001 - Good Morning Asheville

Good morning, Asheville. Today is October 21, and the weather today looks perfect. So today it's not a weather podcast, but expect highs in the mid to low seventies, and it shouldn't rain a drop. Beautiful. At the time of recording this first episode of the Daily Pod. So, quick introduction, quick stage setting. Okay, so, currently flying under the working title of the Asheville Daily, this podcast is intends to shine a light on good news, on resilience, on community efforts, on the businesses here in Asheville that are, you know, beacons of hope, inspiration. I want to tell good news. I want to tell the stories of community, of neighbors who are shown up and loving the city. And that is, you know, not my hope. My intention is that everyone will understand that this is not to discount or discredit or to not give the due time for sitting with and trying to make sense of the scope and scale of the devastation of Hurricane Helene. My hope is that we can agree that two things can happen at once. And so with that, this podcast could tell all of the stories, and it won't. I mean, it could and also can't. And so the word that keeps showing up for me is some level of. Is the word aperture and a level of focus. And so the focus that I intend to bring to this particular daily podcast, telling stories of Asheville, is a business lens. I really do. I want to focus on businesses doing great things in Asheville. I want to focus on businesses reopening their doors, businesses that never shut their doors, businesses that might have to shut their doors forever. I want to tell stories where I can. I want to give highlights as often as possible. And I want that the aperture that could focus on all of western North Carolina really intends to focus on business right here in Asheville. And the business leaders, business owners, humans who power those businesses, that's the vision, at least today, on day one, episode one of this series. And so with that, I want to provide perhaps new language, a new word. It's a latin phrase and happened to be the motto of my high school. And forgive me, I don't speak Latin, but the words are cicisa verisit. And the translation to cicisa varissit is when cut down, it grows again or it grows back stronger. And, you know, since half my life, this latin phrase has been important to me. Every time that I've felt, I'll say, up against the ropes or some level of micro devastation, when things felt particularly hard and particularly intense, this concept of when cut down, it grows again, it grows back stronger, was always in mind for me, and it's, you know, it's a. To truism. It is. That's just how it works. When working a vineyard, you will cut back your vines 20%, sometimes more, to help strengthen the remaining vines. When bones break, they are healed with. Without our help, really. And they're made stronger than ever. This is how things work. And so a refrain in my mind over the last three weeks has been this. Sikhisa virishit. It's unclear how in my world and I, my wife Sarah's world, but every time it's proven to be true, every time there's been tragedy, we've been able to find strength. And so it is top of mind for me, and I wanted to share that with you. So, businesses, I look forward to telling these stories of your efforts, of the healing that builds you stronger, of the community support that rallied in playing a meaningful or massive role in your recovery. I want to focus on the positive when I can, and I think I can almost all the time. I want to share exciting initiatives and helpful resources. The goal really is to inspire, to inform, and to find additional ways to help this community connect. Okay, so what to expect? This podcast episode is being recorded as efficiently as possible right now. The framework, the tech, the infrastructure, the organization of episodes, all subject to change. So don't let this be the only episode you listen to. They might look different in the days and weeks to come. My intention for October is to move fast. My intention for November is to build processes. My intention for December is to have a clean, daily pod for you that hits you with all the news you need and a little bit of fun play excitement as well. So that's the intention. We have talked a little bit, I guess, in this episode, but the first of the series maybe would have been the conversation with Matt Raker. The idea here is that business focus, fundraising campaigns, business pivots, new collaborations, all of these are stories that we're going to tell, grants that are available, loans that are available, resources that are available, concepts on how to best position yourself, how to best tell stories. Marketing strategy like these will all be parts of episodes in the days and weeks to come. This episode is just sort of setting the stage for that. And so, as tech improves, as process for recording improves, there's going to be opportunities to do interviews that bake into this and are probably shared in their entirety elsewhere. There's the opportunities to have on the street correspondents who are sending in content, sharing people's stories and baking them in. And so, again, the flow of these episodes the structure, the tech, all subject to change. Just want to move, want to get into action in an effort to get into action, here's a quick call to action. If you are a listener listening right now and are excited about this idea, want to share your stories or share stories even better? Like when people point at someone else, that's even cooler to me. So if you have stories of businesses in Asheville that have done particular things, leaders who went above and beyond to take care of their people or to take care of their streets, we'd love to hear it. If you want to quote unquote volunteer to be a quote unquote field reporter for the podcast, you want to contribute, analysis, research, send us links. If you want to support us with funding to help me potentially get tech that will make this process simpler and easier, that would be awesome. Those are all things that are welcome, and the best way to do that is to just email hello at making it in Asheville because, you know, there's a lot of work to be done and I'm very excited to do it. And any and all support is gladly welcomed. Quickly flag once again our current partner in this project slash underwriter slash you know, words are very nebulous and I but shack properties. So shack properties is helping make this a reality at the onset, and I'm grateful to have them in the mix. Shackproperties.com and then finally the last thing I'll do is just once again say that there is a long, massively long road ahead for western North Carolina. The devastation is. The word I use with Matt raker of mountain biswerks is incalculable. And I believe that the grow back, stronger portion of the work ahead is going to be led by Asheville. And so there's an opportunity to be a part of that. And that speaks to me. Before we sign off, I'll just say in the immediate days after the hurricane, I, you know, would do these supply runs. I'd drive in and out and would get like choked up at the amount of bucket trucks driving in, the amount of trucks with stuff, supplies driving into Asheville. At about the two week mark, it became pretty clear to me that my highest and best use was nothing, making supply runs in and out of Asheville any longer. And I imagine in some ways everyone's feeling things like that and what can I do? How can I help? And so this is my effort to be of the highest and best use to you and to the community. I hope to really lean into this process and figure it out for us. I think it's worth it. And I hope that in some ways this inspires continued action. This is a small, in some ways, small drop in the bucket. When you think of the amount of folks who have just volunteered every day, boots on the ground with chainsaws, with strong backs, with pack horses and mules, driving supplies out to folks who need them most, it can be crippling because I go, well, I'm just making a recording, posting it to the Internet. But you know, act anyway. Act all the while. Do the thing. Tell people you love them, take care of local businesses, tip, do all the things. And if one of the things is record a podcast, do that too. Okay? Action items, last things yeah. Making it in asheville.com hello at making it in Asheville with emails. We are making it in Asheville. On Instagram, share stories that make sense, that are exciting to you, that you think that the fine folks in Asheville need to hear. And some teasers for tomorrow's episode is what are the red balloons flying in downtown? What's this hundred thousand dollar Kickstarter campaign that you need to know about? And how might you, as a business owner, get some pro bono design work for your business? All that and more in tomorrow's daily pod.