that, let's go ahead and dive in.   00;01;19;11 - 00;01;45;23 You're listening to the NetSuite Podcast, where we discuss what's happening within NetSuite, why we're doing it, and where we're heading in the future. We'll dive into the details about the software and the people at NetSuite who are behind all the moving parts. We'll also feature customer growth stories discussing the ups and downs of running a company and how one integrated system can help your business continue to scale.   00;01;45;25 - 00;02;03;26 Hi, Jess. How are you today? Hey, Megan. Good. Really great to be here. Good. We're so happy to have you. Yeah. Thank you. All right, well, we're going to dive right in because we have so much to cover. We want to hear, first of all, about your background. Did you always know that you wanted to get into accounting?   00;02;03;29 - 00;02;26;29 I did not. But I was always very good at organizing people and organizing projects. And I think that organization has always really been a part of who I am. It's going to sound silly, but in kindergarten I used to and tell them where and how to jump rope, and they always just happily listened to what I had to say.   00;02;26;29 - 00;02;57;23 And I felt really like a natural leader and I knew I wanted to do something that captured my personality. So, for me, accounting is just a really nice because it's taking project management and organization and unpacking a puzzle takes a lot of patience, which I'm learning to have a lot of patience, but it takes a lot of kindness for interacting with other departments and some tenacity with dealing with service providers.   00;02;57;23 - 00;03;31;23 So, I didn't know I always wanted to do it, but it is feeling like a really good fit. I couldn't help but stalk you a little bit on LinkedIn. You majored in accounting at Villanova, which is where I went. Yeah, Wildcats, you know, so I know I just had a great experience there and I chose it really because they had a very solid business school and I had this accounting professor who taught financial accounting, and he told me that accounting was the hardest major in the business school.   00;03;31;26 - 00;03;58;08 And if I could do accounting, that I could do anything, I could do finance, I could do management, I could do marketing. And he was really right. And I followed my accounting degree up with a master's in finance at Boston College. And it's really worked well, I think, to have this understanding of everything that's accounting is past and everything that's finance is future and we meet in the present.   00;03;58;12 - 00;04;28;26 So it's kind of helped shape my career and where it's gone. That is such a cool perspective on it. And, and speaking of your career, could you talk a little bit about your past roles and your path to where you are now? Yeah, so like many accounting majors, I started at the Big Four, so I was at EY and I stayed longer than most. I was there about 15 years and I did a grand tour of about four offices.   00;04;28;29 - 00;04;55;29 So, I started in Palo Alto, and then did Boston, San Francisco, and I also did a three year secondment in the London office. And every time I felt I was going to leave public accounting, I stayed because I got a new opportunity or worked on a new client or with a new team. And it was this feeling that I could really add value, but also learn something completely new, which added to my skill set.   00;04;56;02 - 00;05;20;15 And I can't even tell you the number of times that I've cried in an audit room. I do think about those experiences and really how it shaped me. I got to work on Warner Brothers and Hawaiian Airlines, and towards the end of my career there, I was a national instructor for 606 when that Rev Rec standard was completely new and nobody knew what to do.   00;05;20;15 - 00;05;48;11 So that helped me with my foundation for where I am now. But after 15 years I decided to go into industry, so I started as an assistant controller. I was at a bottling company and my very first day on the job I realized I've never booked a journal entry in my whole life and a few roles since I have taken on kind of new areas of responsibility and kept growing my own skillset.   00;05;48;13 - 00;06;14;09 And I'm actually really lucky now to have brought on a couple of people I've worked with in the past, you know, kind of through EY and other companies because we just really enjoy working together. So that all of that brought me to my life. Well, I mean, I don't think you've really worked for a Big Four unless you've cried somewhere in an office, so you, you sent that experience home. Probably an office without windows.   00;06;14;11 - 00;06;40;07 Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did my crying in a phone booth, so. Yeah, yeah, No windows. We're all here now. We're all here. And better for it. So speaking of Vytalize, you ended up joining Vytalize Health about two years ago? Can you tell our listeners a little bit about what Vytalize Health does? Yeah, so Vytalize is a value-based care company.   00;06;40;09 - 00;07;10;11 Value-based care is a collection of doctors and service providers and payers that work collectively to have better outcomes for patients. And coincidentally, that's usually at a reduced cost. So, what we do is sit between the primary care physician and CMS, which is the Center for Medicare Services. So we help our physicians strengthen the relationship that they have with their patients.   00;07;10;13 - 00;07;41;13 And if we succeed in that and meet certain quality metrics and achieve these better health outcomes, then CMS as the payer, they give us a share of that. So, I'll use a fancy terminology, but it's really aligning incentives, right? So, we're all incentivized for providing better, higher quality care, not necessarily more care. And it's really working because we're giving these doctors more time to spend with their patients.   00;07;41;13 - 00;08;18;00 So, we provide services like care coordination and virtual home care, in-home care. And it's particularly important for the Medicare population. You know, if you think about 65 plus and then people that are, you know, often not able to get to the doctor, in-home care is so critical. And really, we see ourselves as an extension of the physician so that we operate as part of their practice and really preventing hospitalizations and improving the quality of life and, you know, for an accounting major, that's certainly something I can get behind.   00;08;18;00 - 00;08;42;02 And, you know, the mission and kind of what we're doing, it feels really good. What does a typical day in your shoes look like? So like many companies in the pandemic, we went remote. So I have a little office that I use in a coworking space and I bring my puppy with me and we have a lot of meetings.   00;08;42;02 - 00;09;07;10 So back-to back-video meetings, I do a lot of meetings direct with one on ones, with my direct reports. We are constantly meeting with our EY tax team, Connor Group accounting specialists, so treasury and tax report through me. And then I just took on the FP&A function as well. So, this week was a lot of meeting with department heads to try and craft our budget.   00;09;07;12 - 00;09;34;04 But I find my typical day is really helping my team make good decisions and collaborative points of view and just making sure that we're prioritizing the right thing at the right time. Because like so many companies growing as quickly as we are, you know, you're this can be really long and kind of helping decide what comes first and what can come when, as you know, is a really big part of my job when I also have the puppy.   00;09;34;04 - 00;09;57;04 So she's as cute as can be. And we try and get out of some walks in between all of the meetings. Yeah. So for our frequent listeners, the puppies she's referring to is actually the guide dog puppy that attended SuiteWorld that we talked about in our SuiteWorld. recap. We are obsessed with Mayberry. I think she might be the new NetSuite mascot she's so sweet.   00;09;57;04 - 00;10;19;10 So she's training to become a guide dog for the blind. And I'll have her through next June. And she's part of the Walnut Creek Club here in the San Francisco Bay Area. And she's just a little delight. So her having her experience SuiteWorld in Vegas, I think opened her eyes. I mean, she's doing really great.   00;10;19;12 - 00;10;53;13 She did so good. She was all scared of the casino. Yeah, we all are. So Vytalize Health has this crazy growth trajectory. So the company ranked number one on the Inc. 5000 across all industries after achieving $1.5 billion in revenue for 2023 and a three-year revenue growth rate of 90,778%. Can you delve into the Vytalize Health's growth story and how that all came about?   00;10;53;15 - 00;11;22;19 Yeah. So Megan, work with me here on some math backwards. So to get to 1.5 billion, that means we started as a single health care practice. So we had one practice. It was in Rockland, Maryland, and it still exists, but we've grown from about one medical practice to over 200, I'm sorry, 2600 primary care physicians. We found that we were very good at these additional services.   00;11;22;19 - 00;11;49;15 Right. The care coordination and helping the physicians make better decisions. And instead of growing our own practices, the business went through kind of the modeling approach that we would instead partner with physicians and they would join our value based care program, which is it's called Accountable Care Organizations. So those practices joined our ACO and we taught them value-based care.   00;11;49;18 - 00;12;18;21 And through that we shared a part of our savings with them. And in that model, we were really able to grow quickly. So we went from, you know, just a few thousand Medicare beneficiaries to now over 260,000 patients. And that's a staggering number because we're probably taking care of someone that, you know, and it's part of Medicare's goal to have every Medicare patient in an ACO by 2030.   00;12;18;24 - 00;12;41;04 So for people who don't know what value-based care is, all of the sudden they must participate in value-based care by 2030, in six years we'll be there. And Vytalize is really helping with that transition. And it's working. It's working really well. We're seeing a lot improved outcomes for patients and decreased hospital hospitalizations. And yeah, it's going really well.   00;12;41;10 - 00;13;06;23 Yeah, clearly, clearly clear. So were there any challenges that came with this rapid growth? And if so, how did Vytalize help tackle them? Do you remember Facebook? They used to have this tagline and slogan and it said, ‘Move fast and break things,' right? And I was googling it recently and I was like, I think they have abandoned that tagline.   00;13;06;25 - 00;13;35;10 Yeah, maybe with the move to Meta, they're like, Yeah, maybe not and break things. Yes. So that's the hardest part, right? Is because you can move too quickly and break things and sometimes that's an okay thing. But a lot of the times we should really be adding a lot more thought, a lot more time and a lot more considerations to some of the larger decisions that are going on.   00;13;35;10 - 00;14;02;29 So really, to me, the biggest challenge with this rapid growth is taking the time and the thought process to really think through decisions and not move as quickly as you can. So one of the other things that we've done to kind of circumvent that is adding a policy and procedures committee and a policy and procedures role in our organization.   00;14;02;29 - 00;14;37;20 And I'm not going to take any credit for that because it was already in existence and it was already working really well. But we were able to then write some policies pretty early on that helped our controls and helped our vendor contracts who could engage if vendor who could approve a payment. And a lot of those early policies and we're still writing them, but a lot of those early policies helped us, you know, be able to go to the rest of the business and say, ‘Hey, you know, you can't X, Y, Z because of this policy' or ‘You can, but you must do it in this way.'   00;14;37;24 - 00;15;07;28 And kind of making that consistent across the organization was really helpful for me. Well, that kind of leads into a good question for our listeners here. Any best practices for companies that might be looking to grow or any pitfalls to avoid? I think growth in general is having good technology to scale, right? So how do we make something a repeatable process and how do we put it in a system to be able to make it repeatable?   00;15;08;01 - 00;15;39;14 My app director, Lisa Kemper, and I joke all the time that life is full of one-offs, right? Like this is all a one off and if you're tackling something over here and over there, you would need 300 people in your accounting department to be able to support all of the one-offs. So, we very much we do use this Policy and Procedures Committee, but we're also standing up a lot of our tech products and using NetSuite to be able to get, you know, some standardization.   00;15;39;14 - 00;16;07;11 But also I'll call it kill the one offs, right? We can't be doing an exception. Everything has to fit into a process and become part of the rule. And how has Vytalize Health been using NetSuite? Oh my gosh. We're big, you know, signing some new statements of work all the time. So, yes, I love it. I know the one we just signed was the budgeting and planning tool right now.   00;16;07;11 - 00;16;33;05 So we started with the financials and budgeting and planning. But I would say we're really starting to use a lot of the subledgers in the way that they were intended to be used, and that has been really helpful for us. So, our biggest NetSuite, and I spoke about this at SuiteWorld, is our bank reconciliations. We have, you know, 47 bank accounts and transactions galore.   00;16;33;11 - 00;16;58;00 Right? And sort of as we talk about standardization and automation and killing, the one offs, what we're doing is making sure that we can put something in a process and make it repeatable. And the bank reconciliation module has started to learn the way that we're matching off our bank recs and the way that we're matching off transactions. And it will start to do that for us.   00;16;58;00 - 00;17;21;05 So every time we make a bill payment debit this account credit that account it learns it and then it'll just do it in the background and then we approve it. So this used to take three people their whole full-time job. Not to mention there are a lot of errors in this process. And now that we actually turned on the bank rec module, it's kind of all working for us in the background.   00;17;21;05 - 00;17;47;26 And I was even talking with my accounting manager, Kelly Allen, and I said yesterday I was like, Kelly, how's the bank matching going? And she's like, ‘You know, I don't even hear about it.' It's really working for us. And, and it's been helpful to start to automate these things so we don't have to think about it. And it previously it just felt like we were playing catch up, you know, 45 days.   00;17;47;29 - 00;18;06;14 It would take us to close the books. And, you know, 45 days ago was the end of August or August is long gone by now. Right? We're making business decisions all the time. Do we need more? You know, funding from investors? We want to take a loan, whereas, you know, where are these larger payments coming from? We're going to we can't wait 45 days for anything.   00;18;06;14 - 00;18;32;25 So it's helped us, you know, make some real-time decisions. Well, why is having a strong tech stack so important for Vytalize Health specifically and how did it perhaps help facilitate some of the massive growth that you mentioned previously? We had a previous controller at Vytalize and every time we needed financials, he would say, okay, like I need three days.   00;18;32;27 - 00;19;02;08 He would take, you know, we had QuickBooks and, you know, it was the right size and shape for us when we started. So, we're using QuickBooks and he would take three days to prepare a consolidation and then to do the elimination journal entries. And that was a very manual effort. And three days of those financials and, you know, the manual errors that could exist.   00;19;02;08 - 00;19;23;13 And, you know, it was almost like, well, I don't need it anymore that I asked for that three days ago. We've moved on. That wasn't at least, you know, last week. So finally I looked at him and I was like, we have to get this in NetSuite and we have to do like journal entries and post them on the system.   00;19;23;13 - 00;19;43;21 And, you know, we're going to need elimination entries and we're going to need to have this reporting in a moment's notice. And, you know, when we ask for the report, I need it in 20 minutes, not three days. So we moved it all into NetSuite We've also gotten a tool called Workiva and Workiva connects to NetSuite.   00;19;43;21 - 00;20;09;08 And I'll give a shout out to Ryan Mueller, who's our senior manager of tech accounting and NetSuite syncs with Workiva so we can produce financial statements and reports at a moment's notice. And I can say, you know, I want the Q2 report to investors and I want that Q2 report to include these entities and Workiva pulls the information from NetSuite.   00;20;09;08 - 00;20;32;08 And then we can have it ready for an investor immediately. And that has really been a game changer for us. We do a lot of reporting. We have board members and boards of each of our ACOs, so there's about six of those. We need frequent reporting for about six different entities. And then on top of that, we're supporting an audit from Deloitte right now.   00;20;32;08 - 00;20;58;13 For us to pull all of this reporting very quickly and only, you know, I have a team of five here in the US doing accounting, and that is really essential for us to have these tools so that we can, you know, keep our headcount costs low, keep the work interesting for the people that are here, and be also, you know, be providing that to investors.   00;20;58;15 - 00;21;24;18 NetSuite by Oracle, the number one cloud financial system is everything you need to grow all in one place. Financials, inventory, HR, and more. Make better decisions faster so you can do more and spend less. See how at netsuite.com/pod. Well, can you imagine the poor controller just getting an email saying, ‘Hey, we want the numbers' and thinking, ‘Well, there goes three of my days.'   00;21;24;21 - 00;21;47;29 My god, I'd be dreading emails. Yeah. And, you know, sad story about QuickBooks. You have to have separate legal entities. So, we had 16 legal entities that he had. Like, you can't run a report. So we got a bolt on tool. So it's fun. But you know, just to sort of highlight like if you think you can do it, it could probably be done.   00;21;47;29 - 00;22;13;10 So moving to the new technology helped us immensely. Yeah, thank god. Thank god for saving the controller on a click of a button. We've kind of alluded to this, but you participated in a keynote with NetSuite Founder and EVP Evan Goldberg at SuiteWorld this year. What was that experience like? It was so cool. That was really just kind of a highlight for me.   00;22;13;15 - 00;22;35;08 I think the best part was people coming up to me afterwards and saying, you know, they resonate with my message or, you know, they really liked whatever point I had to make. And, you know, yeah, it's cool to be on stage and meet Evan. But really, for me, it kind of came full circle when people, you know, could kind of even tell me back what I said, did I say that?   00;22;35;10 - 00;22;57;26 But yeah, that was that was a really great experience and, you know, fun to kind of share how Vytalize is doing. And, you know, this big award has, has really opened a lot of doors for the company as well. One of the anecdotes really stuck out to me personally in your keynote with Evan was how someone on your team essentially automated himself out of his job doing bank reconcilations.   00;22;57;28 - 00;23;21;26 But he ended up moving to FP&A, which arguably more of a value add for the company. So as more manual task and accounting and finance are automated, what do you think the future of those functions will look like? Yeah, and I have this funny title. My title is global, which you know, often means it's a global company.   00;23;21;28 - 00;23;48;29 But for me, this global title is actually represents to the people on my accounting team and we are all over the world. So the individual who automated himself out of his job, Dether, sits in the Philippines. So it's kind of this added layer, Meggan, that, my goodness, an outsourced role in the Philippines, just automated himself out of a job.   00;23;49;01 - 00;24;21;13 But the people are working to offshore stuff, but like my offshore person is working to automate. And just a quick update on Dether: he has been so helpful with the budgets for us. We are going through our budgeting process right now, as so many companies are, and that budgeting process is really leading to a lot of great conversations with our department heads about what costs we're needing, what vendors we're going to be needing for next year, what strategic initiatives do we have to plan more costs for, where is more revenue to compensate for that?   00;24;21;15 - 00;24;45;29 And he has been so incredibly helpful in that role and I think it's very fulfilling for him so often times, you know, what is the future of the function looks like? It just looks like it's at a higher level and we are starting at the baseline is just moving up, right? So your entry-level position is just doing higher quality work.   00;24;46;01 - 00;25;10;07 Hopefully fewer tears in the audit room now. I think the tears will exist, but I do think people will have a more fulfilling job, start for themselves right out of college or right into the workforce. What skills do you think will become must haves and kind of this new normal? Yeah, I think the go-to skill for me is just a willingness to learn.   00;25;10;10 - 00;25;44;25 You know, I think I even told Evan on stage I don't know everything and I really don't, but at least I know where I can look it up. Or I might know who to ask or, you know, in me and in my team is this willingness to learn and the willingness to change. And I think kind of that positive outlook and that positive environment is something that will forever be a must have, especially as we have all these new these new automation ideas and everything that's new and exciting.   00;25;44;27 - 00;26;09;28 We really just have to embrace it. And getting a little more granular here. What are you looking for when hiring talent? Are there any kind of talent gaps that you are trying to fill? Yeah, and I think especially as a scaling company, I think in any organization you often wear many hats, but as I'm scaling, I'll just use my senior manager of accounting projects as my go to example.   00;26;09;28 - 00;26;36;25 But I'd worked with him before and when I hired him I was like, ‘I just I need help.' And the first thing he says, all the time, Rob Dulgarian, is how can I help? And it's this willingness to learn new skills and the willingness to you know, get in and get your hands dirty, figure something out and, you know, kind of right size, whatever it is that you're working on that.   00;26;36;28 - 00;27;08;13 And that's a skill that the skill that I'm looking for when I hire people, you know, people we have people in Jordan, we have people in the Philippines, and we have people in the US, and kind of across the board. Anytime we're hiring, that's really what we're looking for is, you know, I've never done that before and I don't know how I'm looking for people that say, you know, I've never done that before, but let me explore, you know, how it's just this really positive outlook and where we are.   00;27;08;13 - 00;27;39;27 We especially get that from our global team members. They're just ever so, ever helpful. How do you assuage some of the fears in your team and your leadership, whatever it might be, about being automated out of a job? How do we get people to kind of embrace automation and AI and not really fear it? So I admittedly was unsuccessful at this at my last position, and I have been unsuccessful at this before.   00;27;39;29 - 00;28;24;18 I think it takes the tone from the top and really having, you know, the board, the C-suite, your investors, having those individuals excited and ready to embrace change is where it starts from because not to throw a cliche out there, but it really will all trickle down and having them excited and on board. At my last job, I think the only one that was excited and on board and it was really hard to get change, to get people excited about doing something else because, you know, they often have fear of losing their position and that that fear is very normal and very understandable.   00;28;24;18 - 00;28;51;05 But I think that as long as the, you know, the top of the company is willing to be flexible and encourage that change, I think it'll be a lot more effective. The accounting profession, it's been the news recently due to a shortage of professionals entering the role. So as a leader in accounting, how do you think companies can combat that shortage and attract accounting talent to their teams?   00;28;51;10 - 00;29;17;13 I feel like I'm going to bring this answer back to your previous questions, right? So it feels like automating and, you know, kind of holistically globally, looking at the talent workforce that's there. I mean, I think that's how companies are going to be able to continue to succeed. I kind of saw at the tail end of my career at EY how it was harder to get new accountants in.   00;29;17;13 - 00;29;57;15 And then also combined with COVID, was very difficult to start training people without being without being on site and in the same place together to be able to train. So, you know, from my perspective, I think it'll flex and change over time. Maybe I should teach some more accounting classes and get people excited about being accounting majors. But, you know, I, I do very much think it'll be a combination of roles like global accounting roles throughout the world, combined with this idea of people really embracing and getting change and automation and up and running and tech stack too.   00;29;57;15 - 00;30;31;17 I think one of the other things I wanted to mention is that we've been using Numero and Numero is a tool that we've used through Connor Group. And what Numero does is extract key terms out of documents and summarize technical accounting. So we're using AI to write our technical accounting memos, future state, and we're using a lot of this AI to kind of take and develop things that we would have done manually.   00;30;31;17 - 00;30;56;04 And you don't even think about how manual it is to create a technical accounting memo. But, you know, if I can give this bot a topic and my three lease agreements that can write an ASC 42 memo for me and you know, how cool is that? Because basically what we're doing then is taking the people who used to prepare the work and making them reviewers instead.   00;30;56;06 - 00;31;16;22 And I do think there are some additional challenges of like, how do you review something you've never prepared? But, you know, I think it'll create higher value work earlier in the process for people when they're launching their accounting careers. Yeah, I think taking some of the tedium out of it is going to be huge. So much tedious.   00;31;16;24 - 00;31;38;29 So much teedious staff work. Yeah. And now we have technology. Yeah. I wish I were starting my career now. I think I might consider an accounting career. If we had the. No, I would be terrible at accounting. I'm not organized enough. But then again, I could talk you into it. But maybe someday. But not today. I do come from a family of accountants.   00;31;38;29 - 00;32;06;02 Unknown My family is in medicine. So some helpful lessons for me. Yeah. For a health care company. Yeah. You blended it. Yes. So it was both. Well, we're kind of like coming up on the end of the year, so I wanted to pick your brain kind of around your 2025 agenda. So as SVP of accounting, what are your top priorities going into 2025?   00;32;06;05 - 00;32;32;07 So we are building out all kinds of really great reporting. So we're using the NetSuite Budgeting and Planning tool to also do our financial reporting for us. So what we're doing this year is building our budgets and we're building them at the vendor level. So it'll be able or it'll give us the opportunity to really analyze our budget versus actual at a new level that we've never done before.   00;32;32;07 - 00;32;57;25 So we're pretty excited about that. And then also meeting more regularly with our department heads to be able to have them reflect on how the month went, but then also make any changes in the future, planning for their new hires and any vendor expenses they have. And really, you know, having a well thought out budget and meeting that budget in 2025 is really our biggest priority.   00;32;57;28 - 00;33;22;22 Well, that's huge because, I mean, we keep writing about it, but the role of finance and accounting is becoming so strategy driven, so much about partnering across the rest of the business instead of kind of, you know, reporting after the fact to everyone. It's like working with them and collaborating during the process. Yeah, yeah. And seeing what new contracts are in the pipeline.   00;33;22;22 - 00;34;00;09 How are we going to take those contracts and pull certain levers to be able to maximize them? Yeah, there's a lot to kind of account marrying together, accounting and finance. Are there any challenges that you are worried about or anticipating? Yeah, I think the making sure that as an accounting department we remain inserted into each of the other operating units of the business and that we're working closely with the finance team and kind of ears to the ground with what's going on and when and being able to influence and do that at a much earlier time period.   00;34;00;09 - 00;34;36;21 So I am I am anticipating that to be a new challenge for us. But yeah, we're excited to work on that. And actually, my same bank reconciliation manager who used to do that, this is his new job instead. So we'll hopefully report back on how it goes with his new role. I love it. As advanced technologies such as AI, machine learning, RPA, all that proliferate, do you have any plans to upskill or reskill your existing workforce in the next year and how are you anticipating going about it?   00;34;36;28 - 00;35;07;20 Yeah, so Megan, this answer just makes my heart sing. So we are using our offshore Philippines team to use AI. So our offshore team is going through all of the contracts for us and they're using an AI tool, actually the same AI tool Numero. They're using that tool to go through all of the key contracts that we have and extract the key terms of the contracts.   00;35;07;23 - 00;35;44;07 That is a very typical, you know, staff one accountant role, right? That's what I did as a staff one accountant, and that was my whole job. So now it's been done by a computer. So cool. And it's being reviewed by, by somebody who's offshore and that I mean, it just really makes my heart sing because we're taking this lower-level work and giving more interesting work to the people who are onshore because now they're looking at these contracts and doing things in a way that that they wouldn't have the opportunity to do.   00;35;44;07 - 00;36;05;06 It's often hard to review your own work, right? So now we're getting new skill. We're just going to upskill the people that we have. I think our business right now, we're mainly focused on the current contracts that we have and then expanding our patient population within those contracts. So we're not necessarily taking on new physician practices.   00;36;05;06 - 00;36;28;06 So I think our accounting department will stay steady, but that is the thing we always like to keep on top of our finance folks to see how are we growing the business and how should we grow our accounting department as well. From a broader technology perspective, do you have any goals going into the next year? Yeah, I think just the great financial reporting.   00;36;28;06 - 00;37;01;16 And then we also have Salesforce as a system, and I was super excited to see Evan announce that Salesforce integrations are going to be made a lot easier. So from a tech stack perspective, we are going to start getting the information from Salesforce into NetSuite. And we're yeah, we're pretty excited about that because there's a lot of work that we do with onboarding our customers and that customer onboarding happens in Salesforce, but then it should become part of the customer record that's in NetSuite.   00;37;01;16 - 00;37;30;16 And right now, that's a manual process for us. So having Salesforce integrated would be, would be a really nice to have. Does Vytalize House as a whole company have any overarching objectives going into 2025? Yeah, so very much pure and stable growth. We are really focused on keeping the current physicians that we have and, and as I mentioned, the patients that we're serving or the Medicare patients.   00;37;30;16 - 00;37;56;01 Right. So if you imagine the doctor physician that you go to is your primary, maybe that primary care physician has 2000 patients and 500 of them are Medicare patients. Right. So those 500 lives, that's what's included in our count, right? That 260,000 that I mentioned before. So what we're trying to do next is get access to the other patients.   00;37;56;01 - 00;38;19;19 Right. That would look like contracts with Blue Shield or contracts with Aetna and other payers to be able to influence care over those lives as well. So I'll call that organic growth because we already have those relationships with the PCPs in place. But what we're wanting are contracts and relationships with the other payers, so that that's 2025 for us.   00;38;19;19 - 00;38;39;13 It sounds so exciting. I know. I feel like this business was so hard for me to understand and like the 10th time someone explained it to me, I got it. So I'm sure you guys are getting it in more than more than ten Innovation items. But yeah, it is a really exciting business here. We're thrilled to be a part of it.   00;38;39;17 - 00;39;12;14 Wrapping up here, just you have such a fascinating story coming in, like coming in and working for this high growth company. Is there any final thoughts or takeaways to leave our listeners with? Yeah, and one thing I do on my personal life is that I keep a gratitude journal and it helps me have a really positive mindset and having a positive mindset leaves me open for learning and growth of my personal development.   00;39;12;16 - 00;39;39;26 So I think that's one thing that's just really helped me to stay on top of my game of staying positive and kind of a can-do attitude. You know, I'm certainly not that way all the time. And sometimes my team shakes and says, Just pull back together. But I do really think that, you know, kind of being grateful for where we're at, how well we've done shapes us to have some positivity going into our next chapter for finals.   00;39;40;00 - 00;39;59;02 I love it. What a good note to end on. So being grateful really keeps you open for learning more. Jess, thanks so much for joining us. We really appreciate it. Yeah, thanks for having me. And again, I really am grateful for the opportunity. All right. Back to my journal today. Thank you so much, Megan.   00;39;59;06 - 00;40;26;21 Yeah, thank you. That brings us to the end of another great episode. It's such a great opportunity to get the perspective directly from a high-growth company and from someone like Jess, who has been there and facilitated so much of it. I think it was especially rewarding to hear how she personally was starting to implement AI in the accounting department to increase efficiency as the company expands.   00;40;26;23 - 00;40;47;10 Huge thanks to Jess for taking time out of her busy schedule to chat with us. And as always, a big thanks to our wonderful editing team over at Oracle and to all of you for tuning in. If you want more episodes just like this one, make sure you subscribe to our channel and give us a rating and review until next time.   00;40;47;13 - 00;40;59;08 You just listen to the NetSuite Podcast. Be sure to tune in every week with more NetSuite developments, stories, and insights into the benefits of one integrated system to help you run your business.

Host: Allan NewsomeRunning time: 0:20:47 It's the Halloween season and it is a tradition here on Two Chairs No Waiting to tell a spooky story or two around the campfire. This year, as we did last year, we have a special guest storyteller. James Dodson has been coming to Mayberry events for a few years […]

Darnell Mayberry talks Bulls' loss to Pelicans in season opener full 615 Thu, 24 Oct 2024 19:15:09 +0000 OwO56J6zO8R9zN9U3fGRLr8rzNtutk1s nfl,chicago bears,sports Bernstein & Harris nfl,chicago bears,sports Darnell Mayberry talks Bulls' loss to Pelicans in season opener Dan Bernstein and Marshall Harris bring you fun, smart and compelling Chicago sports talk with great listener interaction. The show features discussion of the Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs and White Sox as well as the biggest sports headlines beyond Chicago. Leila Rahimi joins the show as a co-host on Wednesdays. Recurring guests include Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards, Pro Football Talk founder Mike Florio, Cubs outfielder Ian Happ and Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer. Catch the show live Monday through Friday (10 a.m.- 2 p.m. CT) on 670 The Score, the exclusive audio home of the Cubs and the Bulls, or on the Audacy app. 2024 © 2021 Audacy, Inc. Sports False https://player.amperwavepodcasting.com?feed-link=https%3A%2F%2Frss.amperwave.net%2

This week Karl & Vinnie head down to dixie to make their nominations for the biggest creep from the "Yellow Hammer" state of Alabama: Karl's Cop Cam features a chilling drag racing accident that leaves two dead, and a woman who refuses to accept her role in the tragedy. Plus, in the Scum Parade we discover the bizarre tales of a small-town amateur photographer, a 32-year-old witch, and a peculiar "superhero" who shoots websThe score is currently Vinnie 2 - Karl 2, visit thecreepoff.com to vote and decide this week's winnerCheck out the Scum Parade stories: ‘Mayberry's photographer' was beloved for his snaps of small-town life — then he was charged with felony peeping | The IndependentMan who dressed like a superhero sentenced for sex crimes | News | kezi.comDismembered body, cooked body parts found at NKY home leads to woman's arrest: KSP (wkyt.com)Abusive killer tortured pet hamsters to death - before chopping wife into 200 pieces - Mirror OnlineWant to support the show? Find us on Patreon, Supercast & Backed.by to get exclusive merch an extra bonus episode every week! Don't forget you can leave us a voicemail at 585-371-8108You can follow our Results girl Danni on Instagram @Danni_Desolation

A trip to Mayberry led to a 20-minute conversation with the man himself, Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife. This is some of my best work.