Rural Futures with Dr. Connie Episode 18 Featuring Matt Dennis

Rural Futures Institute Author

11/07/2018 Added

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[00:00:00.000]On this podcast we talk with rural mavericks,
[00:00:03.170]futurists, and researchers to raise bold voices
[00:00:06.240]for rural people and places.
[00:00:08.490]I'm Katelyn, producer of the show
[00:00:10.910]and I'm asking you to do your part.
[00:00:13.230]Support the Rural Futures podcast
[00:00:15.200]by leaving a review which helps new listeners find us
[00:00:18.700]and become a sponsor
[00:00:20.320]by visiting RuralFutures.Nebraska.edu/podcast.
[00:00:25.989](light upbeat music)
[00:00:27.950]With the ag economy and I mean this entire county
[00:00:32.070]in rural Nebraska, we thrive on agriculture
[00:00:35.320]so we're in a low margin time and it's tough,
[00:00:39.820]and it's a little scary.
[00:00:41.860]But I think it's important to tell the story
[00:00:45.140]of things like Handlebend
[00:00:47.510]because it lets people know there's avenues
[00:00:50.380]in these small rural areas outside of agriculture
[00:00:54.430]that can be tapped.
[00:00:57.000](light upbeat music)
[00:00:58.590]Rural Futures, the podcast where we connect
[00:01:01.670]thought leaders and doers at the intersection
[00:01:04.250]of technology and what it means to be human.
[00:01:07.240]Every episode we talk with entrepreneurs, researchers
[00:01:10.610]and achievers to create impact for generations to come.
[00:01:15.193]And now here's Doctor Connie.
[00:01:17.580]Hello and welcome back to the Rural Futures podcast.
[00:01:20.330]I'm your host, Doctor Connie,
[00:01:21.890]and joining me today is one of our rural mavericks
[00:01:24.990]from right here in Nebraska, Matt Dennis.
[00:01:27.880]He co-founded Handlebend copper mugs,
[00:01:30.100]but he also works in our amazing area of agriculture
[00:01:33.500]at the Dennis Green Elevator.
[00:01:35.630]He returned home to work with his father
[00:01:37.500]and is the fourth generation to work at the Elevator,
[00:01:40.620]which I think is just an amazing story in itself.
[00:01:43.870]He's married to Tracy with a daughter, Piper,
[00:01:46.140]and son, Trey.
[00:01:47.310]So you're doing it all.
[00:01:48.930]Yeah, yeah (chuckling) gettin' after it here
[00:01:53.050]in small town Nebraska.
[00:01:54.780]So okay Matt, tell us a little bit more about who you are.
[00:01:58.110]Who is Matt Dennis?
[00:01:59.570]So I graduated from the university in 2008,
[00:02:03.430]took my first position working for a grain merchandising
[00:02:05.870]company in Omaha.
[00:02:07.200]Worked under one of my mentors for two years
[00:02:10.800]before making the decision to come back
[00:02:12.720]to the family business in O'Neill.
[00:02:14.910]In the process of working the family business,
[00:02:17.520]came across an opportunity with Handlebend
[00:02:21.690]that we dove into a couple years ago.
[00:02:24.400]And it has had some really good traction
[00:02:27.750]and so we have continued kind of shipping copper mugs
[00:02:32.300]all over the country and a few across the pond as well.
[00:02:37.230]Our listeners are all over the world,
[00:02:39.340]so where exactly is O'Neill, Nebraska?
[00:02:43.040]O'Neill is 60 miles from the South Dakota border.
[00:02:46.920]It's not quite in the sand hills but it's on the edge.
[00:02:51.230]So tell the audience how you got the idea
[00:02:54.680]and what the mugs are made out of.
[00:02:57.620]My partner and I in Handlebend got the idea
[00:03:01.180]while we were attending the university,
[00:03:04.250]living together in Lincoln.
[00:03:05.860]He actually ordered a couple copper mugs from Amazon
[00:03:11.040]right when Moscow mules and copper mugs
[00:03:13.910]started to get trendy, almost about 10 years ago now.
[00:03:18.010]And we got 'em in the mail, opened the box
[00:03:21.000]and immediately just put 'em back in the box
[00:03:23.020]and shipped 'em back.
[00:03:24.200]They were just these chinsky little mugs,
[00:03:27.670]there wasn't anything to 'em.
[00:03:29.820]They weren't fully copper, they were lined with tin.
[00:03:32.500]And at that time they were still about 40 bucks a piece.
[00:03:36.740]So we shipped 'em back, Michael the next weekend
[00:03:39.810]came back to O'Neill, into his dad's shop
[00:03:42.950]which is this family business is a commercial refrigeration,
[00:03:47.440]and grabbed some scrap copper,
[00:03:49.870]made the first mug that was extremely ugly
[00:03:53.710]but it held liquid.
[00:03:56.070]And showed it to me, I was pretty impressed.
[00:04:00.430]Then I think the very next weekend we made about seven
[00:04:04.400]or eight more to finish off the sets.
[00:04:07.570]And we're pretty proud of these things,
[00:04:10.193]and then going forward we just started making 'em
[00:04:12.990]for really close friends and families,
[00:04:15.620]for weddings and birthdays and that kind of thing.
[00:04:18.830]Started getting some good feedback
[00:04:20.930]on you guys should sell these things,
[00:04:23.220]and then kind of started the idea of what we would do
[00:04:27.190]if we did that.
[00:04:28.570]And two years ago we hired a local gal here
[00:04:30.930]to make us a website, she did an outstanding job for us
[00:04:35.420]and threw it out there and people liked it.
[00:04:39.380]We've had some really good fortune
[00:04:41.050]and some really good help from Nebraska and the community
[00:04:44.700]in launching this business.
[00:04:46.251]It's increased in sales every month since we started it.
[00:04:50.330]Here about eight months ago we hired
[00:04:52.390]our first full time employee, and just keep going.
[00:04:56.313]Well I love one of the quotes that we found
[00:04:59.270]in researching you and Handlebend a bit.
[00:05:02.440]We couldn't do this in Brooklyn,
[00:05:04.180]the small town support is what helped make this real.
[00:05:06.950]And that was an article in the Omaha World Herald, correct?
[00:05:10.320]Yeah, that article ran in the Omaha World
[00:05:12.550]by Matthew Hanson.
[00:05:14.705]A crazy story on that is he came out here,
[00:05:18.110]sat down with Michael and I for a day,
[00:05:20.250]we fed him some Moscow mules so he would write good stuff
[00:05:23.610]about us (chuckling) and that was kind of the end of it.
[00:05:27.680]He didn't tell us what it was gonna be done with it
[00:05:29.780]or anything like that.
[00:05:31.410]And then about two months later we wake up
[00:05:35.050]to about five orders in the morning
[00:05:38.160]and then the internet orders just keep pinging in
[00:05:40.670]throughout the morning, and I call Michael
[00:05:42.320]I'm like what is goin' on here.
[00:05:44.633](chuckling)
[00:05:45.950]He's like I have no idea, and sure enough that article
[00:05:48.890]ran in the front page of the Omaha World Herald.
[00:05:51.310]And the Nebraskans loved it.
[00:05:52.690]So that is really what kick started this.
[00:05:56.130]And you know back to the quote about we couldn't do this
[00:05:58.610]in Brooklyn, I mean we're hiring local people
[00:06:01.940]throughout this whole process to help us out
[00:06:04.825]and they've bent over backwards to make this thing work
[00:06:07.670]and help us out.
[00:06:08.503]And you know, the Brooklyn quote comes back to
[00:06:10.890]we don't have as much overhead on this
[00:06:12.650]because we're in rural Nebraska
[00:06:15.020]doing it out of a commercial refrigeration shop.
[00:06:18.050]Well and I think when people go to your website,
[00:06:20.350]and we'll make sure to link from our show to your website,
[00:06:23.540]you know your mugs are really works of art.
[00:06:25.400]They're the most amazing copper mugs I have ever seen.
[00:06:29.720]And it's so exciting to see that this type of creation
[00:06:32.940]and creativity is coming from rural Nebraska,
[00:06:35.823]it's coming from O'Neill.
[00:06:37.430]And that you're hiring people in that local space
[00:06:40.153]to make this work.
[00:06:42.000]But I know you've also talked about the power
[00:06:43.760]of the internet to make this happen.
[00:06:46.060]Yeah, this thing wouldn't even have got off the ground
[00:06:50.620]without that technology and access to internet
[00:06:53.607]and being able to reach people through social media,
[00:06:56.880]and the website.
[00:06:57.870]It just would be impossible if it wasn't for that.
[00:07:00.900]So we've shipped mugs to Australia,
[00:07:04.430]we've shipped mugs to Russia, we got caught off guard
[00:07:07.930]a little bit by shipping them to Alaska
[00:07:10.230]because it's free shipping in the U.S.
[00:07:13.294]That was a little expensive (chuckling)
[00:07:17.610]and we've had several go to Alaska.
[00:07:19.270]We still haven't changed it,
[00:07:20.500]so we're not learning our lesson.
[00:07:22.500]But yeah, I mean the reach you can get
[00:07:25.290]in a town like O'Neill with access to the internet
[00:07:28.770]is incredible and it's exciting.
[00:07:32.020]Yeah I mean to be able to have a global business
[00:07:34.140]from where ever you wanna live
[00:07:35.670]as long as you're connected, it's just an incredible time
[00:07:38.980]to live and be an entrepreneur.
[00:07:41.340]It is, I mean the opportunities are seriously endless.
[00:07:45.945]I mean you got two guys in O'Neill, Nebraska
[00:07:48.440]making copper mugs for Pete sakes (chuckling) it's crazy.
[00:07:52.843](light techno music)
[00:07:55.200]We know that Handlebend is having great success
[00:07:57.280]and growing and you've hired your first time employee,
[00:07:59.380]give us a little background on your employee.
[00:08:01.870]Yeah so Michael and I are both working full time jobs
[00:08:05.830]outside of Handlebend,
[00:08:07.163]so when we got enough support it was time to hire a person
[00:08:11.490]we put out an ad in a few different places
[00:08:14.350]and at the time we knew it was very difficult
[00:08:17.590]to hire a laborer of that caliber,
[00:08:20.540]it's just not easy to do.
[00:08:22.050]So we put out an ad and we had a few bites,
[00:08:24.880]the one that stands out was Mo, and Mo is a ranch girl
[00:08:30.130]from Brewster, Nebraska.
[00:08:31.890]And she had went to art school in a small arts college
[00:08:36.320]in Kansas, and had just graduated, was moving back,
[00:08:40.280]wanted to do something other than the ranch.
[00:08:43.990]And reached out and it so happened that she had done
[00:08:47.350]a good chunk of sculpture work in her degree
[00:08:50.713]and already knew how to braze and had a good idea
[00:08:54.810]on welding, and she has been awesome.
[00:08:58.123](light techno music)
[00:09:00.520]So Matt in our pre-convo you talked about the fact
[00:09:04.060]that you really weren't considering moving back to O'Neill
[00:09:07.280]or moving back to rural Nebraska,
[00:09:09.010]what changed your mind?
[00:09:10.650]When I left O'Neill for Lincoln,
[00:09:13.200]I had no desire to come back.
[00:09:16.130]And most of that was I'd been working with my father for,
[00:09:19.910]I mean I was sweeping grain bins at age 11,
[00:09:22.580]if I wasn't in football practice
[00:09:24.670]or had some crazy excuse not to work, I was at the Elevator.
[00:09:29.150]So when I saw what he was doing at that age,
[00:09:32.980]at 18 years old, I just had in my mind
[00:09:36.080]that there was an easier way.
[00:09:37.920]I saw the hard work, I saw the long hours,
[00:09:40.980]I just had it in my mind that there is an easier way
[00:09:43.510]in the city.
[00:09:44.760]So I actually went to UNO, I got a bachelor's
[00:09:48.310]in business administration
[00:09:49.490]and hardly stepped foot on the ag campus.
[00:09:52.420]And then two years in I kinda started switching my mind
[00:09:57.560]and my final year I decided that the grass
[00:10:00.940]isn't greener on the other side of the fence,
[00:10:03.080]this is something I wanna do
[00:10:04.640]and I wanna eventually move back to O'Neill.
[00:10:07.891]So I did enter the ag space right away
[00:10:10.370]and within two years I got the call from my dad
[00:10:14.010]saying he had expanded enough and he wanted me to come back
[00:10:17.300]and I basically did right away.
[00:10:19.740]So not only was I working side by side with him all day,
[00:10:22.860]but I was also living in his basement for six months.
[00:10:25.890]So that got interesting when you're spending
[00:10:29.740]that much time with your father. (chuckling)
[00:10:31.340]But it was all good.
[00:10:34.901]So now I'm gonna get even more personal here
[00:10:36.630]because one of the things we hear from young people
[00:10:39.500]is that they're nervous about moving to rural communities
[00:10:42.470]because they may not find somebody to marry.
[00:10:44.640]You know, (laughing) they won't find a significant other.
[00:10:47.780]So we've half joked we should actually partner
[00:10:50.230]with like FarmersOnly.com and help them
[00:10:53.210]make matches for people.
[00:10:55.020]But you're married and have two kids,
[00:10:56.720]so tell me a little bit about how that happened.
[00:10:59.770]I started dating my wife in college.
[00:11:01.740]She is from a small town right outside of Norfolk,
[00:11:05.510]Hadar, Nebraska, and she went to school in Omaha at UNO.
[00:11:10.080]After about seven years of dating
[00:11:13.540]I convinced her to move into a tiny little yellow house
[00:11:19.033]in O'Neill, she is still here. (laughing)
[00:11:22.723]Well congratulations, that's exciting.
[00:11:24.670]But I just want our young people to know
[00:11:26.960]there are possibilities in rural Nebraska
[00:11:29.590]and rural places everywhere, not just for jobs
[00:11:32.960]but to create a whole life.
[00:11:34.510]Absolutely, I work with a ton of producers
[00:11:38.220]and a lot of those kids are still coming back
[00:11:41.350]and they are making it work.
[00:11:44.252]I don't know if it's through Farmer's Only,
[00:11:45.360]but they are finding gals and guys to move back,
[00:11:48.963]so it's working.
[00:11:52.150]Welcome to Bold Voices,
[00:11:53.660]our segment with rock star students
[00:11:55.470]from the University of Nebraska,
[00:11:57.400]who are making a difference in rural.
[00:12:00.640]Hey podcast listeners, it's Katie,
[00:12:02.740]production specialist of the Rural Futures podcast.
[00:12:05.910]With me today is Clayton Keller, a public administration
[00:12:09.180]graduate student at the University of Nebraska Omaha.
[00:12:12.250]Welcome, Clayton.
[00:12:13.370]Thanks, happy to be on the show.
[00:12:15.320]So how about you start out by telling the listeners
[00:12:18.220]a little bit about yourself.
[00:12:19.780]I was born in the rural Rockies of north Idaho.
[00:12:23.810]When I was 11 moved to the rural countryside of Ohio,
[00:12:26.690]so rural has been apart of my life I guess my whole life.
[00:12:30.470]My end goal is to be a city manager.
[00:12:32.750]I'm a pretty typical mid-western boy.
[00:12:35.330]So from your perspective how would you answer
[00:12:37.840]the question of why rural, why now.
[00:12:40.750]Because tomorrow's too late.
[00:12:42.530]With globalization and its increasing influence
[00:12:46.720]on worldwide culture, there is an ever pressing need
[00:12:50.680]to keep up.
[00:12:51.930]And with that comes a sense of urgency to make sure
[00:12:54.470]that no one gets left behind.
[00:12:56.350]Rural areas are known for their sense of community,
[00:12:59.170]for taking care of one another.
[00:13:00.900]So we as a people, as urban and rural dwellers,
[00:13:05.720]we need to take care of each other.
[00:13:07.370]And how do you see urban and rural working together?
[00:13:10.360]Partnerships, what those partnerships may look like
[00:13:13.900]will vary depending on the part of country you're in.
[00:13:17.940]It has to be suited to your needs.
[00:13:19.680]Yeah I think that partnership is so important,
[00:13:22.250]and I'm happy that we've been able to partner with you.
[00:13:25.460]How would you say that RFI has impacted
[00:13:28.370]your college career and future plans?
[00:13:31.370]RFI gave me the opportunity to actually apply
[00:13:34.567]the things that I'm learning in school.
[00:13:36.720]I got to be with the Columbus Area Future Fund
[00:13:40.000]and the Chamber of Commerce there.
[00:13:42.090]Those two organizations taught me that it's possible
[00:13:44.630]to rally an entire city or community
[00:13:47.870]around a single identity.
[00:13:50.070]All too often we think it's too difficult
[00:13:53.170]to bring people together and to try to make things happen,
[00:13:56.280]and I mean yeah it's gonna be hard
[00:13:59.030]but that doesn't make it impossible.
[00:14:01.210]And what advice would you give to students
[00:14:03.540]who are in your shoes?
[00:14:05.200]Jump right in.
[00:14:06.290]It's a little scary (laughing) just jump right in
[00:14:09.790]to new experiences, but nothing helps you grow more
[00:14:13.020]than doing just that.
[00:14:14.520]Thank you so much Clayton
[00:14:15.630]for being our bold voice this week
[00:14:17.920]and demonstrating how our generation of future leaders
[00:14:20.810]in both urban and rural can work together
[00:14:24.000]and think about how we can maximize our own impacts
[00:14:26.880]and create a better future for all.
[00:14:28.950]Thanks for having me.
[00:14:30.712](light techno music)
[00:14:36.230]So tell us a little bit more about how you see
[00:14:38.840]the future shaping in rural places like O'Neill, Nebraska.
[00:14:43.200]With the ag economy, and I mean this entire county
[00:14:47.060]in rural Nebraska, we thrive on agriculture.
[00:14:50.650]So we are in a low margin time and it's tough,
[00:14:55.150]and it's a little scary.
[00:14:56.900]But I think it's important to tell the story
[00:15:00.540]of things like Handlebend
[00:15:02.460]because it lets people know that there's avenues
[00:15:05.350]in these small rural areas outside of agriculture
[00:15:09.390]that can be tapped.
[00:15:10.740]But we still have to be creative on the ag side
[00:15:14.080]to continue to make this work and bring people back
[00:15:17.820]to these areas, so that we can thrive.
[00:15:21.090]I know in our pre-convo you talked a lot
[00:15:23.140]about a need for more people to work,
[00:15:26.600]like the labor force.
[00:15:28.760]Would you share a little bit of your thought around that,
[00:15:31.700]what you're seeing in your community
[00:15:33.630]and some of the potential solutions
[00:15:35.360]that you're actually implementing in your businesses?
[00:15:38.550]The labor situation in this rural area
[00:15:41.680]is extremely tough.
[00:15:43.930]For example, if I wanted to start a business today
[00:15:47.300]I would have a hard time starting a business
[00:15:49.912]that would involve hiring hard labor,
[00:15:55.630]you know anyone to run equipment, maintain equipment,
[00:15:58.990]that kind of thing.
[00:16:00.137]And that goes hand in hand with agriculture,
[00:16:02.740]it's almost impossible.
[00:16:04.590]It is very, very hard to get long laborer in rural areas.
[00:16:09.460]So what I've talked about with previous people in the past
[00:16:13.350]and what I've been working on for the last few months
[00:16:16.180]is to really try to tap into the female workforce
[00:16:20.150]in these rural areas.
[00:16:22.240]I just think there is tremendous potential
[00:16:25.410]of the women in the area that are looking for work,
[00:16:29.150]but they need it to be flexible because a lot of the women
[00:16:31.860]in the area are running the family,
[00:16:33.900]and with that you need flexibility.
[00:16:36.070]And I think it's possible, but it's gonna come down
[00:16:38.670]to kind of thinking outside of the box
[00:16:40.740]and creating positions that can be flexible and part time,
[00:16:44.080]and that are family friendly to really tap into
[00:16:48.160]the women labor force.
[00:16:49.860]A lot of these women are moving back here,
[00:16:52.650]following guys that are following the agriculture path
[00:16:56.260]and they have bachelor's and master's and doctorate's
[00:16:58.980]and it's just not getting tapped into.
[00:17:03.050]So there's just so much talent that we should be using
[00:17:06.760]when we're facing a situation of short labor.
[00:17:09.340]We're like kindred spirits in this area,
[00:17:11.260]this is something I've talked a lot about.
[00:17:13.470]I've written a lot about it over the years
[00:17:15.250]because I think in so many ways we keep trying
[00:17:18.130]those old models of graduate from high school,
[00:17:21.560]go to college, hopefully with healthcare being a shortage
[00:17:24.970]area in rural, let's get some young minds into that
[00:17:28.030]and then we hope that they move back to rural area.
[00:17:31.220]There's so many people already there
[00:17:33.190]and like you've said,
[00:17:34.023]there's people that have gotten married and moved there.
[00:17:36.840]Like we aren't really tapping into the talent
[00:17:39.790]that already exists and really developing the people
[00:17:42.620]that are living there,
[00:17:43.760]the people who have chosen to make their lives there,
[00:17:46.460]stayed there, or even recently moved back
[00:17:48.760]because it's really exciting to see a lot of young couples,
[00:17:52.910]young leaders and entrepreneurs like yourself
[00:17:55.260]who have chosen to move into a rural location.
[00:17:58.992]Well I think it's tap-able,
[00:18:01.230]like I said before it's gonna take
[00:18:03.290]some creative thinking and not doing the normal thing.
[00:18:07.020]I would hope that even we as a university,
[00:18:09.700]the college systems, education in general
[00:18:13.050]really starts thinking very long and hard about this
[00:18:15.580]and creating some solutions rather quickly
[00:18:18.900]that can serve these rural populations
[00:18:21.040]in better and bolder ways.
[00:18:23.660]With online and distance learning now there's no reason
[00:18:26.910]people have to when they're working adults
[00:18:29.292]or even a stay home mom or dad, whatever the case may be,
[00:18:33.290]that wants a new career, even somebody who's close
[00:18:36.840]to retirement or in sort of the end of what we would
[00:18:40.440]typically think of a career,
[00:18:41.920]there's still potential there we could tap into.
[00:18:44.480]I think as educational systems to help people
[00:18:46.770]get the capacity they need,
[00:18:48.920]but I think also you're absolutely spot on,
[00:18:51.610]it's gonna take the workplace to re-envision
[00:18:54.510]what careers mean, what the workplace means,
[00:18:57.670]and how can we add in that flexibility,
[00:19:00.290]but also good pay, high level pay so that people
[00:19:03.967]can actually afford to work.
[00:19:05.450]And I think the challenge is gonna be to mold that
[00:19:08.870]so that you can offer that excellent pay,
[00:19:11.710]but still be a value to these companies
[00:19:14.840]that are fighting these tight margins.
[00:19:17.244](light techno music)
[00:19:19.880]Tell our audience about who you are,
[00:19:21.730]your leadership philosophy,
[00:19:23.760]and how you approach all of this.
[00:19:25.830]I would just say as cliche as it is,
[00:19:28.852]it's just about leading by example.
[00:19:32.120]It's just about gettin' after it, empowering people.
[00:19:35.650]And if you're empowering people and you're listening
[00:19:37.790]to them at the same time, incredible things can happen
[00:19:40.732]as far as teammates buying in
[00:19:43.250]and gettin' after a single goal.
[00:19:46.362]You know I don't think that is cliche.
[00:19:47.820]I think the great thing is you are actually
[00:19:50.370]walking the talk.
[00:19:51.700]So often I think we have a lot of people talking
[00:19:53.800]about leadership, but they aren't really doing it
[00:19:56.560]in a way that works for them, their families
[00:19:59.160]and the others that they're working with.
[00:20:02.252](light techno music)
[00:20:04.670]Okay Matt, now you're a fun guy.
[00:20:06.440]I've been on your website, I've checked out Handlebend,
[00:20:09.570]your story's amazing.
[00:20:10.970]So I wanna know how do you keep that creativity fresh,
[00:20:13.990]what do you do for fun?
[00:20:15.470]Oh what do I do for fun,
[00:20:17.060]I chase my kids around quite a bit.
[00:20:19.920]We have just recently bought a tiny little camper
[00:20:23.710]six months ago.
[00:20:25.432]Nice. (laughing)
[00:20:26.542]Usable this year, this summer and fall (chuckling).
[00:20:29.680]So yeah, and as far as the creativity part
[00:20:35.150]I've seen this time and time again that if you allow
[00:20:38.730]yourself to get comfortable,
[00:20:40.124]the creativity really comes to a halt.
[00:20:43.360]So it's important to do these podcasts
[00:20:47.202]that I don't do very often, you know jump out
[00:20:49.940]of the comfort zone, keep those creative juices flowing.
[00:20:54.050]Well we're glad you decided to take this chance,
[00:20:57.330]I was just amazed at watching this company
[00:20:59.844]and trying to figure out more about you.
[00:21:01.740]So I loved diving into the stories
[00:21:03.830]and learning more about the amazing people we have
[00:21:06.430]living in our rural communities,
[00:21:07.890]and especially our maverick entrepreneurs.
[00:21:09.934]I mean selling high end copper mugs that are works of art
[00:21:13.940]out of O'Neill, Nebraska,
[00:21:15.830]more people just need to know that story
[00:21:17.810]and know that that's available.
[00:21:19.440]So as they think about you know, we have the holiday season
[00:21:22.620]coming up, other types of things,
[00:21:24.582]let's support our entrepreneurs by buying those
[00:21:28.540]amazing gifts and getting that talent out into the world
[00:21:31.700]and letting them know it's right here from Nebraska.
[00:21:34.680]Yeah, the Nebraska people have embraced this hugely.
[00:21:38.500]I mean we've had so much support from inside
[00:21:41.010]the borders of Nebraska, it's absolutely crazy
[00:21:43.450]and it's awesome and it makes this really fun.
[00:21:46.070]What we are trying to do with Handlebend
[00:21:48.522]is sell an experience, create a cool experience
[00:21:52.130]that people can get behind in a sense of community
[00:21:54.780]and just put out solid content and solid products,
[00:21:58.164]and do it that way.
[00:22:00.864]You know here at the Rural Futures Institute
[00:22:02.920]and at the university, we're always eager to think
[00:22:06.020]of new ideas and to get creative ourselves,
[00:22:08.930]but we also have a lot of outside entities
[00:22:11.080]coming to us and saying hey, we know there's a lot
[00:22:14.100]of potential on the rural sector
[00:22:16.190]but they aren't quite sure how to engage
[00:22:18.050]in our rural communities or with our rural leaders.
[00:22:20.840]So what advice would you give to groups
[00:22:23.800]whether it's Rural Futures Institute
[00:22:25.590]or even groups from Japan that are trying to enhance
[00:22:29.660]their rural sectors,
[00:22:30.493]what advice would you give to them?
[00:22:33.040]I would just say that we worked with a lot of urban
[00:22:38.280]companies through this process,
[00:22:39.990]and there is a slight disconnect between,
[00:22:43.633]and this is not gonna be for every company
[00:22:45.420]but these smaller small town companies
[00:22:48.020]and urban companies it seems like the pace
[00:22:50.660]is a little bit different,
[00:22:52.100]how we go about doing things is a little bit different,
[00:22:55.030]but it's always a good conversation to learn
[00:22:57.920]from different angles
[00:22:59.010]and learn from those faster paced urban companies.
[00:23:02.080]But as far as tapping into the rural communities,
[00:23:06.123]tell stories like Handlebend and how you can do this,
[00:23:09.530]and there's hundreds more.
[00:23:11.030]For instance, Matthew Hanson and Sarah Hanson
[00:23:13.590]put out a book this year, it's called The Better Half
[00:23:16.460]and it's completely filled of small town stories
[00:23:20.171]of people gettin' after it and making it happen.
[00:23:23.450]It's an awesome book.
[00:23:24.620]I always get these emails well Connie,
[00:23:26.820]what do you think we should do
[00:23:28.320]with this economic development,
[00:23:30.340]and you know all these different sort of acts
[00:23:33.500]or investments that our state wants to make.
[00:23:35.810]But I think for too long the world of entrepreneurship
[00:23:38.760]and economic development have just discounted
[00:23:41.430]our small businesses,
[00:23:42.660]they're waiting for that next unicorn to come along.
[00:23:45.610]And you know, how many jobs can we create really quickly
[00:23:49.240]rather than saying you know what,
[00:23:50.640]let's support the growth of our businesses
[00:23:53.260]that we know people are staying here.
[00:23:55.090]We know Matt's making his life in O'Neill, Nebraska.
[00:23:59.070]How do we support Handlebend even more
[00:24:02.020]than whatever growth path it's wanting to take?
[00:24:04.940]Not just the ones that we see
[00:24:07.060]that might be important that are gonna have the metrics
[00:24:09.390]we want to count, but the small businesses
[00:24:12.500]that employ people.
[00:24:14.100]And it might not be full time, it might be part time,
[00:24:16.310]it might be a 1099 employee,
[00:24:18.580]but this is really the way the world is evolving.
[00:24:20.670]And I think our rural areas can really be a leader
[00:24:23.810]in this space given the appropriate policies
[00:24:28.690]and really recognition that they've earned and deserve.
[00:24:32.210]Yeah, that's spot on, that's spot on.
[00:24:34.480]I don't even have anything to add to that.
[00:24:36.990]That is basically what we need to do, yeah.
[00:24:40.360]Well hey good, I'm glad to have consensus
[00:24:42.491]from a leader like you on that
[00:24:44.473]because that drives me mad,
[00:24:46.290]so I have to tell ya I've been at more meetings where,
[00:24:49.620]you know I used to help facilitate an entrepreneurship
[00:24:52.590]club in Nebraska City, in south east Nebraska
[00:24:55.440]and it was always funny to me how
[00:24:59.837]you know I'd go to meetings and they're using the term
[00:25:01.610]mom and pop store like it was a bad thing,
[00:25:05.020]and I'm like no way.
[00:25:07.600]These are the bread and butter, the backbone of our economy
[00:25:11.840]and it's time for us to recognize that
[00:25:13.323]and the amazing people doing incredible work,
[00:25:16.360]but also that exponential impact
[00:25:18.690]those businesses have that just goes unrecognized.
[00:25:21.740]It's part of the reason why Handlebend
[00:25:24.320]has been successful as it's been.
[00:25:26.690]If we had done this in Omaha I don't think
[00:25:29.780]it would have the same feel and the same storyline
[00:25:33.230]as it does in rural Nebraska.
[00:25:35.930]I benefit that to part of the success,
[00:25:38.033]is this whole story behind it being the child
[00:25:41.980]of a rural community, and that whole story that we can sell
[00:25:46.780]with the experience.
[00:25:48.510]I had mentioned the story to you in our pre-convo
[00:25:51.960]about working with a decent sized marketing firm
[00:25:55.310]in Atlanta, we got goin' and we were pretty excited
[00:25:59.820]and they kinda told us what they were gonna do
[00:26:01.880]and we hadn't been doing any of that stuff
[00:26:03.630]so we were excited to see how it worked.
[00:26:05.410]But we got a month in and it was almost like they were
[00:26:08.280]throwing the same concepts at these mugs
[00:26:11.420]as they would the chinsy ones we bought
[00:26:14.170]10 years ago from Amazon.
[00:26:16.500]And Michael and I are sittin' here in O'Neill, Nebraska
[00:26:19.803]like what are these guys doing.
[00:26:21.870]And we had a conversation about a month in
[00:26:25.760]and we were kind of handcuffing them,
[00:26:28.000]we were slowing 'em up, they wanted to go this extremely
[00:26:30.500]fast paced get in front of as many people as possible,
[00:26:33.920]and Michael and I are kinda pumping the brakes,
[00:26:36.350]you know let's slow that down,
[00:26:37.910]let's just put out really good content.
[00:26:40.410]And almost like if you build it, they will come type.
[00:26:44.250]And these guys weren't digging it.
[00:26:45.690]So we had a conversation with them
[00:26:46.807]and they straight up asked us, they're like do you guys
[00:26:48.830]wanna sell mugs or do you want to create content
[00:26:52.290]and tell stories.
[00:26:53.970]And Michael and I look at each other
[00:26:55.610]and we both answer at the same time
[00:26:57.414]and say we wanna tell stories, and it was crickets
[00:27:00.960]on the other side of the line.
[00:27:02.290]Like these guys didn't know what to say at that point.
[00:27:05.632]So it's just a little bit of a different concept,
[00:27:09.180]but we still need to sell mugs
[00:27:10.780]but we also wanna do it the right way
[00:27:12.832]and create an experience.
[00:27:14.677]Well I think that comes through so loud and clear
[00:27:17.563]through your website, but even through that Omaha article.
[00:27:20.750]I have to read just one more quote,
[00:27:22.934]I feel like our generation is kind of in a weird way
[00:27:26.690]going back to our grandparents, our great grandparents,
[00:27:29.920]buying our food at farmer's markets,
[00:27:32.170]local beer, locally made soap, and we are making these mugs
[00:27:35.760]for you, especially for you.
[00:27:38.370]We hope that when you open that wood crate
[00:27:40.730]with a crowbar and you have one of our mugs,
[00:27:43.600]you love them.
[00:27:44.660]Then you become our best salesman.
[00:27:47.330]Absolutely, and we've seen that first hand.
[00:27:49.820]You know mugs, you're selling mugs, so you bet.
[00:27:52.890]So you're not just getting a box and opening it
[00:27:55.273]and there it is, you're really from the beginning
[00:27:57.560]to the end creating that experience for the customer
[00:28:00.940]through who you are, your website,
[00:28:03.513]through that purpose of why you exist
[00:28:05.920]but also for them on the other end.
[00:28:07.620]So every time they take a sip out of that mug,
[00:28:10.400]they're really relating it back
[00:28:11.880]to the experience you created.
[00:28:14.352]And we so appreciate you doing this creative work,
[00:28:17.250]but also getting our rural areas
[00:28:19.800]especially in states like Nebraska, on the map even more
[00:28:22.830]to demonstrate to the world the innovation
[00:28:25.350]and creativity that's really happening in our small places.
[00:28:29.540]Yeah, our goal with Handlebend in the community
[00:28:33.330]is we're currently trying to purchase a 1940s building
[00:28:37.620]downtown that we can renovate and partially be building
[00:28:42.410]these mugs out of.
[00:28:43.243]And then just create an entire sense of community
[00:28:46.690]around this building.
[00:28:48.130]So that's one of our goals and what we want to do
[00:28:51.113]with the success that it's brought,
[00:28:54.120]and really try to help this local community.
[00:28:56.900]I will have to say Doctor Connie,
[00:29:00.170]you mentioned opening the crate and we sent a set of mugs
[00:29:04.940]to New York City here a few months ago.
[00:29:08.940]We got an email back and this guy could not figure out
[00:29:12.270]how to open the crate.
[00:29:14.270]So that experience wasn't so good,
[00:29:18.527]but we got him through it, he got into his mugs
[00:29:21.610]and loved 'em so, (chuckling) he couldn't quite get
[00:29:25.370]into the product.
[00:29:27.121]That's still an experience,
[00:29:29.120]I just absolutely love that 'cause in my own mind
[00:29:32.650]when I think about this I'm envisioning my husband
[00:29:35.920]opening his crate of mugs and he's gonna love that
[00:29:38.990]because he's opened crates with crowbars,
[00:29:43.500]but in this light it'll be a very positive one.
[00:29:46.643](light techno music)
[00:29:49.250]So thank you for your time
[00:29:51.779]and all this insight today, but I'd like to leave
[00:29:54.290]our audience with words of wisdom from you, Matt.
[00:29:57.410]What would you share with your parting thoughts?
[00:30:00.100]Words of wisdom from me would be just get up,
[00:30:04.440]get after it, use your time wisely,
[00:30:08.070]and be kind doing it.
[00:30:09.890]And then the second thing I would say
[00:30:11.760]is in that hustle take some time to really connect
[00:30:15.150]with people along the way, it will be worth it.
[00:30:18.290]That's brilliant, and thank you so much
[00:30:20.150]for being on the Rural Futures podcast.
[00:30:23.400]Thanks for listening to Rural Futures with Doctor Connie.
[00:30:26.230]Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
[00:30:28.760]at Rural Futures to tell us what you think of our show.
[00:30:32.060]In our next episode we're bringing you
[00:30:33.790]another rural maverick, Marji Guyler-Alaniz,
[00:30:36.960]founder and president of Farm Her,
[00:30:39.020]that's F A R M H E R,
[00:30:41.698]a media company shining the light on women in agriculture.
[00:30:45.720]You can find Marji on RFD TV via her podcast Shining Bright
[00:30:50.540]and at FarmHer.com.

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Rural Futures with Dr. Connie Episode 18 Featuring Matt Dennis

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