Oh, friends and neighbors, are we excited for this episode. We love education, and we love educators who love education, and we love a different take on education. This week’s episode checks every single boxes as we talk to a Superintendent who is doing things just a little differently in his North Dakota community. About Cory: Dr. Cory Steiner is currently the Superintendent of the Northern Cass School District for the past 10 years. He has been an administrator for 17 years. In his current rol...
Jul 08, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 139
You know we love the idea of placemaking, Main Streets, and small things that have a big impact. Jaime Izuireta does, too, and has an architect and designer, he focuses not only on storefront design but the interaction between users and the built environment. This episode goes way beyond “How do we make Main Streets pretty?” to “How do we create an amazing Main Street experience?” About Jaime: Jaime J. Izurieta is an architect, designer and author focused on improving the quality of the interact...
Jun 24, 2024•39 min•Season 1Ep. 138
Most of us probably think we’re good neighbors. But…most of us probably actually aren’t. The Lost Art of Neighboring is something that David Burton is bringing back to help small towns and the people who live in them thrive. About David: David Burton has been a community development specialist with the University of Missouri Extension since 2001. He is headquartered in Springfield and creates educational programs focused on leadership and becoming an engaged neighbor. In 2021, David created Miss...
Jun 10, 2024•51 min•Season 1Ep. 137
Some of our favorite kinds of stories are the ones that feature people with a dream in their hearts to do something amazing in their small towns who then go ahead and get it done. This episode is about a dream, a restaurant, and the woman who made it happen. About LeAnn: LeAnn Moen always wanted to own her own restaurant, but between raising children and being active on the family's farm, the timing was never quite right. Once her children were grown, though, she knew it was time. She started lo...
May 27, 2024•27 min•Ep. 136
We love small-town events (duh) and we love the people who make those events happen (also duh.) Thus, we love this whole episode. We get to talk to Jeremy Nelson about an amazing market he’s started and grown in his small town of Arthur, ND, and it's become kind of a whole thing. This episode is a transparent, honest look at what it looks like to do something big in a small town! About Jeremy: Jeremy was born in Northfield, MN and earned my BA in social studies secondary education in 2000 from B...
May 14, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 135
What does it look like to enhance communities through art, partnership, and general change-making? Well, we can’t think of anyone better than Maggie Strong to talk to about it. Maggie loves to work with communities to spur the change they know they need, and do so in a way that makes communities better and more beautiful for all. About Maggie: Maggie Strong is a community builder. She founded Strong Consulting in 2016 to help organizations and communities think creatively and act strategically. ...
Apr 29, 2024•46 min•Ep. 134
This is an episode about people and why how we treat them matters, as viewed through the lenses of politics and living in a small town. We cannot possibly agree on everything, and it feels as though nothing makes that clearer than politics. Given that we’re headed for another election season (yay*) we wanted to share this reminder that people should be at the center of everything we do, and a better future starts with us, at home, with how we treat one another and how we learn and grow and liter...
Mar 18, 2024•28 min•Ep. 133
Young people moving to our small towns—either coming back or relocating from somewhere else—is imperative not only so we know the newest slang but also to keep our towns growing and thriving. Having a person dedicated to bringing in new people and making their transitions easier is a proactive way to achieve this. We’re so excited to share this episode with our very own Relocation Specialist, TJ Roney! About TJ: My name is Taylor (TJ) Roney and I am the Relocation Specialist in Oakes, ND! I grad...
Mar 04, 2024•42 min•Ep. 132
“Are Chambers of Commerce even relevant anymore?” In our humble (but not too humble opinion:) YES ABSOLUTELY. While the idea of a Chamber of Commerce is an old one, an active, progressive Chamber can be an enormous benefit to small towns. We brought our very own Chamber Director to talk about everything she does and the benefits of an active, involved Chamber. About Kausha: Kausha lives on her family’s farm and ranch about 15 miles north of Oakes. She and her husband Chuck have been married for ...
Feb 19, 2024•50 min•Ep. 131
We all want our small towns to grow and thrive, but often, we don’t offer enough support to the people who are integral in making this happen: the entrepreneurs. Kim Nagle is an author, coach, speaker, and entrepreneur who helps her clients start profitable businesses, and she’s here to share with us what supporting entrepreneurs could look like in our small towns. Hint: it’s magic. About Kim: Known as The DAMN Plan lady, Kim is definitely a woman with a plan. Her life’s work is evidence of her ...
Feb 05, 2024•37 min•Ep. 130
When we last talked to Haley, she was pushing full steam ahead on building the beautiful Hearthside Vineyard & Winery. She’s still going full steam ahead but has had to push through some major, heartbreaking setbacks. This episode isn’t the bright, shiny one she (or we!) was hoping for, but it’s better because it’s real and it shows how hard entrepreneurs work to get their dreams off the ground. Real life is rarely bright and shiny, but hard-won victories taste even sweeter—literally, in Hal...
Jan 22, 2024•48 min•Ep. 129
Instead of bringing on a guest to end the year (or kick off a new one) we’re going to do a yearly recap and reflect on some things we’ve learned. If you’re a doer and a dreamer in a small town, this is for you. 10 Reflections From Us to You (and from us to ourselves because we need to be reminded of these things on the regular) Quit expecting people to behave in a way they don’t. Let them act how they’re going to act. No one is ever unbiased. You included Try to not judge the closed-minded peopl...
Dec 25, 2023•16 min•Ep. 128
We are so excited to start a new kind of episode here on the Growing Small Towns show where we check in with some of our favorite past guests to find out what’s happened since we last had them on the show—which for some of our guests is a whole heckuva lot. Brodie Mueller is the owner of The Market on the Plaza, among being a part of MANY other amazing things in his small town of Aberdeen, SD. This episode is part status check, part business convo, and part therapy sesh (as all the best conversa...
Dec 04, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 127
We are here with the longest episode in the history of Growing Small Towns because we just couldn’t stop talking to our next guest. Ben Muldrow caught Rebecca’s eye on Facebook, and he happens to have worked with Friend of the Pod Jeff Siegler. This is a long conversation but it’s so good - around every corner is yet another amazing concept or idea and we know you’ll love it as much as we did. About Ben: Ben Muldrow is a place branding and economic development expert who has spent the last 21 ye...
Oct 30, 2023•1 hr 41 min•Ep. 126
This episode is for, well, the dreamers. The people who believe big things are possible, even (especially!) in a small town. In this episode, we cover ten mindset reminders to help: Bolster you, our small-town dreamer Help you navigate difficult situations Provide some inspiration and hope And, really, just encourage you to keep those big dreams coming Links + Resources Mentioned Nome Schoolhouse Episode Get In Touch Have an idea for a future episode/guest, have feedback or a question, or just w...
Oct 16, 2023•35 min•Ep. 125
We live almost in two worlds now: the real one that we move around in physically, and the one online. The internet can be an amazing and helpful thing, but it can also be incredibly problematic. How do we navigate that balance and make sure that how we show up in the real world is not overly influenced by the engineered spaces we encounter online? It’s a meaty topic, and we have an extra-long episode to talk about it! About Chris: My name is Chris Burgess. I am a writer, editor, musician, teache...
Oct 02, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 124
We love when we find people who support small towns doing big things in ways we’ve never seen before, and this episode features two people and a business that is doing just that. Jasmin and Cassidy are two sisters behind an organization called Realizing Rural that offers important services like grant-writing, project management, graphic design, and marketing to small towns and the organizations in them who may not have the staff to support those tasks but who need them to grow. About Jasmin and ...
Sep 18, 2023•47 min•Ep. 123
We are so excited for another crossover episode with one of our most favorite people: small-town nonprofit expert and fun-haver Patrick Kirby. Hosted by Patrick, this episode is all about how to shift mindsets and rethink rural giving for small-town nonprofits. In this episode, we cover: How the Rural Bus Tour works and… Why you need one of your own Why nonprofits are so important for small towns The thorny problem of self-limitation in the nonprofit world, both financially and… In the way that ...
Aug 28, 2023•43 min•Ep. 122
This episode is about dreams, missions, storytelling, and how Cory Hepola combines all of those things into his life as a storyteller and documentarian and how he uses his gifts and skills to highlight small towns. About Cory: Cory Hepola is an Emmy Award Winning TV Anchor and Documentarian. Currently, he serves as the Vice President of Communications, Growth & Strategy at The Brookshire Company where he helps businesses around the world reach their fullest potential through strategic connec...
Aug 14, 2023•48 min•Ep. 121
Jeff Siegler is back with an incredibly thought-provoking episode about built places, communities, assumptions, and loneliness, and why designing our spaces and cities and towns to promote community is so important. This episode has it all: hot takes, hard truths, hard-to-discuss-but-mega-important ideas, and solutions to forge a better path forward. (Please tell us you also read that last sentence like Bill Hader's SNL character Stefon on Weekend Update.) About Jeff: Jeff Siegler is a writer, s...
Jul 31, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 120
Strong small-town businesses are the backbone of our communities, and when our local small businesses are thriving, so are we. Aly Robins is a rural resident, business coach, and marketing expert and she joins us in this grab-a-pen episode all about business foundations, marketing, mindset shifts, and how small-town businesses can use all of them to put themselves on a path to growth and success. Seriously, grab a pen and some paper, you’re going to want to take notes! About Aly: Aly Robins is a...
Jul 03, 2023•57 min•Ep. 119
When Haley Moen was getting her master’s degree in plant science, she planned to continue on to get her doctorate—a dream she’d held since 10th grade. But she realized that would likely take her away from her beloved North Dakota, and that it might mean she would have to spend her time in a lab. As a farm kid who loves her roots the wide-open North Dakota spaces, that wasn’t what she wanted. She decided to embark upon a journey to build a vineyard and a winery in her hometown of Oakes, North Dak...
Jun 19, 2023•45 min•Ep. 118
Mental health in small our small towns is one of the issues that is top of mind here at Growing Small Towns, and we know that is true for many of you in your communities, too. It’s an issue that can be really difficult to tackle, and we feel so lucky to have Monica on the show to talk about it with us, share her expertise, and give us all some actionable items and things we can pay attention to in order to help ourselves, our families and friends, and our communities About Monica: Monica Kramer ...
Jun 05, 2023•47 min•Ep. 117
This week’s episode is a special sort of follow-up to last week’s episode about remote work in our small towns, and it’s special because it’s featuring a member of the Growing Small Towns team! Cassidy has been with Rebecca and Growing Small Towns for four years as a remote virtual assistant, and this episode takes our listeners through the whole story and how being a virtual assistant opened the door for so many other things. About Cassidy Cassidy (but call her Cass) is a wife, mother, first-ge...
May 22, 2023•51 min•Ep. 116
Remote work is, to use a buzzy buzzword, a game-changer for small communities. One of the only good things to come out of the pandemic, the rise in remote work opportunities means people can move to small towns without having to quit their job or ask their spouse/partner to do the same, which is, well, fabulous for us! Danielle Teigen is kind of an expert in small-town remote work—it’s kind of her actual life—and she’s here to talk us through what that can look like and share the possibilities, ...
May 08, 2023•37 min•Ep. 115
If you have listened to our show for any length of time or follow us on social media, you know that here at Growing Small Towns the traditional approach to economic growth just doesn’t get us real excited. While it’s great if a big business does want to come to your town and build an office or something, we like to think outside that particular box. What we like to focus on is how our communities feel and make others feel and what kinds of mentalities are holding us back from realizing our full ...
Apr 24, 2023•23 min•Ep. 114
Startup Colorado is a 501(c)(3) that works with rural entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders throughout the state to cultivate successful environments to start and grow businesses in the places that they call home. They have an amazing, effective approach to supporting entrepreneurs in rural places and if you are involved in this work and their Communications and Editorial Director, Margaret Hedderman, is here to tell us all about it. About Margaret Before relocating to the Front Range, Margaret m...
Mar 06, 2023•41 min•Ep. 113
What does it look like to write your own rural narrative, and how can you actively incorporate that idea into convincing people to move to your small town? Well, we happen to have Erik Osberg to tell us all about it. He’s his county’s (and perhaps the country’s only) Rural Rebound Initiative Coordinator and yes, it’s the coolest. About Erik Erik Osberg is the Rural Rebound Initiative Coordinator for Otter Tail County which is in west-central Minnesota. In 2016 Otter Tail County embarked on an ef...
Feb 06, 2023•38 min•Ep. 112
Happy New Year! We’re so excited to be back, although we’re not quite sure how we got here. Because we’re more mindset folks than resolution folks around these parts, this episode is all about things to try this year for all of you small-town changemakers. When we have a new goal or are ready to embark on a new journey, we need to make sure we’re starting with sustainability in mind, meaning that we aren’t setting ourselves too many new things or habits, and that the processes we are using are g...
Jan 09, 2023•35 min•Ep. 111
Happy December! Today we’ve got a solocast and it’s all about what holds small towns back. There are five things, and Rebecca is here to talk through all of them. So what are those five things that hold small towns back? Constraint-led thinking Underestimating the cost of doing nothing Treating today’s decisions as if they’re only about us An unwillingness to right-size ideas Accepting sliding standards Links + Resources Mentioned How to Combat Apathy In Small Towns with Jeff Siegler: https://ww...
Dec 05, 2022•35 min•Ep. 110
