Welcome to another inspiring episode of Espresso with Entrepreneurs! How often do we get to talk about show cattle taking over a downtown business district? Today, we have the pleasure of hosting Christian Calliham, a distinguished figure from the world of agriculture and entrepreneurship. Christian, known for his founding role in the Aggieville Showdown (and a former YEC participant), joins us to share his journey, insights, and fervor for the intersections of agriculture, Aggieville, and entrepreneurship. We hope you enjoy the episode and, as always, stay inspired and keep brewing success!

In this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast, Don Macke with e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems hosts Ron Zeigler, President and CEO of Community Economic Development Associates or CEDA for short.  Don and Ron’s conversation focuses on CEDA’s current and emerging work with smaller rural communities in the upper Midwest.  CEDA has an innovative service model worthy of consideration and replication in other parts of rural America. Ron is a leader in the field of community economic development and this podcast will explore his journey as well.

Welcome to another episode of "Espresso with Entrepreneurs." In today's episode, we sitdown with lifelong friends and seasoned entrepreneurs, Steve Radley and Erik Pedersen.Join us as they take us on a captivating journey through their early years inentrepreneurship, sharing valuable lessons learned along the way…and how thoselessons have served them well in the growth and evolution of NetWork Kansas.These two do a great job of summarizing the essential lessons learned throughout theirjourney, and both add some actionable life-tips from Steve’s Dad, their Mentor andbusiness partner!As always, whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting your own journey,their stories and lessons are sure to inspire and guide you on your own entrepreneurialpath.

In this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast, Don Macke with e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems hosts Tom Field with the Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program.  Tom and the Engler Program are hosted by the University of Nebraska’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources based in Lincoln, Nebraska.  The tag line on the front page of the program’s website is Engler – A New Type of Entrepreneurship.  Tom is a remarkable visionary and is foundational in the inspiring success of the Engler Program, which is growing a new generation of agri-entrepreneurs. The Program is supported by and named after Paul Engler, a remarkable agri-entrepreneur in his own right.

This episode of Pathways to Rural Prosperity features Patti Norris, who is the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Builder supporting all of the GRO communities. After many years working with innovative Silicon Valley ventures, for the past 10 years, Patti has been training and advising hundreds of Oregon businesses as a Business Advisor for the Small Business Development Center and inspiring the next generation of business leaders as a faculty member in the Business and Computer Science departments at Central Oregon Community College. In addition, Patti is an entrepreneur in her own right, having founded and run two businesses and two nonprofit organizations.

In this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast Don Macke with e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems hosts Luke Mahin from Courtland, Kansas population 290.  In this episode we cover a lot ground given Luke’s work a rural economic developer, entrepreneur with a relatively new brew pub and his role a community coach with E3 Energizing EntrepreneurialEcosystems in Nebraska.  This conversation shares insights from a remarkable journey relevant to a large swath of our audience.

This episode of Espresso with Entrepreneurs features Mr. Clifton Taulbert, noted Entrepreneur, Author and Businessman. Clifton is the man who introduced Stairmaster to the world, and is known as “One of America’s Most Outstanding Black Entrepreneurs” – Time Magazine. He is also the speaker of choice for Harvard University, US Federal Reserve, Bank of America and US Pentagon.  On top of all that….he is the President and CEO of both Freemount Corporation, and Roots Java.  Grab your cup and settle back for some incredible insight on Entrepreneurship and success from Clifton Taulbert! 

In this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast, Don Macke with e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems hosts Jackson Swearer, the Entrepreneur Navigator and Director with STARTUP Hutch serving Hutchinson and Reno County, Kansas. This community in South Central Kansas is both urban and rural with a rich history of entrepreneur-focused community economic development. In this episode Don and Jackson reflect on this entrepreneurial ecosystem story with lots of lessons for other communities seeking to make entrepreneurship the foundation for all development.

Welcome to another inspiring episode of Espresso with Entrepreneurs!  Today we’re joined by Dave Hill, from Mid-America Bank. Get ready for a deep dive into Dave’s extensive banking experience and his remarkable entrepreneurial journey. Dave is not only a banker, he’s a community-driven visionary who has transformed Baldwin City and Douglas County, Kansas, through his commitment to entrepreneurship and redevelopment.  He discusses how important mentorship and a commitment to personal finance is to entrepreneurs. Grab your favorite coffee, settle in, and explore how Dave’s passion is fueling the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Northeast Kansas!

In this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast, Don Macke with e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems hosts Sarah Sinnett from and Pam Abbott from Nebraska focusing on entrepreneurial community initiatives in their communities. Sarah and Pam have become leaders in ecosystem building initiatives in their respective western Nebraska communities. Their experiences provide insight into the challenges and opportunities of pivoting communities toward community-centered entrepreneurial ecosystem building and operation. Both are community leaders and ecosystem champions.

In this edition of Espresso and Entrepreneurs Podcast, Lea Ann pulls up a chair and enjoys a cup of coffee with Ellie Bowman of Prickly Pear Farm and Home in Kinsley, KS.  As the average age of small business owners in our rural communities keeps bumping upward, Ellie is bucking that trend.  Arguably one of the youngest lumberyard owners in America, Ellie purchased her lumberyard last year, at age 21, and has been working hard all year to make improvements and expand its offerings – all while being mindful to give back, and mentor other young entrepreneurs along the way.  Join us, as we meet Ellie and find motivation and valuable insights from  her journey.

In this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast Don Macke with e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems hosts Rachael Barry from St. Helens, Oregon and Alisha Juelfs from Sidney, Nebraska focusing on Entrepreneur Navigators. Both Rachael and Alisha were part of e2’s Spring 2023 Entrepreneur Navigators Professional Training.  Rachael is a community leader working with an eNavigator in this part of Oregon and Alisha is the eNavigator for Sidney and Cheyenne County, Nebraska.  We will talk about the professional training and their perspective of eNavigation within their emerging community-centered entrepreneurial ecosystems.

In this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast Don Macke with e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems hosts Caleb Pollard of Ord, Nebraska. Caleb has been an economic developer, is an entrepreneur and is also a business coach.  Caleb and his wife and partners created Scratchtown Brewing in Ord, Nebraska.  Previously, he held a number of state and local economic developer jobs.  In his spare time Caleb is also a first in class business coach.  Learn more about not only Caleb, but discover the power of entrepreneur navigation.

In this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast Don Macke with e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems hosts Amara Kniep, Director of the E-Community Partnership with NetWork Kansas about the Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge and the VentureDash resource.  Energizing young people on entrepreneurship is a game changer for both personal life careers and cultural change in communities.  This episode explores the Kansas youth entrepreneur statewide competition and the associated VentureDash business plan completion resource.

In this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast, Don Macke with e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems hosts John Monson with Compeer Financial and Pam Bishop with the SouthernMinnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF) focusing on the exciting partnership between Compeer Financial and the SMIF to expand REV (Rural Entrepreneurial Venture) in its home of Minnesota and into Wisconsin and Illinois.  Our conversation will explore the vision behind this collaboration and its potential to expand Entrepreneurial Communities initiatives in the upper Midwest.

Nathan Ohle is the President and CEO of the International Economic Development Council or IEDC for short. IEDC is the world’s largest economic development professional organization.  This podcast explores Nathan’s development journey, IEDC’s mission and resources and its growing commitment to all communities, including rural communities, and entrepreneurship.

In this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast, Kate Hodel, editor of e2’s newest book, Strategies for Rural Prosperity, hosts a conversation with Don Macke with e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, book author. Strategies for Rural Prosperity captures over a decade of e2 field experience detailing in practical and useful ways 11 universal rural entrepreneurial development strategies including…Spending Capture, Retiring Boomers, Natural Resource Industries, Commuters, Transportation Corridors, Tourism, Hub Cities, New Resident Attraction, Large Employer Retention and Expansion, Growth-Oriented Entrepreneurs and Regional Development.

When American ecosystem builders gather, we often talk about the entrepreneurial programs we offer to support entrepreneurs and their development. Programs and resources are essential for high-performing ecosystems. However, e2’s field experience is clear – do not begin with programs and resources! Begin working with area entrepreneurs, build relationships, learn about their needs and wants, and then network them to available relevant resources. e2 and Shelley Paasch, of Kansas Main Street, discuss this approach as the entrepreneurial ground game.

In this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast, Don Macke with e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems hosts Tara Risewick, the new e2 (Entrepreneurial Ecosystems) Director.  Tara lives rural, knows rural and works rural.  Her family operates a chain of rural grocery stores, she had led a rural-centered community foundation, and now she is the next generation of e2 leadership.  In this podcast we introduce Tara, explore her personal journey into entrepreneurship work, and explore the future of e2’s North American work. 

NetWork Kansas (created in 2004) is most likely North America’s most robust, longest running and highest impact statewide community-centered entrepreneurial ecosystem-building initiative. Central to NetWork Kansas’ remarkable sustained level of entrepreneurial deal flow is its Entrepreneurship (E-) Community Partnership, launched in 2007. Erik Pedersen, President and COO, leads NetWork Kansas’ E-Community Program that now saturates many of both Kansas’ rural and, increasingly, distressed urban communities. NetWork Kansas’ Entrepreneurship Community Partnership is best in class and offers inspiration and learning opportunities for both rural and urban communities.

In this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast Shelley Paasch hosts Don Macke with e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems focusing on Entrepreneurs as Community Solutions.  When we think about entrepreneurs, for-profit businesses ranging from mom and pop cafes on main street to growth-oriented locally-owned manufacturing plants.  For all rural hometowns, community building related to housing, childcare, broadband and the like are very important. This episode focuses on how entrepreneurs can create innovative solutions for these community-building needs and wants.

GRO – Growing Rural Oregon: A Promising Rural Entrepreneurial Communities InitiativeIn this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast Don Macke with e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems hosts Anne Kubisch, President of The Ford Family Foundation and Kathleen Flanagan with The Ford Family Foundation and GRO or Growing Rural Oregon.   Anne leads The Ford Family Foundation, a critical important rural community development partner in Oregon and Northern California. GRO is an exciting new entrepreneurial communities’ initiative rooted in rural Oregon.  Kathleen is the driving force behind GRO and The Ford Family Foundation’s commitment to rural communities through entrepreneur-led development.  The Foundation’s story is special as it was created by a family with wealth generated from rural Oregon and Northern California in the harvesting and processing of timber.   GRO is on a short list at e2 of promising new E-Innovations.  

In this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast Shelley Paasch hosts Don Macke with e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems focusing on E-Communities and Workforce. Workers or human talent is foundational to communities and their economies.  For decades a worker shortage has been building in the United States.  This shortage is now becoming a crisis and in this podcast we explore ways rural employers and communities can grow their human talent and workforce.

In this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast Don Macke with e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems hosts KC Belitz, Chief Operating Office with the Nebraska Community Foundation and leader for a new E-Community initiative based in Nebraska called E3 for short or Energizing Entrepreneurial Ecosystems.  E3 is off to a very promising start and has a vision of taking entrepreneurship statewide over the coming decade. The Nebraska Community Foundation is a best-in-class rural statewide community building initiative rooted in community philanthropy.

In this podcast episode, Don Macke hosts Tina Metzer and Jessica Glendinning with RuralRISE, an important entrepreneurship initiative focusing on Rural America. Tina and Jessica share their personal development journeys and the “why” and “what” of RuralRISE. Additionally, they explore how folks can participate in the upcoming September 28-30th RuralRISE gathering in Emporia, Kansas along with other networking and learning opportunities.

Whether a brand new start-up or an existing business seeking to grow, mentoring can be a powerful tool within any community’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Shelley Paasch and Don Macke explore the “why,” “what,” and “how” of entrepreneur mentoring programs. This episode also explores tried-and-true cost-sharing programs for providing customized technical assistance to entrepreneurs including mentors.

In this episode of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast Shelley Paasch and Don Macke focus on Entrepreneurial Communities and Business Services. Foundational to entrepreneurial ecosystems is their ability to connect area entrepreneurs to relevant resources like capital, technical assistance, and mentoring. In this podcast, Shelley and Don explore the role of area business services as both mentors and go-to components of any community-centered entrepreneurial ecosystem whether rural or urban.

In this episode, Don Macke talks with Andy Stoll, Senior Program Officer for Entrepreneurship at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Andy is a champion of community-centered entrepreneurial ecosystem building. Our conversation explores Andy’s life journey, Nebraska roots, ecosystem building in Iowa, and now his work within the Kauffman Foundation.

Capital access and financial packaging are core ecosystem resources. One potential source of capital for entrepreneurial ventures is Limited Liability Company (LLC) investors. When paired with community-centered ecosystems, more deal flow and greater development impacts are enabled. In this episode, Shelley Paasch with Kansas Main Street and Don Macke of e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, explore this capital source for rural entrepreneurs with real-life examples from across rural America.

In this podcast episode, Don Macke’s guest is Elizabeth Hutchison with Carson+Co Global, a key creator of e2’s new Ord, Nebraska, Articulate 360 e-Learning Resource. You will learn about Elizabeth’s personal development journey, Carson+Co Global, and explore the web-based learning resource that captures the entire Ord, Nebraska, transformative entrepreneurial story. Listen for ideas on how your community can use this resource’s courses to grow a supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Don Macke hosts David Iaquinta, Nebraska Wesleyan University professor and member of our e2 Ord story capture team. In the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic, David touched based with a number of Ord entrepreneurs and community leaders to find out how they were doing. This episode focuses on community resiliency through the lens of David’s interviews and remarkable writings.

In this episode Shelley Paasch and Don Macke focus on Rural Retailing. e2 has curated a list of top likely rural entrepreneurial development opportunities with increasing area spending capture as one of those opportunities. This episode features innovative and successful rural retailing models, stories, and tactics.

In this episode Don Macke hosts Chris Harris from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. The episode focuses on the Foundation’s commitment to entrepreneurship investments in the four states adjacent to the Foundation’s home in Kansas City including Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa.

Regional development is one of e2’s likely entrepreneurial development opportunities. Areas in rural America with strong regional development organizations are better positioned for successful community economic development. In this episode Shelley and Don explore the importance of e2’s “top-down” and “bottom-up” entrepreneurial ecosystem building strategy with some amazing examples of regional development.  

In this episode Don Macke talks with Robert Stowell. Bob has been a visionary and leader in Ord and Valley County, Nebraska region’s remarkable evolution from challenge and despair in 2000 to one of America’s most thriving rural communities today. This podcast is part of e2’s focus on Ord and the lessons it holds for other rural communities seeking prosperity.

Nearly every rural community has commuters. During this episode Shelley and Don explore the importance of commuters in rural community economic development and how commuters, both physical and electronic or digital commuters, can be a significant source of entrepreneurial talent.

In this episode Shelley Paasch and Don Macke discuss transformative economics. They take listeners through e2’s Hierarchy of Community Economic Development framework using the Ord, Nebraska case story to illustrate how that community transformed its economy. Throughout 2022 e2 will release the entire Ord story collection.

In this episode Don Macke interviews Kat Rutledge, Klamath IDEA executive director. Klamath IDEA is an entrepreneurial community initiative based in rural Klamath Falls in South Central Oregon. Klamath IDEA is demonstrating high-impact outcomes in its work with area entrepreneurs by employing an entrepreneurial concierge, among other strategies. Kat is an inspiring leader and a visionary behind Klamath IDEA.

In this episode of Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast Don Macke reviews 2021 and what is ahead for 2022 for e2. This episode is a great summary of past and future resources available through e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and NetWork Kansas for rural communities interested in entrepreneurship development and support.

For decades the migration pattern in America has been from rural to urban areas. Currently there is a countertrend with some of America’s city residents moving to rural communities. New resident attraction is a development opportunity but also a necessity for many rural communities. In this episode, Shelley Paasch and Don Macke explore the trends and possibilities.

In this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity podcast, Don Macke interviews author John O’Duinn, an expert on the topic of distributed teams. In the evolving age of remote work, John addresses how we can “work together while physically being apart.” For rural communities, the implications are huge where people can choose to live in nearly any community, including rural America, throughout the USA and the world. John provides tips for working with distributed teams to improve their effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction.

All rural communities have visitor attraction development potential. Many rural communities have destination tourism opportunities. In this episode Don and Shelley explore entrepreneurial opportunities for visitor attraction and how rural communities can diversify their economies through tourism. Additionally, this episode focuses on how to improve tourism to grow stronger ventures and better jobs.

Embracing all aspects of a community’s diversity is foundational to growing entrepreneurial communities. Dell Gines with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City is one of America’s leading thought leaders in community-centered entrepreneur-led development. He joins Don Macke in a conversation about diversity and entrepreneurship.

Growing numbers of rural Americans are becoming marginalized, profoundly impacting the viability of communities. Don Macke and Frank Spillers, owner of Rural CommunitySolutions, explore the marginalization of rural Americans and its implications for rural community economic development. 

In this episode of Pathways to Rural Prosperity, Chris Gibbons, founder of Economic Gardening, joins Don in a conversation about the role of market intelligence research as part of a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem. Chris shares the history of this historic and possibly oldest entrepreneurship movement as well as some fun stores of how Economic Gardening is making a difference with growth entrepreneurs.

Rural entrepreneurial ecosystems come in all shapes and sizes. This episode focuses on the Hannah Grimes Entrepreneurship Center in Keene, New Hampshire and its founder Mary Ann Kristiansen. This episode coincides with the release of a new case study on the Center and its upcoming September 2021 Radically Rural conference in Keene.

Rural Minnesota is blessed with very strong community economic development infrastructure and culture. This episode of our podcast features veteran economic developer, Pam Bishop, with the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation and its highly successful entrepreneurial communities’ initiative – Rural Entrepreneurial Venture (REV). Pam shares stories of empowering entrepreneurial communities in rural Southern Minnesota.

Every day thousands of Boomers are retiring in America, a trend that will continue for three decades. Retiring Boomers are a massive economic, social, and entrepreneurial driver in rural America today. In this episode, Don and Shelley explore retiree-led development as a nontraditional entrepreneurial development opportunity for nearly every rural community.

In this episode of Pathways to Rural Prosperity podcast, Don Macke hosts Maria Meyers and Kate Pope Hodel with SourceLink and the authors of the book Beyond Collisions: How to Build Your Entrepreneurial Infrastructure. They share how SourceLink came to be and how it provides infrastructure for entrepreneurial ecosystems across the country.

Our guest on this episode is friend, colleague, and teacher--Milan Wall with the internationally recognized Heartland Center for Leadership Development. Together we explore the keys to community capacity building, which is the ability of a community to impactfully engage in its own development. Milan is a practitioner and thought leader in this space.

In this fourth and final episode of our series on e2’s Development Framework, Shelley and Don talk about how a community can gather metrics, short stories and testimonials to create a compelling narrative for community stakeholders. Funding the metrics and story capture work at a robust level and ongoing basis is often a big challenge but demonstrating impact is key to the sustainability of entrepreneurial ecosystem building efforts. 

Don and Shelley talk about e2’s field-tested and comprehensive development framework for organizing communities to effectively and efficiently engage with entrepreneurs, network them to resources, and generate desired community economic development impacts. They address how communities can learn from entrepreneur interactions to inform smart entrepreneurial ecosystem building.

This episode is Part 2 of a four-part series focusing on entrepreneurial ecosystem building in rural America within e2’s Development Framework. Shelley Paasch and Don Macke discuss the role of strategic assessments in helping communities find their “starter” or “next stage” entrepreneur-led development strategy. They cover development opportunity assessments, entrepreneurial talent assessments, and relevant entrepreneurial development resources to create smart strategies.

In this edition of Pathways to Rural Prosperity podcast, Don Macke with e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems explores one of the most significant trends driving urban America to rural communities.   Urban America is Filling Up – Opportunities for Rural America provides illustrations of the motivations that are causing urban residents to relocate to more rural areas ranging from small cities to very small rural villages. Don also addresses what your community should be doing to tap into this development opportunity and trend.

This episode is Part 1 of a four-part series focusing on e2’s Development Framework. In this episode Shelley and Don explore the keys to community readiness needed for engagement in entrepreneur-focused development and entrepreneurial ecosystem building. They also explore the foundations for organizing a community to undertake this work. Shelley draws from her NetWork Kansas experiences where she is an entrepreneurial community coach and Don provides insight from work throughout North America.

This episode puts a spotlight on the development success of Ord, Nebraska and Valley County. Don Macke interviews his guest, David Iaquinta, sociologist and college professor at Nebraska Wesleyan University, about what he found during his extensive story capture work regarding the role of leadership in Ord’s development journey.

Shelley and Don share examples of economic crashes rooted in single industry economies. They focus on stories where rural communities that pursued entrepreneur-led development and diversification after a crash experienced quicker recovery and greater prosperity. 

Our guests, Deb Markley, LOCUS Impact Investing, and Dan Vorisek, Rural Action, describe the background, purpose, process, and outcomes of this region’s three-year entrepreneurship initiative seeded by the Appalachian Regional Commission’s POWER grant. This work is captured into a collection of impact stories, some of which Deb and Dan highlight during this episode.

Don Macke interviews Peter Creticos, President and Executive Director of the Institute for Work & the Economy, a not-for-profit policy research collaborative that recognizes emerging workforce issues and develops novel solutions for problems facing local and regional economies. In this podcast, Peter addresses some of the policy issues and themes related to work during the 2020 pandemic year and the pandemic’s impact on entrepreneurship. 

Don Macke and Shelley Paasch talk about some of the top trends that smart community leaders can explore as potential development opportunities.

Don Macke describes e2’s Rural Community Prosperity Development Framework and explains why entrepreneurship is so foundational within the model and for community vitality.

Steve Radley, President and CEO with NetWork Kansas describes the organization’s journey to becoming one of the most robust and longest running, statewide, rural entrepreneurial ecosystems. Steve and Don provide examples of how NetWork Kansas has been responsive during the Pandemic and plans for future support of entrepreneurs.

Our premiere episode focuses on likely development opportunities created by the Pandemic Recession. While most rural communities are focusing on just getting through the Pandemic, it is not too soon to begin to prepare for a post-Pandemic Recession world.Featuring: Hosted by Don Macke, e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Mathew Passy

The Pathways to Rural Prosperity Podcast is focused on providing strategies to empower community success and vitality. Hosted by e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems' Don Macke, each episode will feature interviews with cutting edge rural development thought leaders and community practitioners; remarkable entrepreneurs including business, nonprofit, and government professionals; and the learnings of e2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems.  Connect with Don, learn more about E2, and subscribe to this show at energizingentrepreneurs.org.