Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to midday magazine for this November 22nd, 2023.
Have your host, James J. Mailoff here. We're welcoming into the studio today,
Kate Norby, director of development with the ODC. Kate joining us on the phone.
Kate, thanks a lot for being here.
I'm very happy to be here. Thanks for having me.
I appreciate the time for me, Kate. The connection, okay?
The connection's great.
Okay, good. Wanted to double check real quick. That's awesome. Kate, we're going to talk about a lot today.
I want to encourage people to bookmark it. They haven't already.
The ODC's webpage, odciinc.com, odciinc.com.
Some of the things we talk about today, well, you can find right there.
Kate, you are the director of development over at the ODC.
We're just some of the projects that you guys are piloting for the 23-24 year,
for this year and for next year.
Well, today I'd like to highlight and talk about two projects that we have going.
We actually started them. One of the projects started prior to my joining ODC.
So it started in 2022, late 2022.
And that's a project centered on entrepreneurs,
entrepreneurship for individuals with disabilities.
So people who want to explore starting their own business.
And the other project that just kicked off this fall
is on building community connections.
Let's start with the self-employment part, the entrepreneurial ship of this,
which by the way, that's not an easy word to say this early.
That's not easy to work.
I think when we think of the clients at the ODC, we often think about them
being a part of other businesses and working at other businesses.
Are we speaking about them starting their own businesses?
We are.
And absolutely, we support people working in the community
and try our best to be an excellent service provider
to help people join businesses and become co-workers of all of us in our day-to-day work.
So that's a really great opportunity.
But for some individuals, they may have a dream of starting their own business
or they may have a special skill or talent or thing they want to explore.
And ODC applied for a grant and received it from the state of Wisconsin
to really explore what entrepreneurial ship can look like.
How do we support people who may have some unusual barriers
or need some additional assistance in really developing their own business plan
and launching and caring through their dream of becoming a business owner?
Kate, if we could take just a second to pause
and just appreciate the idea of this, I've known about the ODC
as long as I've lived here in Wisconsin Rapids.
My aunt was a client there and they really were game changers and helping her.
And knowing about the ODC and the services you guys offer,
this is something that I hadn't thought that much about.
And the idea of this is just a beautiful thing just in itself.
So just taking a moment for us to be able to appreciate the idea of this is fantastic,
I think, and I want the audience to appreciate.
But then there's the idea, maybe getting it going,
and the hard work that can come with it.
What are some of the biggest challenges for the clients there of doing something like this?
Well, first of all, I think one of the, you know, we really,
this has been an option for service providers and for our voc rehab professionals
to support people with disabilities to launch their own businesses,
but it really hasn't taken off not just in Wisconsin, but nationally.
It hasn't gotten the traction that it really could.
And I think with the rise of more freelancing, the gig economy,
people with technology and people able to sell online markets
or just have access to different markets using technology,
it's really, you know, it's really blossomed.
So I think it hit the table again and hit the minds of people who said,
you know, this has always been an option, but we really haven't ironed out or figured out how to really
how to really educate more people about this and support it.
So the first barrier to back to your question is that one of the biggest challenges is just
making people aware that this is an option.
So I think often, unfortunately, it's a daunting idea for anyone to think about like
becoming a business owner. It can sound scary or overwhelming,
but I think people who with disabilities sometimes feel it's even out of
further reach for them. So just sharing the idea with people or supporting the idea
for someone who is interested or presents with a skill or talent or something they want to
explore is in itself one of the first turtles.
Yeah, it really is an interesting day and age when it comes to the self-employment,
when it comes to gig economy. There are so many, so many options nowadays for people to be kind
of self-employed or be a free agent if you will, a freelancer, whatever words or terminology
want to use. With that, though, and you focus on the clients at the ODC, that opens up a whole new
world of opportunities and employment for them. And the idea of being your own boss is something
that most people dream about and want and excel to. They're no different. They would like something
like that too. That is a pretty unique opportunity for them. It's not only a chance for them to
be self-empowering and build confidence and so many other things, but to be a great
a taxpayer and a big portion of their economy, their local economy. This all kind of adds up,
it all kind of comes together and ties together. Yeah, and you can really see it on the faces
and in the words of the people that we're working with. I mean, there's a lot of pride and
purpose in becoming a business owner and even those at the very beginning, just starting their
business plans. I mean, you'll walk a little taller, you'll feel a little more confident,
and you're willing to put in the hard work to make it happen. And some of us with disability
or without, you know, may find it more challenging to have a typical 8 to 439 to 5 job due to whatever
extenuating circumstances. And so some individuals that we serve, you know, this is such a great
opportunity now with more freelancing, more small businesses popping up, more opportunity to do
all kinds of work using technology or using local markets. Because honestly, there's good
days, there's bad days, there's sometimes transportation barriers, other things that just sort
of aren't here when you're managing your own business. You know, it's things that I think that
you and I, the audience, we're listening to you say that and we're nodding our head that we
can relate to that in our own lives. And then you add that onto what it is like for the clients
of the ODC in their situation and how the difficulties that could be arise from that.
Kind of not only gives you hopefully a little perspective, but also some understanding of the
not only the work of those clients, but the work of you and your team over there at the ODC.
Kate, I'm curious, how do you approach self-employment services?
How, what are some of the line up of that? How does that work?
Well, the first thing we do is we talk to individuals who maybe we notice that they have a
skill or talent and we say, hey, have you ever thought about selling this or have you ever
thought about treating this into a business? That might be the first way we explore the concept
or someone comes to us and says, you know, I really want to start my own business. I've been
doing some, I'll give you an example, I've been doing some public speaking and it's going really
well that I'd really like to make money at it and turn that into employment. So we explore the
concept with the individual and we start to talk through assets and barriers. Well, what do you
bring into the table? What do you have to start with? And then what are some of the challenges?
So we work through that process. The next thing we do is look at the feasibility, the way any
business planning would work for any of us and we, you know, we crunch the numbers, we do a
market analysis, we talk to others who are running similar businesses and learn from them through
informational interviews and things of that nature. So we explore the feasibility and then really
help the individual understand, you know, what this entails because, you know, there's a lot of
hard work that goes into operating your own business. So then the person can really make an
educated and informed decision about, yeah, I want to keep going. I want to develop my business plan,
I want to move this forward or, you know, I really like this as a hobby and or I do this sort of as
volunteer gig, I think I'm going to stick with that for now for whatever reason. So it's a really
nice upfront pre-planning to the business planning to make sure we're not rushing people into
something that, and they have all the information to make the best decision for themselves.
Yeah, it's a real, it's nice too because it's a way of like kind of
playing this out, well, you know, working through the mo, going through the motions without
going through them, without actually doing them in some ways when you're talking this out. And,
you know, people get, especially creatives, we get passionate, we get excited about an idea,
and it sounds really good, but it might not always be, you know, something that you want to put all
your time and money and effort into. And then on other sides, you may think you have a good idea
and you bring it along to others and their minds are blown. Oh my god, that is a great idea. We
should definitely do that. It can go in a number of different directions. It's also an important
thing to me about this when we were going back to what we were talking about with the gig economies,
the idea of realizing the new world we're in and trying to gauge that. That is never easy for
business, it never was, and certainly isn't nowadays, being able to figure that out. So,
when you're able to talk these things out with one of your clients, you're really able to have a
game plan. Right. Yeah, absolutely. And ideally, build a small resource team around the person that
could be with them long-term because all of us rely on the support of others. If we're launching
our own business or just getting through day to day, we can't do it all by ourselves, right? We
talk to our friends or our family or sometimes we buy assistance. So, I think one of the myths
out there about, well, this couldn't, you know, is this for somebody who maybe has extra challenges?
It absolutely is because none of us really go at alone and especially when we're building a
business. So, if crunchy numbers isn't there saying it's managing the financial piece,
there are resources they can purchase out of their business proceeds for that service the same
way we all do. So, we think it's really important part of this process to make sure we're building
as much of a team around the individual the same way we would want if we were starting something new
and going to be putting a lot of heart and soul into it. And going back to a statement that you had
there that I really, I really hope the audience heard and felt, focusing on what a person can do
and not what they can't. And I think that's a beautiful part of not only this but of the ODC
and something I think we can all take a little piece of in our personal lives. It goes a long way.
I try to live that in my personal life. That's for sure, James. It really is a,
there's a lot of, and we'll talk about that more when we move on to the second project, but
we can show up with seeing barriers and challenges and deficits or we can show up with
a more, I know it's cliche, but the half go half full and it's for opportunities and it's
amazing what we can build a time when we take that approach. I learned this the hard way. I had
to rewire my brain. I had to do to do these things to be able to see the world that way. And I'm
telling you, it's a lot better. It's a lot better world, a lot more beautiful world. And you
see the opportunities in it when you take a look at what the positives and not so much the negatives
of things with almost any subject where we're touching on. The ODC also provides services to help
people with disabilities as well as part of this. Yes, we do. So, you know, ODC provides an array of
services, whether that's helped with more traditional employment services, some community day
services, transportation, assisting people with community living, have open mental health,
two mental health clinics, just keeps growing, it seems like so. But with this particular service,
you know, we're really focusing on helping individuals do what they love, getting connected to
their community, gaining independence, meeting their financial goals, becoming their own boss,
which is something you already mentioned. We all, or a lot of us think about times time.
Yeah. And making their own schedule. So, that's the service we're learning to provide and we're
continuing to grow our skills and get good at this. And we have had nearly 20 people interested
in exploring this, which is really great because that number may sound small, but it's actually
large because our whole state, the number of people pursuing this option right now is much smaller
than that. So, we hope to grow it, to share it with other providers around the state, and hope
others can assist people to do this. Along the title. Kate, Kate's not in the studio, so she can't
see me and I know this is an audio medium. None of you can. I almost jumped out of my chair when I
heard that number. That was, that's an awesome number right there. That doesn't sound small at all
to me. That's 20 more, that's the, that's possibly 20 more businesses being put into our community,
20 more businesses putting the back and putting into our economy in this community. That's a,
that is big. That's, that's something being created by the ODC and their staff and their clients.
That is, that is an awesome story to hear going into this holiday weekend. That's pretty cool.
Are we seeing, as far as this goes, are we seeing some of the clients there? It's early in the
process, I understand, but already seeing some people talking about this, some ideas being thrown
around. Oh, yeah. I mean, there's people already test marketing their products and just really,
really getting out there because part of that process and the feasibility phase is
make a few sell a few if it's a, if it's a product you're making or provide the service, see how it
goes. What did the, you know, and learning about those price points. So people are out there actively
doing those things, just they're building their business plan. We're speaking with Kate Norby,
Director of Development for the ODC and Kate. Let's talk about that second project, the community
connections now. Well, this one's amazing as well. I have to say I know I'm biased because I do this
work every day, but this one is around community connections. ODC received a grant, an additional
grant from the State of Wisconsin, to help learn how to connect people to their communities,
better connect people to their communities. And we just launched this with a small team of
individuals from ODC, some staff from ODC, and we're out there hitting the central Wisconsin
community streets and helping learn about all the rich abundance in our communities and
meeting with individuals who want to explore getting more connected and establish some
relationships and a sense of belonging or reconnect if they lost that. And already, just since
launching this in September, we've worked with 12 individuals and it's going really well.
It's, it's a really cool project that I mean, I could probably speak for longer than anyone
would know. I know isolation and loneliness is a growing issue in our country and for there's
a coalition actually going on in Wisconsin to end isolation and loneliness. Nationally, there's
just like hundreds of studies on this topic because we are becoming more disconnected, unfortunately,
and there is evidence to that fact. So like 50% of adults in the United States report
feeling lonely and disconnected, and that's really staggering. And the health implications
are huge for that. So ODC, just, you know, people with disabilities are even more marginalized
and have the potential to be even more disconnected. But we want to do something about that.
Right. And with this being such a big topic and something that really affects all aspects,
young, old, rich, poor man, woman, cat, dog, everybody's affected by this,
knowing that going into it and then understanding your clientele, it can be a little bit different
and even more so a situation for them. How does the ODC help with something like this?
How are you guys helping with people with disabilities build connections?
Well, we used that same strength-based approach we were talking about earlier. So first,
individuals are, you know, coming to Austin saying, we're getting the word out, hey, we can do
this and help you or help someone you know. And so we have people reaching out to say, yeah,
I, you know, I just moved and I don't know anyone or I was very connected to my
community, but something changed and I've lost that and I want to rebuild that. So
so we receive interest and then we sit down with people and we just get to know them and we say,
hey, what are you interested in? We want to really, there's so many ways to explore community
and not everything is important to everyone, right? So it's really about honing in on the things
that the person wants to explore, what their gifts are, what their strengths are, what's important
to them and then taking them out in the community and making introductions and, you know,
experiencing things with them and then eventually we back out because the goal is that what
you see isn't involved in these relationships long-term, but we're building relationships that
sustain themselves. I love that the first step of this is building a relationship. It is actually
talking to somebody, talking to a client, talking to somebody that is struggling with this and
finding out, how would you like to be involved? How, what would you like to do? Not necessarily
saying, hey, go over here, get involved. It's more so talking to them and so it already starts
from a beautiful place, I think, and from a place that's organically going to be a big part of
the process of this, of okay, so you care about this organization or this kind of cause, so you
can be a part of this, maybe, and volunteer with this or maybe meet people doing these kind of
things and it kind of, it just brings boards from there. Yeah, and we have some tools for you to
do that because if I ask you, James, what are you interested in? Gosh, that's a big question,
right? We have ways to really help a person pulling in on things they may not be thinking of,
and so we use some tools and skills to do that so that a person doesn't feel overwhelmed by
even the question of, well, what do you want to do? Where do you want to go? It's a great process,
and it's, I mean, already we've seen some just really cool things happening and some beautiful
things happening. I mentioned earlier that the ODC has been a part of my life for a long time
and how much I care about the work being done there. I have a lot of personal feelings about it,
but I also, part of what I've always loved about the ODC is what it helped me realize with my
aunt Pat. She, she was like a big sister to me more than an aunt, and she is like a big sister
to me more than an aunt, and when it comes to, I always, I looked up to her so much. She was
a gymnast. She was actually in training to be a, a US Olympic gymnast in these things, and
I looked up to her so much after her accident and her mind changed. She, she was different,
and I lost that part of it, and I found it again through the ODC. My aunt Pat started working at
shopgo. She started doing more things right now. She is in Florida traveling, you know,
having, living her best life with her husband, who she did not have anything like that and
the possibilities before all this. The thing that I take from the ODC, along with all that other
stuff, is I admire, I look up to the clients over there to you and your staff. I find a lot of,
a lot of, to get me motivated, and there's so much of that from the ODC. I think when it comes to
something like this, that's another thing that the ODC can offer to our community, that would,
inspire us. We see somebody a client from the ODC out there volunteering or doing something,
hopefully it encourages others to do very much the same thing.
Absolutely, and I just believe that our communities, to have a real community,
everyone needs to belong and be part of. So, not just showing up, but being having reciprocal
relationships, being known, being missed if they're not there, really becoming the fabric
of our community. And I agree with you, James. I'm newer to ODC. I've actually only been with
the organization for four months, but it's a true pleasure to wake up every day and be supporting
the mission for all the reasons that you just shared what a great, what a great story about your
aunt. Kate, the next time we get together, I'd really like to get to know you a little bit more.
I usually do that when people join us the first time. You had so many great talking points
it's so much to get to. I wanted to make sure to cover that. But next time, I'm going to put you
on the spot. I can get to know you a little bit more. Just to warn you, just so you know.
We do want to wrap up letting people know that this, whether either project we're talking about,
but the community connections, this is something that all the things Kate and I have been talking about.
It's also really fun and rewarding. I want to lose sight of that. There's a very fun and rewarding
way of being with your community. Absolutely. I just said, I enjoy getting up and going to work
every day. But yeah, this particular community connections, I mean, we're exploring our
connector team, exploring our communities in a way that we haven't. So we're noticing things
in our community, the richness, the access, the people in a way that you might, it's surprising,
James, like you lived somewhere for a long time. But you might always wonder what actually
goes on in that place. And so we're all there meeting businesses, meeting civic organizations,
different groups, different spaces of natural beauty. And there's just so much opportunity
and richness there. And then also just this is just really helping us meet new people. ODC does a
really nice job of building community already and being part of the community. But this is taking
it to a whole new level. And we're taking it outside of some of our home base of
Wisconsin rapids and Marshfield and some of those central areas that we're typically working in.
I mean, we're out in Marrow. We're out in Los Al. We're out in some of the neighboring communities
as well. And so it's just, it is really fun and really rewarding. It's a beautiful thing. We've
really enjoyed talking with you, Kate. Thank you so much for the time. As we're wrapping up, I do
want to remind everybody about small business Saturday. Be sure to buy local support local.
Get that passport and bring it on over to milkweed market. They are a part of they are on the
passports. You're going to have to go over there, get that checked off and get some great products
locally grown, locally made products right here in central Wisconsin and support the ODC
through the milkweed market. We greatly appreciate everybody out there doing that and appreciate
you. Kate, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks, James. Have a great holiday weekend. You too.
Have a great Thanksgiving and joy. We'll talk again real soon. Thank you.
I want to send a big thank you to all of our guests throughout the whole year here on Midday
magazine. We greatly appreciate all of these different organizations and people taking time out
of their day to join us. Big thank you to the greatest listeners and radio. All of you out there
and a special thank you to Pam Hilke, the amazing scheduling she does day in and day out around here.
We appreciate you. Have yourselves a great holiday. Be good to each other. We'll talk to you
soon later right here at WFHR.