Welcome everybody to Midday magazine for this March 19th, 2024.
Have your host James J. Mailov here and we're welcoming into this.
Actually on the phone, I should say our great friend Kayla Rumbalski.
She is the Community Development Educator with our friends at UW Extension Medicine Wood County.
Kayla, good to have you on the air with us.
Hi, James. Good to be here.
Always appreciate the time and the information and what you and our friends at Extension bring to our listeners.
We really appreciate that, Kayla.
And one thing that we're going to focus on today, we're going to get to some great events that you guys are a part of.
We're going to really focus on entrepreneurship here in the state of Wisconsin.
Yes, we sure are.
And this is something that we've talked about before about wanting to make sure that folks that are starting businesses in Wood County and Central Wisconsin
know that they're supported in that act and talking about some of the great things we have planned for continuing to encourage entrepreneurs
to take that napkin idea that they have and turning it into a real successful business model.
It's really fascinating to me to look at the arc of a human being or the arc of a business, see where it starts and where it ends up.
By now, most people have heard a lot of the term pivoting.
A lot of the tech world really highlighted that and brought it to everybody's lexicon.
But almost every business has done some pivoting before.
It's a big part of not only starting a business, but the idea, even when that idea first begins.
And so much of that too is important.
This topic is important to me.
One of the things that's important to me to mention about this topic, I think, is the biggest difference of the people that make it and don't.
I know this a lot from my industry and entertainment.
And the difference between me and another person, it rarely comes down to talent or connections or anything like that.
It is a relentlessness.
It is a drive to want to succeed.
It is a drive to want to make something happen.
And we know that so many in our business world are feeling the same way.
Especially when you come up with these ideas, you want to take the ball, you want to run with it.
But you want to make this happen, make it successful.
So that's where the entrepreneurship in some of these events really, really are key.
Right, exactly.
That's where our conversation is coming from this morning.
Yeah, looking at how we can support those folks that have those ideas and want to take them to the next level.
So James, I'm even thinking about you in this with your Simpsons One Act play that we talked about in the past.
So thinking about you as a potential entrepreneur with that idea and that idea in the back of your head,
that one day could become a hit and something that could become business model for you.
We have other great, better ideas out there.
But I appreciate that.
But it is a great example to bring up, too, because while you may think you go from having a great idea,
you think it's really good.
And then all of a sudden you start to wonder, well, I don't know, would masses like this,
would this be popular, would this be successful?
It's great to have opportunities for a lot of our entrepreneurial or young entrepreneurs out there to meet up
and to have other people to talk to about these subjects.
Right.
Yes, so we've got a couple of different events on the docket for folks to do just that.
So I wanted to share that there is a Founders Network event coming up in Pitville at the Pitville Lions Clubhouse.
This is open to anyone from the area, certainly from Wood County, but from beyond as well.
It's free of charge.
And it will be a chance for entrepreneurs and those who support them to really have the opportunity to meet,
to chat, to cultivate ideas together, and kind of talk about what they're working on,
and find ways that they can be supported.
So at this particular event, let me back up and first say that these events are happening across Central Wisconsin.
So there's one actually in Wasa this afternoon.
There has been a few in Stevens Point that have been hosted, and then this will be the first Wood County event.
And we're pretty excited about it.
So there's a brief program that will actually include the start-up story of a local Kiva loan recipient,
and sharing out of a new Central Wisconsin financing tool, thanks to the Central Wisconsin Economic Development Fund.
So if you're looking at, you know, oftentimes, what we hear from small business owners and entrepreneurs is that one.
They're trying to take that, you know, using that napkin idea again.
They're trying to take that idea and turn it into a fledgling business, or take a business that maybe has just been started,
but is looking to go to the next level.
In order to do that, you need funding.
You need the capital to make that happen.
And so at this networking event, we will be sharing, excuse me, success stories, and the new tool that entrepreneurs can use.
And then also just a chance to meet with others that are kind of interested in the same topics, right?
That are doing these, having these start-up ideas and working within their businesses in our county.
So we're really excited about it.
Again, it's Thursday, April 18th, from 5.30 to 7, completely free of charge.
We'll have drinks and refreshments available, as well as the opportunity to just meet and chat with some really cool people.
And this is taking place at the Pitzville Lions Club?
Yes, that's correct.
So Pitzville is a geographic center of the state, so kind of a cool fact there, but also a really cool community.
I do a lot of work with extension in Pitzville.
And it's a community that's often overlooked.
It's right in between what we call North and Southwood County.
So same distance, really, from Marshfield and Rapid.
And so oftentimes it gets kind of lost in that North-Southwood device.
But they're doing some really amazing things with their downtown.
They have some housing incentives that they've been working on, very forward-thinking community.
And also a lot of entrepreneurial startups that are happening in Pitzville.
So it's really a chance for Pitzville to kind of shine and show what they've been working on.
But to also just bring people together to continue the conversation around these topics.
Send a big shout out to our friends in Pitzville.
We love our listeners and our friends over there here from them from time to time.
And we don't get to highlight Pitzville or towns like that nearly enough.
So love being able to have the opportunity to do that.
And to that point too, Kayla, when it comes to entrepreneurship and these sort of things.
To be able to talk to like-minded people.
To be able to share ideas with people that are in a similar boat, if not the same boat that you are.
There's such a support and a confidence that can be built from that.
Even before the sharing of information or different opportunities that there are economically for entrepreneurs.
All those things are really important.
But just the basis of support and encouragement.
You and I have talked about this before.
Support and encouragement.
Cost nothing can mean everything.
That's what a lot of this networking and this meet-up is about.
Along with of course sharing information about other opportunities economically and different ways that you can really get this off the ground and get running.
Yes, so true.
So we invite anyone who is interested in this conversation to come out.
Maybe you're not an entrepreneur, but you just want to hang out with folks that are.
Please come and join us.
We'd love to see you at this event.
And as I mentioned, this is part of a larger network.
So the founders network is if you search for basin founders network on the internet and on Facebook you'll find an event and a page that pops up.
And they're planning events that I'm looking at the definition right now hosting social events that inspire creative thinking and build social capital in North Central Wisconsin.
So this is the upper and central Wisconsin river basin.
Yeah, they're doing some great things.
Kayla, I apologize.
I got really excited there because you touched on something that I have in my notes.
I wanted to make sure to highlight with this.
And we're talking so much about entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship and people out there with their ideas.
But there are a lot of businesses out there and a lot of people out there basically that are looking to fund or looking to find the next great idea, the next great thing.
And support that and whether it's financially or what other reasons.
So we definitely want to encourage you to attend this too.
Imagine we hear this from time to time, the idea of you could have bought stock in Apple, you know, when it first started out or something like that.
Is that opportunity?
Yeah, here's that opportunity.
Here it is. It's a chance to not only be able to do that, but you're also supporting local.
You are supporting local business people and you are highlighting your state and you know, just embodying that too.
So there's so many good reasons to come to this great conference.
Yes, exactly. And I apologize, James, for cutting you off.
I love when we both get going and we get so excited about what we're talking about.
Yeah.
It seems like we feel the fulfillment of this segment and no time at all.
I think we're pretty even on that one. I think I've cut you off. You've cut me out. I think we're pretty even. We're okay.
I think we're good.
Who may even do it?
Support the interviewer here. So let me know who knows.
You never know.
I do want to continue talking a little bit about some of the events that you guys are going to be a part of.
Let's go ahead and continue with that.
Yeah. So speaking of folks that want to support entrepreneurs, you know, those that may be in business lending, for example,
or educators, teachers who are working with students that may have ideas for what they want to do after they graduate,
that might involve owning their own business or opening a retail shop or whatever it might be.
We are also hosting an event called Homegrown.
It is called Homegrown because it's really focused on supporting our homegrown entrepreneurs.
So within the world of economic development, there's a lot of talk about how communities want to attract from outside, right?
They want to attract new businesses to come to the area and look at that as a really sound strategy for supporting local economics.
So if we can get Coca-Cola to build a plant in Wisconsin Rapids and create all these jobs that it's going to be this great thing.
And in a lot of cases, it can be, but what we found over the years, what the data shows is that supporting businesses that start in your community
and grow in your community is far more successful than trying to attract from outside.
And what I mean by that is a local business that had its roots, maybe they started in a garage in Marshfield,
and then opened their business to a brick and mortar location and continued to grow.
That business is going to have far more connections to the local community.
So when it comes time to think about further expansion and maybe they're thinking they might want to move on, move to a different community
that might have a better fit for perhaps land or the building that they're looking for.
If they have a connection and a strong tie to the community they're in, that's absolutely not even going to be on the table, right?
So you think about those businesses that really have those connections to the community and really are grounded in the community,
and that's what we want to see more of.
So this homegrown event is really about trying to foster and lift up the businesses that are starting in our communities,
particularly looking at entrepreneurs and those who are just getting started with their businesses.
So it'll be two days and it's Monday, April 29th and Tuesday, April 30th.
We have just finished to save the date.
So this is really me talking to you about this is kind of hot off the presses.
We haven't done a lot of advertising for it yet, but we definitely want folks to become involved in this event into a tent.
So in those two days, the first day is really looking at what we call the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
So again, I feel like everything in economic development has such a buzzword associated with it.
We create these terms for things, right? So entrepreneurial ecosystem is one of those terms.
Essentially what that means is just creating a community that really supports and lifts up entrepreneurs and the work that they're doing.
So who are we looking at to attend this event?
We really want to include those individuals who are working directly with entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs themselves.
So that might include commercial bankers or lenders, business lenders, educational institutions, local municipal leaders, entrepreneurs themselves,
or community influencers.
If you think about the people in your community that just seem to know everyone and are always making the connections between people and between resources,
those are the folks that we want in the room at this event.
And we're really going to spend some time on the first day looking at the current state of entrepreneurship in our community.
So looking at what data we have, what initial strategies we have for entrepreneurship,
why entrepreneurship is a really good economic development strategy as I talked about earlier with wanting to support those who are creating businesses in your local community.
And then we'll hear from some local entrepreneurs.
So we have some entrepreneurs related to tell their story and kind of talk about how they got started and what would have been really great for them along the way,
like what resources they felt like they really could have used to kind of develop some understanding of where those gaps are.
So what are entrepreneurs needing as they get started that we don't have in wood county or what would someone feel like is a reason to leave the community.
So maybe they are starting their business and they realize, yeah, wood county is not a good fit for me.
We want to know about that. We want to know why you're leaving and hopefully be able to make some change in that area so that we can keep those entrepreneurs here.
So that'll really be the first day. And then the second day is all about action planning and looking at how we can strengthen relationships, how we can strengthen connections between entrepreneurs and move forward.
So it's a great agenda. I'm really excited about it. I think our team our entrepreneurship team at the county level that's made up of a variety of different stakeholders is really excited about it.
And we hope folks will attend and join us.
Kayla, by now most everybody has seen the reports about how Wisconsin has been affected by the lack of winter this year, especially our northern area.
The economic impact that this has had is, you know, not really able to we can't even really understand until we have some time to take the data in and really take a look back and see.
And it's the other another factor that comes up with most of almost every representative I have on the air here, senators, congressmen, even locally, mayors and that is keeping people in state and that.
So you bring these two factors together and an opportunity like this has even more meaning to it already is a great idea and a great chance for us to be able to support our entrepreneurship and young entrepreneurs and ideas here in the state.
But it becomes that much more important when we look at the year that we have had here. Is that part of the reason for this or was this something that would pretty much going to happen either way?
So this isn't the works even before that, but I think that's a perfect example of why this work is so important because we really do need to look at supporting we don't we don't know what's coming next.
So whether it's a global pandemic that takes a really significant toll on our restaurants and our dining experiences, whether it's the lack of snow that takes a significant toll on our outdoor recreational businesses and experiences.
We don't know what the future is going to look like. So as strong as we can build our community supports for local businesses, the better our community will be and the more resilient our community will be the more able those businesses will will be to pivot.
And I have to tell you this is this is totally an aside, but I am a huge friends fan and so every time I hear the word pivot, I think when Ross and I think it's Rachel are moving a couch up on their
New York City apartment, and they are trying to get the couch around the corner and Ross is just like, PIVA! PIVA!
You're my people, Caleb. You're my, is that is what I think of every time I hear that word pivot, but I think it's so true.
That's often when you're saying it, right? It's times of not emergency, but times of like stress when you're like, okay, we really, we've got to change this. It's not working. How can we pivot and make it different?
Yeah. And it speaks to just talking about it also speaks to just the idea of entrepreneurship too. It's a really important not only conference, but it's great to see the support coming to this.
And while I don't think that there's a bad time to start on these things early, it is great to see our friends at extension and so many others coming together and jumping on this topic right away.
And not like a year from now or something like that, I think that is key to this conversation and really it should be noted to as a compliment to you and your team at extension and the other people involved in this.
It's really great to see. Caleb, we don't want to keep it too long or anything here. And just so the audience knows, Caleb has been playing hard everybody and we really appreciate her doing that.
So thank you again for that, Caleb. Appreciate it.
Yes, thank you. My kids were kind enough to share. You know, I heard a lot about sharing and how that's important. I'm not sure sharing their colds and flu viruses is as important as sharing their toys, but I don't think it.
Kids are pretty good about that, aren't they? They're really shared.
That's earlier.
If you don't mind, I wanted to wrap up talking a little bit about the connecting entrepreneurial communities conference coming up in May.
Yes, so we have talked a lot about the local level and while Wisconsin as a state is still local, I wanted to call out attention to a conference that, excuse me, a conference on entrepreneurship, that extension, as well as a number of other partners are hosting in the dress list area of Wisconsin.
So down in Plattville, it will be May 30th to 31st, and it is the first time that this conference is being hosted in Wisconsin.
In other Midwestern states, it is an annual conference, but it's coming to Wisconsin for the first time. So we're super excited about this.
Again, the connecting entrepreneurial community conference, it'll be hosted in Plattville, which I was just sharing with some colleagues is a community that I know next to nothing about.
Aside from the fact that they have a university there, but I don't really even know much about that.
And so I'm excited. I'll be attending something that I think is really interesting about this conference is it's going to dive into a lot of the topics that we've been talking about.
So how to build belonging in communities through entrepreneurship, how to support local business, how to look at entrepreneurship and economic development together as a sort of a long game for
retention strategy for businesses and employees in your community.
But aside from the topics, the actual conference itself is not held in a hotel conference ballroom or center.
It's held across the city of Plattville. So it sounds like from what I've heard, each session will be sort of at a different downtown business.
And we'll give folks the opportunity not only to learn from one another and to learn from the presenters that are giving the session, but also just to have a chance to explore a new community and learn what has been successful in supporting entrepreneurs and supporting local residents in the city of Plattville.
So that should be kind of exciting too. It's not a conference where you're sitting in the same stuffy chair for eight hours at a time.
It sounds like it's going to be very engaging, very up and moving and always in a different spot.
Is this a conference Kayla that we need to register for?
Yes, yep. So registration is available now. You can find that at economicdevelopment.extension.wisc.edu.
Or if you search for Wisconsin, I know I always give this option because I just think it's easier than typing in a website.
If you search for Wisconsin connecting entrepreneurial communities, conference, it'll come right up and you'll be able to register there.
And again, we want to remind people about the founders network Wood County meetup that is coming up Thursday, April 18th, 537 over at the Pitville Lions Club.
We'll be talking more about these events on our morning shows and in our community calendar events and everything and making sure that you guys get a really good crowd.
And all of our great entrepreneurs know about these events, Kayla.
Awesome. Thank you so much James. Always a brother. Always always a joy while working with you and talk with you Kayla.
You take care, get better and we'll talk again real soon.
Sounds great. Thank you.
Thank you.
Well, a more midday magazine coming up for you on WFHR locally grown radio.
