Business Incubators

Jenny Nixon Author

08/27/2025 Added

1 Plays

Description

Paula Abbott discusses the Western Nebraska Community College business incubator and Andy Long talks about a business incubator space in McCook. Recorded September 9, 2020.

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[00:00:00.000]well there's jenny so we can
[00:00:03.150]ask her personally how much
[00:00:05.710]snow they had um shattern
[00:00:09.820]really didn't
[00:00:10.920]get any but uh crawford we got
[00:00:13.300]i don't know it was white harrison
[00:00:16.100]couple inches i mean like three
[00:00:18.680]four ish uh harrison had eight
[00:00:21.100]oh i'm sorry i stopped watching
[00:00:23.860]after the first night
[00:00:25.800]well that's what the the radio
[00:00:27.730]station in Chadron told me they
[00:00:29.740]thought somewhere in
[00:00:31.280]Sioux County there they had
[00:00:33.120]like eight inches oh my word
[00:00:34.960]yeah well hi Brett
[00:00:36.220]the good thing is that you don't
[00:00:39.380]have to scoop it it'll go away
[00:00:41.720]pretty quick
[00:00:42.960]hi everyone say this is going
[00:00:46.200]to be my last uh rendezvous
[00:00:49.170]meeting but as you can see I
[00:00:52.270]have um
[00:00:53.560]Shauna Mashick. She is sitting
[00:00:55.630]here. She is my replacement. So
[00:00:57.860]I wanted to introduce her to
[00:00:59.610]you
[00:00:59.860]guys and she will be keeping
[00:01:01.640]the same email address and same
[00:01:03.660]phone number that I've been
[00:01:05.450]using.
[00:01:06.220]So please keep her in your
[00:01:08.580]group here and that. So we're
[00:01:11.510]on here, but this is Shauna.
[00:01:14.580]Hi. Welcome. Thank you. Let's,
[00:01:18.940]we'll get started. Let's do a
[00:01:21.340]quick introduction,
[00:01:23.420]go around the table and just
[00:01:25.370]let everybody know who we are
[00:01:27.400]and where we're from. So Shauna
[00:01:29.810]kind
[00:01:30.220]of knows and I maybe forgot
[00:01:32.070]where Jenny's from or something.
[00:01:34.610]I don't know. Chelsea, why don't
[00:01:37.130]you
[00:01:37.500]start? Chelsea Herrian. Chelsea
[00:01:39.830]Herrian, Boxview Development
[00:01:41.790]Corporation based in Alliance,
[00:01:43.900]Hemmingford. Mike Burge from
[00:01:47.060]Valentine Economic Development.
[00:01:53.420]Danny Nixon, I'm the Nebraska
[00:01:55.650]Extension educator located in
[00:01:57.900]the North Panhandle.
[00:02:23.420]Carrie Ramp, Northwest Nebraska
[00:02:26.570]Tourism, Ian Shatter. Who's
[00:02:29.320]next? I'm with Central Nebraska
[00:02:34.410]Economic Development District
[00:02:39.380]based out of Cody.
[00:02:42.060]All right, Paula Abbott,
[00:02:44.150]Western Nebraska Community
[00:02:46.360]College based out of Sydney,
[00:02:48.640]Nebraska.
[00:02:51.140]Andy Long, McCook Economic
[00:02:52.510]Development.
[00:02:53.360]I'm Sheridan Simonson with the
[00:02:55.990]City of Neely and Village of
[00:02:58.540]Clearwater Economic Development.
[00:03:01.680]All right, good. Is that
[00:03:04.840]everybody then? I think that
[00:03:05.960]covers everybody.
[00:03:06.780]Michelle, are you on?
[00:03:08.940]Michelle Coolidge is TCD over
[00:03:14.120]in Scotts Bluff, Shawna.
[00:03:19.000]Okay.
[00:03:21.140]Say, Andy, were you Shauna's
[00:03:23.270]teacher? Yes. Mike is the main
[00:03:26.910]name, isn't it? Yeah. I thought
[00:03:31.430]so. I thought so.
[00:03:34.160]All right. Well, welcome,
[00:03:36.060]everybody. We're going to get
[00:03:38.030]started. There might be some
[00:03:39.940]other folks that join us along
[00:03:41.700]the way in here, but
[00:03:43.160]we talked a couple weeks ago
[00:03:44.870]about getting together and
[00:03:46.580]discussing some youth
[00:03:48.000]entrepreneurship and
[00:03:49.860]some of those and as always if
[00:03:51.950]anybody has topics that they
[00:03:54.060]would think would be pertinent
[00:03:56.340]to our
[00:03:56.900]rural Nebraska area you know
[00:03:58.880]just let us know and we will
[00:04:00.690]try to line up some speakers
[00:04:02.580]sometimes if
[00:04:03.580]you have someone from your
[00:04:05.110]community that you've had
[00:04:06.740]success in a program with we're
[00:04:08.420]more than
[00:04:09.040]willing to have them come on
[00:04:10.230]and address the group. Maybe we
[00:04:11.660]can steal your program or
[00:04:12.740]something and
[00:04:13.480]make it a success in the, in
[00:04:14.980]our own communities, because we
[00:04:16.830]all get stronger if we can work
[00:04:18.580]together on some of this. So
[00:04:21.730]Chelsea kind of headed this up
[00:04:23.760]again, I think, with getting
[00:04:25.750]Andy
[00:04:26.820]lined up and everybody to talk
[00:04:28.120]about some of the programs that
[00:04:29.480]are going on. So Chelsea, Harry,
[00:04:31.100]and I'm going to let you kind
[00:04:33.220]of do an introduction here and
[00:04:35.530]proceed. All right. So yes, we
[00:04:38.210]were
[00:04:38.780]briefly discussing future
[00:04:41.080]topics and incubators was one
[00:04:43.580]of those items and I knew from
[00:04:45.850]following
[00:04:46.940]Andy on social media that he
[00:04:49.520]had a space opening up and then
[00:04:52.330]those of you that are out here
[00:04:55.030]in the
[00:04:55.720]panhandle probably are familiar
[00:04:58.350]with WNCC's incubator space in
[00:05:00.900]Sydney and no one better
[00:05:02.760]than to have Paula, the former
[00:05:05.840]director, she has a new title
[00:05:07.370]now, to update us all on both
[00:05:09.540]of those.
[00:05:10.580]So if you're all right, Andy,
[00:05:13.710]ladies first, I'll let Paula
[00:05:15.760]start and then go to you next.
[00:05:18.280]So I did
[00:05:19.000]shoot everyone the handout
[00:05:22.130]yesterday in the reminder email.
[00:05:24.340]So if you can have that handy,
[00:05:26.920]then Paula, you may have the
[00:05:28.280]floor. Thank you both. All
[00:05:30.030]right. Good morning, everybody.
[00:05:32.760]I was really excited to be able
[00:05:34.690]to kind of talk about our I&E
[00:05:36.440]Center because it seems like it
[00:05:38.460]was a long time ago.
[00:05:40.040]So in October, or actually in
[00:05:43.220]2016, Bass Pro began a merger
[00:05:47.110]of Cabela's.
[00:05:49.200]And as we were looking at our
[00:05:50.860]community, our housing market
[00:05:52.830]was opening up.
[00:05:53.980]Employees were just, you know,
[00:05:56.140]filtering out of our community
[00:05:58.170]fast and furious.
[00:06:00.280]And so the Chamber, Economic
[00:06:02.140]Development, Melissa Norgaard,
[00:06:04.380]and I sat down.
[00:06:05.500]And it's like, how do we stop
[00:06:07.050]this funnel out of our
[00:06:08.650]community?
[00:06:09.080]And at the time, in December of
[00:06:11.020]2016, we made the hard choice
[00:06:13.490]to close our cosmetology
[00:06:15.130]program in Sydney.
[00:06:16.500]Students were going out making
[00:06:19.080]less than minimum wage.
[00:06:21.300]And it just had been a
[00:06:22.730]progressive situation in that
[00:06:24.950]program.
[00:06:26.160]So we made the hard decision to
[00:06:27.580]close that program, which left
[00:06:29.110]a fifth of my building in
[00:06:30.230]Sydney open.
[00:06:31.080]And with this, you know, this
[00:06:33.160]funnel out of our community, we
[00:06:35.330]said, what if we start, what if
[00:06:37.490]we open an entrepreneurship
[00:06:39.590]center?
[00:06:40.300]Because a lot of talented
[00:06:41.770]people from Cabela's were just
[00:06:43.590]leaving and we wanted to keep
[00:06:45.480]them in our community.
[00:06:47.320]So I approached our president,
[00:06:49.110]Dr. Todd Holcomb, at that time
[00:06:50.980]and said, could I renovate my
[00:06:52.630]space?
[00:06:53.280]And he's like, absolutely. We
[00:06:54.590]need to do something for the
[00:06:55.670]panhandle.
[00:06:56.320]So in just a few short months,
[00:06:58.570]we had renovated part of our
[00:07:00.640]cosmetology program into what I
[00:07:03.060]call the Innovation and
[00:07:04.870]Entrepreneurship Center.
[00:07:07.220]And we have a maker space in
[00:07:09.510]downtown Sydney. So we really
[00:07:11.820]thought that'd be a great
[00:07:12.910]partnership with them.
[00:07:14.620]So now we have this great space
[00:07:15.980]and the three of us were like,
[00:07:17.340]now what do we do?
[00:07:18.280]And every meeting we go to, I
[00:07:20.220]know a lot of you from WNDN, we
[00:07:22.220]hear all these great resources
[00:07:24.440]that state and federal agencies
[00:07:26.350]have and then our local groups.
[00:07:28.380]And they're like, we have money.
[00:07:31.200]And I have all these
[00:07:32.200]entrepreneurs going, I need
[00:07:33.760]money or I need resources.
[00:07:35.340]So what we did is our very
[00:07:37.630]first one, we had nothing but
[00:07:40.520]food.
[00:07:41.840]So I'm like, I'll order lunch
[00:07:43.500]and let's just see what this
[00:07:45.040]looks like.
[00:07:45.980]And over the course of, since
[00:07:49.140]2017, we have had over 350
[00:07:52.180]people attend these resource
[00:07:54.820]meetings.
[00:07:55.240]And we've had one in Oshkosh.
[00:07:57.720]We held one in Llewellyn.
[00:08:00.020]We held one in Alliance.
[00:08:01.560]One in Kimball.
[00:08:03.420]Several in Sydney, obviously.
[00:08:06.200]We held one in Chapel.
[00:08:08.600]But the beauty of this is what
[00:08:10.040]we did is we brought people
[00:08:11.360]that were experts in their
[00:08:12.680]field.
[00:08:13.200]And I can't speak about NBDC
[00:08:16.320]because all I do is lie.
[00:08:17.860]So those of you that know me, I'm
[00:08:19.370]like, I think they have free
[00:08:20.990]money.
[00:08:21.280]And then they're like, Paula,
[00:08:22.400]you're lying again.
[00:08:23.240]Well, sort of free money.
[00:08:25.440]So to kind of circumvent my
[00:08:27.320]lying, what we did is we had
[00:08:29.290]Department of Labor come in.
[00:08:31.360]Because with all the displaced
[00:08:32.870]workers, there's funds
[00:08:34.510]available for them.
[00:08:36.160]We had DED, PAD, MBDC, the
[00:08:38.320]local economic development
[00:08:40.480]person in that area, the local
[00:08:42.820]chamber person.
[00:08:44.340]And then we've been working
[00:08:45.720]with Jason Weigel with UNL
[00:08:47.490]Extension.
[00:08:47.780]The beautiful part of this is,
[00:08:49.640]you know, these people wanted
[00:08:51.500]to start a business and they
[00:08:53.140]just didn't have the resources.
[00:08:55.320]And I'm like, these people are
[00:08:56.430]free.
[00:08:56.800]They'll do a business plan, a
[00:08:58.360]financial plan.
[00:08:59.440]You know, then they'll get you
[00:09:01.150]on track to lending, gap
[00:09:02.600]funding, all those things.
[00:09:05.220]The thing I was missing is an
[00:09:06.600]attorney.
[00:09:07.300]And because the legal part, $1,500
[00:09:10.450]up front just to talk to
[00:09:11.790]somebody was really becoming an
[00:09:13.900]obstacle.
[00:09:14.940]And lo and behold, Jeff Shoemaker,
[00:09:18.100]who was a former Cabela
[00:09:19.760]attorney, had gone out for a
[00:09:22.050]year with a different company,
[00:09:24.690]did not like it,
[00:09:26.180]had spent maybe 20 days at home
[00:09:28.090]in an entire year with two
[00:09:29.470]little kids, said, could I
[00:09:31.040]launch in your center?
[00:09:32.620]And I'm like, wow, this is like
[00:09:34.510]just it's beautiful.
[00:09:35.920]So the businesses that we were
[00:09:37.960]able to launch, those of you
[00:09:39.910]that know, these four Cabela
[00:09:41.970]employees came to me and they're
[00:09:44.430]like, we want to start next gen
[00:09:46.270]outfitters.
[00:09:47.500]Great group of people. They had
[00:09:50.660]11 employees to launch.
[00:09:52.940]They started in February of 17
[00:09:54.970]and by December of 17 should
[00:09:56.860]have been making two million
[00:09:58.540]dollars.
[00:10:00.620]Unfortunately, they were high
[00:10:02.530]profile and Johnny Morris
[00:10:04.100]caught wind of them and he
[00:10:05.800]blocked their opening. He
[00:10:07.370]actually sued them, which was
[00:10:09.130]not good for my I&E center,
[00:10:10.440]just so you know, you don't
[00:10:11.870]hope people don't get sued.
[00:10:13.580]They won the case, but
[00:10:14.930]unfortunately it put them out
[00:10:16.740]for two years. So they were in
[00:10:18.760]our center for a year. They
[00:10:20.280]would not have survived if they
[00:10:22.150]wouldn't have had that space.
[00:10:25.060]We also had Panhandle Mental
[00:10:27.220]Health also went, pulled out of
[00:10:29.650]the Panhandle. And so Nicole Peralta,
[00:10:32.560]who was a counselor with Karuna
[00:10:34.550]Health, or Karuna, or with Panhandle
[00:10:37.100]Health, sorry. She came and she
[00:10:39.120]said, I don't want to be an
[00:10:40.320]entrepreneur, but I can't let
[00:10:41.750]this community just fall.
[00:10:43.620]So she became an entrepreneur,
[00:10:45.270]and within one year, had
[00:10:46.780]already moved into her own
[00:10:47.880]building, had help from PAD to
[00:10:49.450]get some of the funding for her
[00:10:50.800]new space, hired one new
[00:10:52.240]counselor, and is on board to
[00:10:53.760]get two more counselors, and
[00:10:55.300]that's been in two years.
[00:10:57.000]We have Jeff Shoemaker in our
[00:10:59.060]space, and then currently we
[00:11:01.240]have Agency 39.
[00:11:02.940]So they were Cabela employees.
[00:11:04.940]Then they got bought out by a
[00:11:07.140]company named Quad in Sydney,
[00:11:09.640]which was the marketing piece.
[00:11:12.900]then quad under the guide of
[00:11:15.020]best pro they cut their
[00:11:16.780]contract two years short so
[00:11:18.950]instead of a
[00:11:19.940]five-year contract they had a
[00:11:21.950]three-year contract they then
[00:11:24.040]became displaced workers so
[00:11:25.990]this group
[00:11:26.780]there's nine of them in this
[00:11:28.430]agency 39 marketing group that
[00:11:30.620]are launching out of our center
[00:11:32.520]now
[00:11:32.800]and they are just doing amazing
[00:11:35.220]things um the thing that
[00:11:37.080]probably made us the most
[00:11:39.030]successful
[00:11:40.040]when I talked to the president
[00:11:41.660]and our vice president of
[00:11:43.200]finance, which, you know, they're
[00:11:45.200]money guys. They want to know
[00:11:46.690]how we're going to make money.
[00:11:48.350]Not once did they ask me how
[00:11:49.480]this was
[00:11:50.020]going to, what our ROI was.
[00:11:51.380]Michelle's smiling because
[00:11:53.150]Michelle was part of this when
[00:11:54.080]we started
[00:11:54.680]this. She knows exactly who I'm
[00:11:56.880]talking about. But it was
[00:11:58.690]wonderful because I said, how
[00:12:00.740]can we
[00:12:01.240]help launch businesses if they
[00:12:02.820]have overhead? And they said
[00:12:04.400]they don't. So they can be in
[00:12:05.920]our
[00:12:06.200]center for two years, rent and
[00:12:08.450]utility free, and the furniture
[00:12:10.900]is also already there. They
[00:12:13.050]have
[00:12:13.480]access to all of our resources
[00:12:15.140]and, you know, college-wide,
[00:12:17.040]but mostly these other resource
[00:12:18.860]partners in our community. And
[00:12:21.230]our goal to be in this center
[00:12:23.180]is you then have to launch to a
[00:12:25.250]brick
[00:12:25.720]and mortar or a new space
[00:12:27.010]downtown Sydney. And that's
[00:12:28.880]where Melissa Norgaard and I
[00:12:30.250]worked really
[00:12:31.160]close. You know, as something
[00:12:32.760]comes up, they might launch
[00:12:34.320]quicker or they might have just
[00:12:35.630]used our
[00:12:36.140]space. We do have just an open
[00:12:39.250]common area that anybody can
[00:12:41.010]use. And we've had people use
[00:12:43.310]just
[00:12:44.080]those offices while they're
[00:12:45.570]launching. Like we had a
[00:12:47.240]fitness, a little gal that
[00:12:48.340]started a fitness
[00:12:49.380]business. She would meet with
[00:12:51.210]them on our campus because it
[00:12:52.830]looked professional, but then
[00:12:54.660]she got
[00:12:55.160]enough leverage with customers.
[00:12:56.850]She was actually able to rent a
[00:12:58.320]space downtown and is now
[00:12:59.420]reaching
[00:12:59.940]back out saying, okay, I want
[00:13:01.420]to buy this business. Who can
[00:13:03.090]help me? So we're back to the,
[00:13:04.420]you know,
[00:13:05.080]just a great circle we've
[00:13:08.160]created with those resources.
[00:13:10.510]So that is and the
[00:13:12.100]brochure I just gave in case
[00:13:13.430]you guys have would like to see
[00:13:14.890]it if anybody's
[00:13:15.760]ever in Sydney let just stop by
[00:13:17.430]and we'll show you the space we're
[00:13:19.320]pretty
[00:13:19.780]proud of it it the renovation
[00:13:22.250]looks really nice so. It's a
[00:13:24.960]gorgeous couch Paula. Thank you.
[00:13:28.720]I think Michelle helped
[00:13:30.770]purchase those. I could be the
[00:13:33.810]reason Michelle
[00:13:34.840]moved. Yes. Are they in
[00:13:38.000]individual offices and then a
[00:13:41.140]common area or is it an open
[00:13:44.150]work space
[00:13:45.320]that they are all in together?
[00:13:48.020]So actually we have two, we
[00:13:50.500]have three actual offices.
[00:13:52.860]The space that agency 39 is in
[00:13:56.040]is actually a large classroom.
[00:13:59.250]NextGen wanted to launch before
[00:14:02.380]we actually had it renovated.
[00:14:03.920]So they're just in a big
[00:14:05.510]classroom with a lot of chairs
[00:14:06.420]and tables.
[00:14:07.240]We have too many conference
[00:14:09.650]rooms, a large conference room,
[00:14:12.670]two meeting rooms that are
[00:14:15.020]really only for two people. And
[00:14:16.720]then we have a telephone booth.
[00:14:18.410]We went to the front range and
[00:14:19.980]started looking at all of these
[00:14:21.870]spaces and we found that the
[00:14:23.550]telephone booth was pretty
[00:14:25.240]important
[00:14:25.980]because we were having those
[00:14:27.470]next gen guys do million dollar
[00:14:29.140]deals all over our campus,
[00:14:30.600]tucked in corners or the
[00:14:31.950]bathroom or that. So we
[00:14:33.760]actually just have one little
[00:14:35.060]space that they can
[00:14:36.200]just go and make a call and be
[00:14:38.530]done. So we have multiple
[00:14:40.900]spaces throughout that whole
[00:14:43.400]area.
[00:14:44.200]Great, thank you. And with
[00:14:49.380]other speakers as you go, if
[00:14:53.950]you could please explain your
[00:14:59.010]layout as
[00:14:59.720]well because I'm interested to
[00:15:01.450]see how many are open concept
[00:15:03.060]and how many use offices.
[00:15:04.680]Okay. Paula would you be able
[00:15:08.770]to share like some of the
[00:15:13.180]documents you use for rental
[00:15:15.690]agreements
[00:15:17.400]and those kind of things and
[00:15:18.830]then that way we don't have to
[00:15:20.560]indent the wheel if we can come
[00:15:21.960]up with something we can steal
[00:15:24.070]your idea. Oh absolutely and
[00:15:26.260]and truthfully steal away
[00:15:28.110]because
[00:15:29.720]This really just kind of came
[00:15:31.520]together and it was a win. And,
[00:15:33.580]you know, we did, I just think
[00:15:35.050]that the more we share, the
[00:15:36.360]better we'll all be. So
[00:15:38.140]absolutely, I'll share as much
[00:15:39.100]as I can with everybody. And
[00:15:40.870]Andrea, I could try and take, I'll
[00:15:42.980]try and capture some more
[00:15:44.140]pictures of like the open space
[00:15:45.820]and our office spaces. So I'll
[00:15:47.730]send those to you, better
[00:15:49.690]pictures of like the overall
[00:15:51.060]layout.
[00:15:52.040]That'd be awesome. Um, did you,
[00:15:54.440]do you vet, um, individuals and
[00:15:56.740]businesses before they come in,
[00:15:58.960]or do you just use a code of
[00:16:00.680]conduct? And if they happen to
[00:16:02.940]break that, um, then they're
[00:16:05.160]dismissed from the area. Oh, no,
[00:16:07.640]they, so one of the things that
[00:16:09.720]we were really being careful
[00:16:11.640]with
[00:16:11.980]is out of the 350 people that
[00:16:14.040]came to those meetings, there's
[00:16:16.030]not 350 entrepreneurs in
[00:16:18.060]Sydney and or you know in the
[00:16:19.720]in the southern panhandle part
[00:16:21.610]of that is we wanted to make
[00:16:23.240]sure
[00:16:23.560]that they were going to be
[00:16:25.140]successful so they have to have
[00:16:27.110]a business plan and they have
[00:16:28.910]to
[00:16:29.160]have their financials to me and
[00:16:30.730]then I work with those
[00:16:32.290]resources to say do they have
[00:16:33.260]the potential
[00:16:34.060]to be successful mine is any
[00:16:35.910]big thing like being sued by a
[00:16:37.850]huge corporation but if they
[00:16:39.790]have the
[00:16:40.460]potential to be successful then
[00:16:42.420]we let them in the and they
[00:16:43.940]also have to agree to go to a
[00:16:45.640]brick and
[00:16:46.220]order. Beyond that, they have
[00:16:48.460]to adhere to all of the college
[00:16:50.460]policies and procedures. So,
[00:16:52.920]you know,
[00:16:54.000]we're a no smoking, no drinking
[00:16:55.540]campus. They have to adhere to
[00:16:57.160]that. And it's a contract that
[00:16:58.700]if they
[00:16:59.040]break that contract, then they
[00:17:01.550]do have to move out. So, we've
[00:17:04.220]had no issues.
[00:17:05.480]What's the criteria to
[00:17:08.630]determine whether they would be
[00:17:11.530]deemed that they could be
[00:17:14.250]successful?
[00:17:16.220]Do you have a checklist that
[00:17:17.830]the others could utilize for
[00:17:19.510]that thought process?
[00:17:21.000]You know, we don't have a
[00:17:24.130]checklist because what we do is
[00:17:25.960]I just go off the guidance of,
[00:17:28.720]for example, MBDC.
[00:17:30.060]Margaret was a great advocate,
[00:17:32.780]and she was a CPA.
[00:17:34.420]And so it's like, okay, if she
[00:17:36.500]says that they are, you know,
[00:17:38.580]they're liquid, they can make
[00:17:40.670]this work.
[00:17:42.160]I was going off of her because
[00:17:43.540]I really don't have that
[00:17:45.220]expertise to say, I don't know,
[00:17:46.660]their financials look a little
[00:17:47.710]scary, but it's like, well,
[00:17:48.750]they have this funding or they
[00:17:49.750]have this supporter.
[00:17:50.680]So I don't really have a
[00:17:52.320]checklist. It was more just,
[00:17:54.790]okay, do you have the ability
[00:17:57.070]to move into another space?
[00:17:59.360]I think that would be our next
[00:18:00.600]step, though, is to try and
[00:18:01.820]actually get that criteria down
[00:18:03.230]to where we have something that
[00:18:04.580]we can actually, most of them,
[00:18:05.970]they just weed themselves out
[00:18:07.270]by saying, yeah, I'm not going
[00:18:08.680]to brick and mortar.
[00:18:10.600]You know, I have Shackley
[00:18:11.750]dealership and I'm like, well,
[00:18:13.220]that's really not what this
[00:18:14.430]space is for, you know, a home
[00:18:15.790]based business. We support them.
[00:18:17.720]They can use that big open
[00:18:19.280]space, but we just really want
[00:18:21.280]to keep those offices for
[00:18:22.900]businesses that are going to
[00:18:24.570]launch and
[00:18:25.340]You know, to something bigger
[00:18:27.100]downtown. We're really trying
[00:18:29.000]to fill all those empty
[00:18:30.520]buildings downtown so
[00:18:31.720]Did I hear any timelines of how
[00:18:34.170]long they can be in a space? Do
[00:18:36.900]you give them a year, two years?
[00:18:39.540]Two years. Two, okay, thank you.
[00:18:42.740]Yeah, and then we have the
[00:18:44.960]flexibility that, you know, for
[00:18:47.710]example, if something really
[00:18:50.270]bad happens, then we have the
[00:18:52.710]ability to do an extension. I
[00:18:55.730]haven't had anybody stay to
[00:18:56.940]their two years, though. They've
[00:18:58.670]all been that successful. They've
[00:19:00.440]launched.
[00:19:01.720]Great. Thanks, Paula. Thank you.
[00:19:06.440]Yeah, that was great. Any last-minute
[00:19:11.150]questions for Paula before we
[00:19:14.510]switch over to Andy?
[00:19:15.560]I would just say that if you
[00:19:18.120]have documents, Paula, I'd be
[00:19:21.250]glad to put them where we're
[00:19:24.070]putting the recordings as well,
[00:19:25.780]and that way folks can get back
[00:19:27.360]to it all in one place.
[00:19:28.700]Perfect. Thanks, Jenny. I'll
[00:19:30.340]send those to you.
[00:19:31.720]All right. Thank you, everybody.
[00:19:38.780]Chelsea, you want me to just go
[00:19:43.630]from there?
[00:19:45.920]Sure. I'm good with it.
[00:19:48.240]Okay. Sounds good.
[00:19:50.000]Jenny has control, so.
[00:19:51.960]Okay. I tried sharing. I'm not
[00:19:55.120]sure. Can you see my webpage?
[00:19:57.700]Keystone Business Center?
[00:20:01.720]Yes.
[00:20:02.120]All right.
[00:20:03.680]You know, really one of the
[00:20:04.990]things we're doing here at McCook
[00:20:06.840]Economic Development
[00:20:07.710]Corporation is we're opening up
[00:20:09.270]an incubator inside what was an
[00:20:10.750]incubator.
[00:20:11.700]So it's, you know, kind of a
[00:20:13.250]double concept a little bit.
[00:20:15.000]And I'm not sure how much
[00:20:16.000]either of them are true incubators
[00:20:17.480]at this point either.
[00:20:18.600]So it's kind of fluid.
[00:20:20.860]But I do want to also say
[00:20:22.230]anything good you hear from me
[00:20:24.040]about our co-work space we're
[00:20:26.040]open is probably stuff I stole
[00:20:27.620]from Andrea.
[00:20:28.960]because she did a lot more
[00:20:29.920]research than I did, and I just
[00:20:31.180]gleaned that for the best of it.
[00:20:32.660]So she has a lot more detail on
[00:20:34.400]some of this stuff, especially
[00:20:36.350]on the co-work space,
[00:20:37.840]and I really appreciate the
[00:20:39.130]work she did that helped guide
[00:20:40.530]the work that we're doing here
[00:20:41.920]at McCook.
[00:20:42.620]So hat tip to Andrea on this
[00:20:44.520]piece here.
[00:20:45.600]Ten years ago, McCook Economic
[00:20:48.730]Development rehabbed the Keystone
[00:20:50.330]Business Center.
[00:20:51.800]This was a hotel that was built
[00:20:53.460]in 1922.
[00:20:54.640]It had kind of fallen into disrepair,
[00:20:56.960]and this was a $4 million,
[00:20:58.960]job, and $2 million of this
[00:21:01.060]came from a federal EDA grant.
[00:21:03.330]I think it helped that Senator
[00:21:05.440]Ben
[00:21:05.780]Nelson was in office, who was
[00:21:07.500]from McCook, to get that EDA
[00:21:09.150]grant, because initially it was
[00:21:11.070]a $1.6
[00:21:11.940]million grant, and as the cost
[00:21:13.910]for the construction went up,
[00:21:15.920]so did the grant amount, too.
[00:21:17.990]But MEDC
[00:21:18.540]borrowed then about $900,000
[00:21:21.690]and also had about $1.1 million
[00:21:23.960]in local donations, historic
[00:21:25.630]tax
[00:21:26.340]credit, did some KIF financing
[00:21:28.150]on the property. So it was kind
[00:21:29.950]of brought together in about
[00:21:31.560]three
[00:21:32.020]or four different ways there.
[00:21:33.780]So initially this was set up as
[00:21:35.400]a business incubator and there
[00:21:37.200]was
[00:21:37.400]a tenant that was going to
[00:21:38.810]occupy the whole fourth floor
[00:21:40.560]and really the rent of that
[00:21:41.990]tenant was going
[00:21:43.080]to pay for the operational
[00:21:44.280]costs and the debt on the
[00:21:45.370]building. About two or three
[00:21:46.810]months into opening
[00:21:47.900]that tenant had federal
[00:21:51.050]contracts they lost and they
[00:21:53.180]were out and so right away the
[00:21:56.400]the keystone
[00:21:57.400]tenant of the keystone was gone
[00:21:59.480]and really for 10 years it's
[00:22:01.640]been a struggle for MEDC to
[00:22:03.450]operate
[00:22:04.040]this building and it's kind of
[00:22:05.710]been a cash drain on the
[00:22:07.200]organization we're gonna do a
[00:22:08.650]point though
[00:22:09.500]last year we were cash flow
[00:22:11.040]positive on the space but it's
[00:22:12.800]been a huge challenge to
[00:22:14.210]operate
[00:22:15.360]a six-story, 100-year-old hotel
[00:22:17.230]here.
[00:22:17.760]One thing we do with this
[00:22:19.300]building right now
[00:22:20.580]is the first four floors are
[00:22:22.440]office space.
[00:22:23.620]And if you're a new startup
[00:22:25.400]or just kind of a new expansion
[00:22:27.400]the first couple of years of
[00:22:28.580]your business,
[00:22:29.340]we will offer you rent at 50%
[00:22:31.890]of market rate the first year,
[00:22:34.380]75% of market rate the second
[00:22:36.700]year,
[00:22:37.240]and then 100% of what we
[00:22:38.750]consider McCook's market rate
[00:22:40.380]the third year.
[00:22:41.160]So we rent out office space on
[00:22:41.160]floors one through four,
[00:22:44.780]And there's, you know, a
[00:22:46.100]variety of businesses in here
[00:22:47.840]from a quilting shop.
[00:22:48.840]There's a scrapbooking shop
[00:22:50.060]that just moved to a downtown
[00:22:51.280]location.
[00:22:51.920]We had a home instead office
[00:22:53.990]here, NBDC, the Community
[00:22:56.160]Foundation, Department of Labor.
[00:22:59.140]They have offices in here.
[00:23:00.400]We have a couple of local
[00:23:01.510]foundations that have offices,
[00:23:03.070]an engineering firm.
[00:23:04.280]But then, you know, we have
[00:23:05.720]half a dozen businesses that
[00:23:07.350]did start here and moved to a
[00:23:08.560]different location.
[00:23:09.860]A floral shop started here and
[00:23:11.360]moved.
[00:23:11.880]There's an ag construction
[00:23:15.010]building at an office in here.
[00:23:17.080]There was a networking
[00:23:18.110]technology business that
[00:23:19.320]started here and now moved
[00:23:20.540]their own location.
[00:23:21.560]So there are some success
[00:23:22.910]stories from this.
[00:23:24.100]But the sixth floor is being
[00:23:25.530]developed into an art space by
[00:23:27.260]someone that has ties to the
[00:23:28.530]community and is looking to
[00:23:29.970]invest back.
[00:23:30.920]And the fifth floor is
[00:23:31.930]completely open.
[00:23:32.940]But if you look, it's pretty
[00:23:36.090]standard office space.
[00:23:37.960]I want to actually click on
[00:23:39.940]this one.
[00:23:41.880]I do call it McCook's premier
[00:23:43.370]commercial office space, but I'm
[00:23:45.260]not sure how high of a bar that
[00:23:46.800]is.
[00:23:47.180]So some of the spaces we have
[00:23:49.470]available, you know, you can
[00:23:51.930]see this is a scrapbooking
[00:23:54.050]space.
[00:23:54.980]They just moved out, so it's
[00:23:56.530]kind of opened up about 490
[00:23:58.340]square feet.
[00:23:59.240]This was a 300-square-foot
[00:24:00.770]office space that opened up,
[00:24:02.090]and we actually rented this to
[00:24:03.410]one of our tenants.
[00:24:04.500]It's expanding a little bit in
[00:24:05.680]the space here.
[00:24:06.480]We got a commercial kitchen
[00:24:07.840]that's open.
[00:24:08.640]If anybody wants it, let me
[00:24:09.810]know, and we'll rent it out to
[00:24:11.060]you.
[00:24:11.880]And as a part of being a part
[00:24:13.290]of this building, we have a
[00:24:15.040]second floor boardroom, which
[00:24:16.560]allows them to have private
[00:24:18.010]meetings or client meetings.
[00:24:19.840]We have a training room on the
[00:24:21.080]third floor, which offers a
[00:24:22.320]little bit bigger space for
[00:24:23.500]people.
[00:24:24.060]The lobby is just beautiful.
[00:24:26.460]And the historic covenant, we
[00:24:27.700]got to keep that kind of in the
[00:24:28.820]original condition.
[00:24:29.940]And then you can see the lobby
[00:24:32.340]there.
[00:24:33.160]Then there's a nonprofit called
[00:24:35.080]the Norris Institute that they're
[00:24:37.140]developing the Norris Alley,
[00:24:38.960]which is going to be an outdoor
[00:24:40.340]public space.
[00:24:41.880]There's going to be a water
[00:24:42.980]feature and some dining stuff,
[00:24:44.330]and they can have events there.
[00:24:45.740]And so that would be a nice
[00:24:47.000]feature added on right to the
[00:24:48.440]space here.
[00:24:49.240]But it's the fifth floor.
[00:24:51.380]You can see pictures of that.
[00:24:52.640]We have 5,600 square feet.
[00:24:54.500]The challenge is just to get
[00:24:55.820]basic infrastructure to that
[00:24:57.560]space is going to be at least $100,000.
[00:25:00.760]And then when you add on
[00:25:01.980]developing the space to use it
[00:25:03.850]into something, we just haven't
[00:25:05.460]been able to find anybody that
[00:25:07.020]can really make the finances
[00:25:08.570]work to use that space right
[00:25:10.070]now.
[00:25:10.540]We do have some separate
[00:25:12.040]building rules here and a
[00:25:13.700]rental worksheet we fill out.
[00:25:15.720]If anybody wants to see the leases
[00:25:17.600]we use, shoot me a note on that.
[00:25:19.600]I can share the leases we do
[00:25:20.840]with that there.
[00:25:21.820]but it's this could have been
[00:25:24.470]an old rundown building in mccook
[00:25:27.560]that would have cost about
[00:25:30.140]a million to tear down so it
[00:25:31.720]was really really good by
[00:25:33.300]economic development and rex nelson
[00:25:35.450]i
[00:25:35.620]think many of you know is the
[00:25:37.000]one that really developed this
[00:25:38.750]and i had to read through his
[00:25:40.080]old files and he's brilliant oh
[00:25:42.170]my goodness the way he put this
[00:25:44.180]deal together was was amazing
[00:25:46.200]so
[00:25:46.460]next time you see Rex, tell him
[00:25:48.460]you appreciate the work he did
[00:25:50.380]on the Keystone.
[00:25:51.660]So as a part of the Keystone,
[00:25:53.730]we had a fifth floor, a fourth
[00:25:55.900]floor space that was about 1,500
[00:25:59.240]square feet, really no visuals
[00:26:01.850]to the outside world. It had
[00:26:04.420]three small private offices,
[00:26:06.860]about 200 square foot office.
[00:26:08.720]It was designed specifically
[00:26:10.130]for this company that had these
[00:26:11.660]government contracts. It was a
[00:26:13.900]very difficult space for a
[00:26:15.660]startup to fill or for a new
[00:26:17.420]business
[00:26:18.140]to occupy. And where it was
[00:26:19.600]located, it was kind of awkward
[00:26:21.300]even to kind of split up into
[00:26:22.670]smaller
[00:26:23.220]spaces. So I really kind of had
[00:26:24.840]the dream since I came here
[00:26:26.380]about two years ago is
[00:26:27.240]developing a
[00:26:27.960]co-work space in this space
[00:26:30.510]here. And I think it was a
[00:26:33.140]little bit out there maybe from
[00:26:35.830]my board at
[00:26:36.960]the time, but the pandemic
[00:26:38.670]really kind of said, this might
[00:26:40.690]be our opportunity. You know,
[00:26:42.770]overnight,
[00:26:43.680]millions of people learn to
[00:26:44.980]work remotely. A lot of people
[00:26:46.740]like working remotely, but they
[00:26:48.110]don't
[00:26:48.480]always like working from home.
[00:26:50.290]So if we can develop a space, a
[00:26:51.890]professional space, hopefully
[00:26:53.700]we can
[00:26:54.100]attract back some people that
[00:26:55.670]have ties to McCook or someone
[00:26:57.260]that works remotely and wants
[00:26:58.800]to live
[00:26:59.280]someplace smaller than the city
[00:27:00.930]there. So that was kind of the
[00:27:02.500]argument used with my board,
[00:27:04.020]and
[00:27:04.340]I developed about two-thirds of
[00:27:05.810]a business plan, and if anybody
[00:27:07.490]wants to see that, but after it
[00:27:08.700]was approved, I didn't develop
[00:27:10.180]the other third of the business
[00:27:11.590]plan.
[00:27:12.180]So I got a partial business
[00:27:13.360]plan on this space, if anybody's
[00:27:15.250]curious at looking at that
[00:27:16.070]there.
[00:27:16.580]So this is set up. I'm trying
[00:27:18.640]to build this as America's most
[00:27:20.210]affordable co-work space to
[00:27:21.760]maybe get some press.
[00:27:22.960]I can't verify that, but until
[00:27:24.550]I get a cease and desist letter,
[00:27:26.190]we're going to fly with that
[00:27:27.640]there.
[00:27:28.820]If you look, when you first
[00:27:29.970]come in, there's about 800
[00:27:31.430]square feet of open space here
[00:27:32.680]with some different cubicles.
[00:27:34.220]All these cubicles were
[00:27:35.890]leftovers of businesses that
[00:27:37.970]were here before.
[00:27:39.440]So we kind of did a little bit
[00:27:41.050]of bag borrowing and stealing
[00:27:42.810]to kind of make this space
[00:27:44.280]happen here.
[00:27:45.280]But you have the different cubicle
[00:27:48.340]spaces there.
[00:27:49.080]Each space has an Ethernet
[00:27:50.760]hooked up.
[00:27:51.640]We made a deal with Great Plains
[00:27:53.250]Communication.
[00:27:54.320]They're expanding their fiber
[00:27:55.930]network downtown, and they
[00:27:57.480]needed storage space.
[00:27:58.820]we had an old storage room in
[00:27:59.980]the Keystone. They really were
[00:28:01.980]trading rent for that space for
[00:28:03.360]one
[00:28:03.600]gig internet in that space, and
[00:28:05.730]then for the Norris Alley and
[00:28:07.630]for our office space. So we
[00:28:09.600]traded services with them. So
[00:28:11.700]they have storage for their
[00:28:13.490]fiber network, and we have
[00:28:15.270]really fast
[00:28:16.180]internet in the co-work space
[00:28:17.800]there. Along with that, on the
[00:28:19.620]longer desks, a few things we
[00:28:21.360]heard
[00:28:21.680]on feedback was they really
[00:28:22.850]liked the opportunity to have
[00:28:24.130]dual monitors. And so there's
[00:28:25.500]about two
[00:28:26.020]or three desks where they can
[00:28:27.120]bring their laptop, plug into a
[00:28:28.340]dual monitor, and they have
[00:28:29.430]that space
[00:28:29.940]there. There's three private
[00:28:31.610]offices in there. It's kind of
[00:28:33.270]like the phone booth. We're not
[00:28:35.140]looking to
[00:28:35.500]rent these out to an individual,
[00:28:36.980]but if they need to make a
[00:28:38.020]private call, they have a
[00:28:39.180]conference,
[00:28:39.980]they need to talk to someone
[00:28:41.140]one-on-one, they can just pull
[00:28:42.490]into one of these private
[00:28:43.550]office spaces.
[00:28:44.420]And one of them we are working
[00:28:46.510]on, oh, actually haven't
[00:28:48.510]developed. So one of the
[00:28:50.470]private office
[00:28:51.720]spaces. We brought in a flat
[00:28:53.470]screen TV, a little bit better
[00:28:55.290]of a video camera, and a nicer
[00:28:57.040]microphone,
[00:28:57.900]so if you want to do Zoom
[00:28:59.160]meetings, you have a really
[00:29:01.030]good place to do that from
[00:29:02.180]there.
[00:29:02.820]Looking at a few other things,
[00:29:04.710]we do have a couple computers
[00:29:06.450]that we put in there. There's a
[00:29:08.410]27-inch
[00:29:09.360]iMac, a Dell Optiflex computer,
[00:29:11.720]and we partner with a non-profit
[00:29:13.940]to help us do some fundraising
[00:29:16.120]and apply for some grants and
[00:29:17.470]also help partnership with some
[00:29:18.970]of the software.
[00:29:19.960]We're a 501c4 maybe, and so we
[00:29:23.120]really don't qualify for being
[00:29:25.140]able to apply for a lot of
[00:29:26.610]grants
[00:29:26.960]because we're not a C3, but
[00:29:28.110]through this partnership, you
[00:29:29.600]know,
[00:29:30.160]we're able to get Adobe
[00:29:31.420]Creative Suite on these
[00:29:33.290]computers for $20 a month.
[00:29:34.700]And so that's a nice feature we
[00:29:36.320]can offer for people if they
[00:29:37.860]want to use.
[00:29:38.660]With our Dell machine here, we
[00:29:40.890]also brought in a Dymo mailing
[00:29:43.040]solutions package
[00:29:44.520]where if it's somebody that
[00:29:46.070]sells stuff from home,
[00:29:47.500]they can just weigh it right on
[00:29:49.000]this thing here,
[00:29:49.940]on the weigh thing,
[00:29:51.140]and then they can print the
[00:29:52.340]postage
[00:29:52.780]right from this computer here.
[00:29:54.180]And so I mean, that's kind of a
[00:29:55.290]nice feature there.
[00:29:56.180]You know, we're renting a copier
[00:29:57.970]from EECS.
[00:29:58.740]They're helping us get paper
[00:30:00.070]cut installed on this.
[00:30:01.120]So people pay for their copies
[00:30:03.030]on their own.
[00:30:04.080]And we're not worried about
[00:30:05.140]making change
[00:30:05.720]for people that want to make
[00:30:06.930]copies in the copy room.
[00:30:08.160]And then we're still putting
[00:30:09.940]together
[00:30:10.560]an audio video recording room.
[00:30:14.060]And you can kind of see some of
[00:30:15.420]it here, there.
[00:30:16.440]But, you know, we bought a
[00:30:17.960]little bit higher end, about a
[00:30:19.660]$2,000 camera that was
[00:30:21.050]recommended to us.
[00:30:22.020]We're going to get about $4,000
[00:30:23.590]of audio recording equipment in
[00:30:24.820]there.
[00:30:25.260]And the idea is really a
[00:30:26.260]creator space.
[00:30:27.100]If people are looking to create
[00:30:28.400]video, if they're looking to
[00:30:29.650]create audio, I mean, they can
[00:30:31.000]do that all right in this space
[00:30:32.280]here.
[00:30:32.620]And we're still looking to
[00:30:33.820]partner with, like, the College
[00:30:35.690]Graphic Design Program and our
[00:30:36.860]high school computer science
[00:30:38.220]program to try and get them
[00:30:39.420]using the space in here a
[00:30:40.500]little bit.
[00:30:41.320]And actually show everybody
[00:30:42.570]else how to use the equipment.
[00:30:44.060]but I you know a few other
[00:30:45.970]things we've got a break room
[00:30:48.260]on that floor but we really
[00:30:50.370]kind of
[00:30:51.040]set it up where we had the
[00:30:52.570]space available and we just
[00:30:54.350]kind of repurpose some stuff
[00:30:56.220]four of our
[00:30:56.980]desks and chairs I bought at
[00:30:59.050]the Kearney Holiday Inn Express
[00:31:01.480]garage sale for $120 and so
[00:31:04.000]that's as
[00:31:04.820]I could fit in the back of my
[00:31:06.060]Suburban that's kind of what
[00:31:07.420]limited me on that there but
[00:31:08.730]some of its
[00:31:09.340]new purchase, some of it's old
[00:31:10.980]stuff we worked in there, some
[00:31:12.630]of it's we found good deals on,
[00:31:14.400]the local bank donated two
[00:31:15.720]really nice desks for the space
[00:31:17.550]there. So it's been a
[00:31:18.420]combination of a
[00:31:19.280]lot of different things. We're
[00:31:20.690]looking to start people, if
[00:31:21.890]they sign a year agreement, to
[00:31:23.200]do this
[00:31:23.580]space for $65 a month. And we're
[00:31:25.500]going to limit the number of
[00:31:26.880]people that have that rate. And
[00:31:28.760]then
[00:31:28.940]if people just want to do
[00:31:29.840]nights and weekends, if they're
[00:31:31.090]just more of a hobbyist, they're
[00:31:32.330]looking
[00:31:32.700]to create stuff, some of the
[00:31:34.260]equipment, we're looking to
[00:31:35.890]have that rate be $40 a month.
[00:31:37.880]And the
[00:31:38.360]idea is we just want to get
[00:31:39.970]people in here using this space.
[00:31:42.220]When looking through this, I
[00:31:44.160]did find
[00:31:44.840]another co-work space that had
[00:31:46.410]like 12 pages of rules and
[00:31:48.000]expectations and asked them if
[00:31:49.540]I could
[00:31:49.980]borrow that, make some revisions,
[00:31:52.020]and so I have that on the
[00:31:53.260]screen here, and that includes
[00:31:55.160]some
[00:31:55.400]of the software requirements,
[00:31:57.120]some of the things on our
[00:31:58.560]network that they can and can't
[00:32:00.100]do. We are
[00:32:00.800]going to have people do a
[00:32:02.000]background check and a credit
[00:32:03.500]check before they can use the
[00:32:04.940]space to give
[00:32:05.560]us a little bit more security
[00:32:06.820]features and a little bit more
[00:32:08.670]background on the people that
[00:32:09.520]were let in here. And we're
[00:32:11.100]going to set up all our memberships
[00:32:13.080]on like ACH transmission. So
[00:32:14.840]automatically we're just going
[00:32:16.200]to take the money from their
[00:32:17.350]checking account on a monthly
[00:32:18.600]basis.
[00:32:19.060]We're unofficially open. I've
[00:32:21.210]given about half a dozen tours.
[00:32:23.380]I don't have a member
[00:32:24.670]officially
[00:32:25.560]signed up yet. So we're still
[00:32:27.030]waiting for that inaugural
[00:32:28.690]member. So it's still an
[00:32:29.590]adventure to
[00:32:30.340]see which way it was going to
[00:32:32.200]go. Our budget for this space
[00:32:34.320]was about $30,000. And really,
[00:32:37.720]we didn't have money at MEDC
[00:32:39.360]that we were willing to commit
[00:32:41.170]to this project. So I had to
[00:32:42.900]raise the
[00:32:43.640]money on my own. And there was
[00:32:45.220]about, you know, about 10 to 15
[00:32:47.360]donors I was going to reach out
[00:32:48.890]to.
[00:32:49.300]The first guy I talked to
[00:32:51.160]showed up in the space, talked
[00:32:53.580]about the concept. And
[00:32:55.530]eventually,
[00:32:56.740]I think our fifth floor, that
[00:32:58.840]open space could be a bigger
[00:33:00.780]open office space for tech
[00:33:02.640]companies to use and that sort
[00:33:04.220]of thing.
[00:33:04.640]And he said, I'd rather give
[00:33:06.240]you $50,000 to develop the
[00:33:08.470]fifth floor space than $30,000
[00:33:11.030]for this fourth floor space.
[00:33:12.940]And so I thought, okay, I got
[00:33:14.100]to go on and actually on my
[00:33:15.080]list.
[00:33:15.560]But a couple weeks later, he
[00:33:16.690]called and said, what's it
[00:33:17.770]going to take to open that co-work
[00:33:19.120]space?
[00:33:19.640]And I said, well, we're looking
[00:33:20.800]at about $30,000.
[00:33:22.060]He goes, okay, give me a couple
[00:33:23.270]days, you'll have the money.
[00:33:24.540]And so I was like going, oh my
[00:33:25.890]goodness, we have the space
[00:33:27.610]funded.
[00:33:27.880]But, you know, having the
[00:33:29.040]business plan, having the
[00:33:30.210]vision, showing some examples,
[00:33:31.690]some other co-work spaces, I
[00:33:33.130]just got lucky that I found the
[00:33:34.560]right person at the right time
[00:33:35.990]to make this happen.
[00:33:37.180]But having the vision, having
[00:33:39.000]it well thought out, having a
[00:33:40.750]space that made sense for, I
[00:33:42.430]mean, all that was the stuff
[00:33:44.110]that I kind of put together to
[00:33:45.790]get to where we're at here.
[00:33:47.640]And so I don't know what it's
[00:33:49.980]going to turn into, but I have
[00:33:52.530]high hopes.
[00:33:54.540]And that's kind of a sprint
[00:33:57.690]through the McCook co-work
[00:33:59.960]space.
[00:34:00.980]Andy, did you pattern that
[00:34:03.450]after any other examples in the
[00:34:06.250]state that you toured or had
[00:34:08.710]taken a look at?
[00:34:10.480]Well, you know, I really looked
[00:34:14.720]at a lot of the work Andrea did.
[00:34:19.400]And, you know, I saw some of
[00:34:20.990]the examples of the initial one
[00:34:22.720]in Kearney, not the new one
[00:34:24.720]that just opened, which looks
[00:34:27.910]amazing.
[00:34:28.340]You know, and so I think the
[00:34:30.920]one thing I've always wanted a
[00:34:33.760]maker space in the Cook.
[00:34:36.320]We don't have one yet, so I'm
[00:34:37.650]jealous of that there.
[00:34:38.880]So the one thing we tried to
[00:34:40.420]add that I haven't seen a lot
[00:34:42.040]of other places is that, like,
[00:34:44.060]audio-video creation space
[00:34:45.600]there.
[00:34:46.860]The open space in aesthetically
[00:34:48.660]pleasing our spaces at nearly
[00:34:50.330]the same level as most the
[00:34:51.730]other places. I mean, that's
[00:34:53.520]one thing that we're really
[00:34:55.370]lacking on there.
[00:34:56.360]But I really wanted to create.
[00:34:58.100]I really want to have a space
[00:34:59.580]that had some tools that I'd
[00:35:01.060]seen in some small studios. I
[00:35:02.750]haven't seen a whole lot of co
[00:35:04.270]work spaces, but I looked
[00:35:05.690]around about five or six
[00:35:06.980]different places online to kind
[00:35:08.740]of get some ideas on what they
[00:35:10.390]had done.
[00:35:15.300]But part of it was, you know,
[00:35:17.660]the layout was just, we had
[00:35:19.700]three or four of us go up there
[00:35:20.950]and haul cubicles around, and
[00:35:22.330]that's where the cubicles fit.
[00:35:23.960]So there really wasn't any huge
[00:35:27.120]master plan behind that.
[00:35:29.720]You know, we started working
[00:35:31.100]with EECS right away and got a
[00:35:32.850]furniture bit from them, and
[00:35:33.760]they have some amazing
[00:35:34.900]furniture.
[00:35:35.580]We didn't have the budget for
[00:35:37.030]that, but they kind of had a
[00:35:38.730]layout that kind of gave us an
[00:35:39.860]idea of what it could look like
[00:35:41.370]in that space.
[00:35:43.000]And so, I mean, EECS was a good
[00:35:44.180]resource, you know, just to
[00:35:45.350]kind of think about the space
[00:35:46.460]and what was available and what
[00:35:47.700]we could put in there.
[00:35:48.780]Looks great.
[00:36:00.180]I also really like, I don't
[00:36:02.350]know if you guys have seen the
[00:36:04.620]Center on Rural Innovation.
[00:36:08.360]But, you know, the real idea
[00:36:10.470]behind their organization is to
[00:36:12.760]try and create, you know, these
[00:36:15.110]rural areas where you can have
[00:36:17.220]a lot of digital jobs.
[00:36:19.080]You know, and that's, I'll just
[00:36:21.370]pull that webpage up real fast
[00:36:23.430]there.
[00:36:24.160]But it's the Center on Rural
[00:36:25.770]Innovation.
[00:36:26.720]I know they have a program that
[00:36:28.210]you can apply for grant funding
[00:36:29.880]where they give you some
[00:36:30.960]technical assistance.
[00:36:32.300]they really talk about digital
[00:36:34.450]economy jobs in the rural area
[00:36:36.540]and they kind of have you know
[00:36:38.600]they have like the elements of
[00:36:40.780]a digital economy and they said
[00:36:43.040]these are really the things you
[00:36:45.320]need
[00:36:45.780]to really develop a local
[00:36:47.670]digital economy and you know I
[00:36:49.920]think long term one of our
[00:36:51.840]our potentials here is the
[00:36:53.310]foreign partnerships with some
[00:36:55.130]of these Nebraska tech
[00:36:56.410]companies
[00:36:57.080]like you know huddle fire
[00:36:58.850]springs spreetail is it like
[00:37:00.880]five nines and carney i mean
[00:37:02.810]there's some
[00:37:03.820]growing nebraska tech companies
[00:37:06.060]and sarban's doing a lot of
[00:37:07.820]work to try and fill jobs for
[00:37:09.660]that
[00:37:10.000]i'm just trying to figure out
[00:37:11.470]how we tie in that our local
[00:37:13.150]schools our community colleges
[00:37:14.580]could have the training
[00:37:15.990]programs that prepare our local
[00:37:17.900]students for these tech jobs
[00:37:19.760]they can do
[00:37:20.300]from anywhere and then for us
[00:37:21.920]these rural areas to have the
[00:37:23.540]spaces that they can stay in
[00:37:25.090]our area
[00:37:25.680]and work. You know, if we could
[00:37:27.790]somehow, and I'm trying to
[00:37:29.530]figure this piece out to you,
[00:37:31.520]but if we
[00:37:31.900]could somehow recruit half a
[00:37:33.380]dozen people from the front
[00:37:35.050]range or people that had ties
[00:37:36.270]to our
[00:37:36.680]hometowns that were making $80,000
[00:37:39.160]to $120,000 a year as benefits,
[00:37:41.590]that'd be huge. We're usually
[00:37:43.300]thrilled when we can recruit
[00:37:44.880]someone that brings five jobs
[00:37:46.510]that pay $15 an hour. I mean,
[00:37:48.480]something
[00:37:49.160]like that, I think, can really
[00:37:50.840]reshape our communities. I've
[00:37:52.610]been reaching out to people
[00:37:54.060]that
[00:37:54.400]work from afar. I've had people
[00:37:56.160]contact me with questions about
[00:37:57.880]it. And, you know, I talked
[00:37:59.580]with
[00:37:59.680]someone that grew up in McCook
[00:38:01.060]that lives in Seattle and works
[00:38:02.510]for Amazon. He said, yeah,
[00:38:04.040]we're listed our townhouse for
[00:38:05.400]sale. It's 1500 square foot
[00:38:07.200]townhouse. And we're probably
[00:38:08.570]listed
[00:38:09.000]at $880,000, you know, and he
[00:38:12.300]worked for Amazon and can work
[00:38:14.430]from anywhere. He's not ready
[00:38:16.710]to
[00:38:17.040]come back to McCook, but we're
[00:38:18.710]working on that. But I mean,
[00:38:20.390]besides the doctors, he'd
[00:38:21.890]probably
[00:38:22.500]be the highest paid person on
[00:38:24.300]salary in the town you know and
[00:38:26.160]if we just find a couple of
[00:38:27.730]those
[00:38:28.220]people i really think that that
[00:38:30.040]one i think i think this is our
[00:38:31.780]time right now with the
[00:38:33.050]pandemic
[00:38:33.620]with the riots this is our time
[00:38:35.540]and we gotta have the spaces
[00:38:37.300]and programs in place to
[00:38:38.830]welcome them
[00:38:39.780]home uh andy and tyler from
[00:38:42.910]imperial and myself because we're
[00:38:45.210]in the same catalyst group have
[00:38:48.020]actually talked about the
[00:38:49.740]possibility of seeing if we
[00:38:51.580]could create a network of these.
[00:38:53.790]So similar
[00:38:54.640]to like a YMCA, where if you
[00:38:56.840]have a membership in one town,
[00:38:59.360]you can access the YMCAs in any
[00:39:01.710]town.
[00:39:02.600]We haven't gone any further
[00:39:04.780]other than that would be great
[00:39:07.140]and figure out how you would do
[00:39:09.490]that.
[00:39:10.280]And what is the cost sharing or
[00:39:13.410]profit sharing and stuff like
[00:39:15.460]that. But if we could get a
[00:39:17.840]whole network in like west of
[00:39:20.590]Kearney. I don't know if there'd
[00:39:23.900]be a lot of people that would
[00:39:26.640]use it, but it'd be great PR
[00:39:29.040]and it would make it a lot more
[00:39:31.540]legitimate to a lot of boards
[00:39:34.160]where you might want to be
[00:39:35.880]trying to create one.
[00:39:37.580]I'd be open to for
[00:39:39.120]conversations if anyone else is
[00:39:42.120]interested in joining that and
[00:39:44.760]actually seeing
[00:39:45.740]if we can try to move it
[00:39:47.080]forward. That actually, I think,
[00:39:49.460]is a really good idea. We do
[00:39:51.250]have incubator
[00:39:52.160]space in our office building
[00:39:54.080]here that's virtually vacant. I
[00:39:56.400]think there's one tenant there,
[00:39:58.640]but it
[00:39:59.120]makes me think, Paula, similar
[00:40:01.460]to the hoteling space concept
[00:40:03.560]that we use among campuses that
[00:40:05.820]are there with just bouncing
[00:40:07.790]around. So even if it's not
[00:40:09.730]full-blown ability to set up
[00:40:11.670]and do
[00:40:12.180]an office space for a couple
[00:40:13.470]days. If somebody's traveling
[00:40:15.040]on this end of the state and
[00:40:16.270]need to
[00:40:16.720]stop in and jump on a Zoom
[00:40:17.920]meeting for something they're
[00:40:19.850]missing back on the eastern
[00:40:20.860]part of the
[00:40:21.480]state, that if they're able to
[00:40:22.920]stop in and do that and have
[00:40:24.140]access in that network, that in
[00:40:25.650]and of
[00:40:26.080]itself would be huge.
[00:40:27.510]Absolutely. And one thing I was
[00:40:29.500]thinking, the people that might
[00:40:31.510]use it the
[00:40:32.200]most, which we wouldn't charge
[00:40:33.960]for, I don't know about
[00:40:35.360]everybody else, is a lot of our
[00:40:36.930]resource
[00:40:37.560]providers. If BED is in town,
[00:40:39.620]they don't have an office space
[00:40:41.610]here because they cover a
[00:40:43.220]territory,
[00:40:44.180]they could drop in anyone from
[00:40:47.340]USDA or REAP or anything like
[00:40:50.330]that. And so I think
[00:40:52.720]they might be the ones that
[00:40:54.030]would use it the most, but I
[00:40:55.390]think that's still extremely
[00:40:56.850]valuable.
[00:40:57.580]And actually, that's a good
[00:41:00.740]point, Andrea, that we actually
[00:41:04.050]had set times for MBDC to be on
[00:41:06.970]our
[00:41:07.460]campus in that space so that
[00:41:08.880]way if we had a call from a
[00:41:10.590]business or an entrepreneur it's
[00:41:11.830]like come
[00:41:12.440]on this day they're going to be
[00:41:13.990]here plus it gave visibility to
[00:41:15.610]that space so then they're like
[00:41:17.230]I
[00:41:17.420]can use this for free and it's
[00:41:19.100]like yes um that co-working so
[00:41:20.860]yeah please add me into those
[00:41:22.680]conversations because I like
[00:41:24.570]Michelle said you know even if
[00:41:26.460]it's the state um the state
[00:41:28.130]group
[00:41:28.600]that uses it they they travel
[00:41:30.160]all over so it'd be nice for
[00:41:31.760]them just to be able to pop in
[00:41:33.100]yeah
[00:41:34.220]absolutely we're looking at
[00:41:36.140]adding a professional in
[00:41:37.820]residence um my the resource
[00:41:39.740]providers across
[00:41:40.960]the state are in um but i'd
[00:41:42.850]like to be able to have half a
[00:41:44.940]day or full day where we have
[00:41:47.010]an
[00:41:47.300]attorney come in that can start
[00:41:49.240]someone off with some general
[00:41:51.100]conversation an accountant a
[00:41:52.950]marketing
[00:41:53.680]professional um maybe just a
[00:41:55.390]general entrepreneur that has
[00:41:57.240]started in the area and become
[00:41:59.010]successful
[00:41:59.820]and they can share their
[00:42:01.020]stories.
[00:42:01.660]So I'd like to be able to
[00:42:03.390]implement that within our space.
[00:42:06.240]And the other thing is I had a
[00:42:08.460]question for Andy and Paula.
[00:42:11.100]Are you guys using an
[00:42:14.250]established platform
[00:42:15.520]to manage your memberships and
[00:42:17.240]send out communications?
[00:42:18.680]And maybe if you have the 24-7
[00:42:21.830]lock system, who you're using?
[00:42:24.140]I know we went with Jelly
[00:42:25.350]Switch,
[00:42:25.880]which they come out of Lake Tahoe,
[00:42:30.800]I believe.
[00:42:32.720]Initially, we are not.
[00:42:39.500]We're going to use keys
[00:42:41.330]initially, which freaks me out
[00:42:43.930]a little bit.
[00:42:45.260]And, you know, just manage it,
[00:42:47.850]our spaces, through probably
[00:42:49.440]some Google calendars.
[00:42:50.700]As we grow, that's a part of 2.0,
[00:42:54.280]I think.
[00:42:55.680]But initially, those were
[00:42:57.220]expenses that we weren't going
[00:42:58.950]to have.
[00:42:59.620]And if you're looking at those,
[00:43:01.540]Andre, your information you
[00:43:03.340]sent me on the different
[00:43:04.800]options was so helpful in
[00:43:06.280]looking through that.
[00:43:07.960]Yeah.
[00:43:08.980]And actually, in the same way,
[00:43:11.000]we just use keys for entrance
[00:43:12.800]in and out of the building.
[00:43:14.720]And then it's just Google
[00:43:16.640]calendars to utilize the space.
[00:43:19.360]Co-working space is just open,
[00:43:21.520]so we're not worried about that.
[00:43:24.580]We did have an issue. We did
[00:43:26.170]not do the technology piece
[00:43:28.250]like Andy did, because a lot of
[00:43:30.630]those people at Cabela's were
[00:43:32.130]expecting software that we
[00:43:33.310]couldn't even access or they
[00:43:34.530]just needed something specific.
[00:43:36.200]So we went down the road of
[00:43:38.300]computers and we backed off of
[00:43:40.800]that and we'll just go into
[00:43:43.000]like the TVs and those kinds of
[00:43:45.520]things for, you know, Zoom
[00:43:47.900]meetings and that stuff.
[00:43:50.740]But we found that they all have
[00:43:52.100]their own laptop.
[00:43:53.060]You know, most of them have
[00:43:53.870]their own laptop.
[00:43:54.540]And it's like, okay, why would
[00:43:55.980]we invest in that?
[00:43:56.960]And with NextGen, we did have
[00:43:58.940]to, for their security and for
[00:44:00.990]our security, because they're
[00:44:03.020]an online company, we did have
[00:44:04.750]to split our server.
[00:44:06.080]It's where then they had their
[00:44:07.630]own URL.
[00:44:08.240]So we didn't worry about the
[00:44:09.780]security on our college campus.
[00:44:11.800]But that was the only, the
[00:44:14.930]marketing company is great.
[00:44:16.780]They didn't need that kind of
[00:44:18.870]split.
[00:44:19.720]But with NextGen, they were
[00:44:20.790]uploading a lot of stuff.
[00:44:21.880]And with our ITV system and
[00:44:23.510]everything we do online, we
[00:44:25.330]were really worried that our
[00:44:26.760]students were going to suffer.
[00:44:27.740]And it's like, okay, this is
[00:44:28.780]not a good plan.
[00:44:29.520]But it's worked out really well.
[00:44:32.140]That's great.
[00:44:33.780]I know that we pay regular
[00:44:36.940]prices for Microsoft Office,
[00:44:40.020]but we were able to work with
[00:44:43.100]Adobe and get the nonprofit
[00:44:46.120]price.
[00:44:47.840]And so we'll have one computer
[00:44:49.460]set up with Adobe Creative
[00:44:51.000]Suite for any of those creatives
[00:44:52.660]that want to use it.
[00:44:53.960]We have some audio equipment
[00:44:55.810]and we're ordering. We're
[00:44:57.650]waiting for a phone booth to
[00:44:59.400]come in.
[00:45:00.200]I don't have nearly what Andy
[00:45:02.180]has. But before, so we were
[00:45:05.700]ready to launch in April, which
[00:45:09.950]didn't happen.
[00:45:12.960]So the space is already, we
[00:45:14.500]just haven't, we haven't
[00:45:16.120]launched and the board wants to
[00:45:17.730]as soon as possible. And I'm
[00:45:19.410]really worried about opening
[00:45:21.390]like gaining some momentum and
[00:45:22.890]then having to close because of
[00:45:24.650]COVID and then start all over.
[00:45:26.540]I don't think that
[00:45:27.940]They're going to wait till
[00:45:29.260]after the first year. So we'll
[00:45:31.060]see how that works.
[00:45:40.840]And say in our space. We also
[00:45:42.740]have a maker space at the joint
[00:45:44.630]co working maker space and that
[00:45:46.610]equipment is actually our
[00:45:48.070]mobile equipment that we take
[00:45:50.190]to the area school so
[00:45:51.660]Dawson public power has a stem
[00:45:53.990]trailer that goes through all
[00:45:56.360]of the SU 10 which is 33 school
[00:46:00.150]districts and then if they're
[00:46:01.630]big enough to have
[00:46:04.120]high school, middle schools,
[00:46:05.540]and separate buildings, then
[00:46:06.910]that would add the number
[00:46:08.080]of facilities they have to
[00:46:09.750]serve. So our schools were
[00:46:11.640]looking at getting the maker
[00:46:13.390]space maybe once
[00:46:14.560]every three years because they
[00:46:16.290]could serve about 13 schools a
[00:46:18.210]year. And so we decided we want
[00:46:20.010]them
[00:46:20.380]to have more access to that. So
[00:46:22.940]we purchased and modeled after
[00:46:25.560]NPPD's trailer. And when it's
[00:46:27.910]not
[00:46:28.280]in the schools, it'll be in our
[00:46:29.860]space for entrepreneurs to use.
[00:46:31.650]And we actually manage
[00:46:32.960]the equipment like rooms so
[00:46:34.650]they would just like they would
[00:46:36.550]check out a conference room for
[00:46:38.460]a
[00:46:38.640]certain period of time we'll
[00:46:39.960]check out the equipment we'll
[00:46:41.320]use it there but just kind of
[00:46:42.660]reserve it and then um the rest
[00:46:44.780]of the time it will be out in
[00:46:46.640]the schools for the youth to
[00:46:48.580]use
[00:46:48.960]uh and that way our schools we
[00:46:50.980]have seven schools we serve
[00:46:52.940]they'll be able to uh utilize
[00:46:55.010]that
[00:46:55.380]equipment um at least once for
[00:46:57.760]four weeks or twice for two
[00:46:59.850]weeks a pop during the school
[00:47:02.110]year
[00:47:02.600]and available for special
[00:47:04.230]events like we have one that
[00:47:05.950]does a makers fair um and then
[00:47:07.780]we will slowly
[00:47:08.680]be purchasing permanent
[00:47:10.520]equipment that is actually a
[00:47:12.610]bit larger
[00:47:13.440]for the co-working space maker
[00:47:15.810]space so that was kind of our
[00:47:17.890]concept
[00:47:18.600]so andrea who's going to manage
[00:47:21.760]this google calendar who's
[00:47:24.230]gonna who's gonna uh or andy
[00:47:26.980]whoever i mean is there someone
[00:47:28.600]that's sort of the gatekeeper
[00:47:30.140]of that and make sure that
[00:47:31.520]there aren't actual glitches in
[00:47:34.240]it and and that it works well
[00:47:36.700]for i mean i know if you're not
[00:47:39.060]actually using yours yet you
[00:47:40.600]may not have had the glitches
[00:47:42.220]but anybody have thoughts about
[00:47:43.890]that
[00:47:44.260]so jelly switch is the platform
[00:47:46.520]we're using they actually build
[00:47:48.960]an app that's in the app store
[00:47:51.040]and so um that would be our
[00:47:53.020]portal for everything so that's
[00:47:55.550]where members sign up even if
[00:47:57.820]it's a
[00:47:58.360]daily drop-in. Our drop-in is $10
[00:48:01.150]a day. Our weekly is $50 and
[00:48:03.540]our monthly is $150. We will be
[00:48:07.040]24-7
[00:48:08.820]access. We have some cameras
[00:48:11.100]and then we have a keyless
[00:48:12.920]entry system. And that platform
[00:48:15.470]allows us
[00:48:16.300]to manage membership so we can
[00:48:18.700]turn on or off access. We can...
[00:48:21.970]What do you mean by that? You
[00:48:24.440]mean
[00:48:24.620]entry into the building you
[00:48:26.300]mean access to running a
[00:48:27.780]computer that keyless the keyless
[00:48:29.870]entry system
[00:48:30.760]so we can turn them on and off
[00:48:32.600]through there um we can give
[00:48:34.440]them a card if they have a
[00:48:36.040]smartphone
[00:48:36.940]that's they can just use your
[00:48:38.860]smartphone to be able to open
[00:48:40.790]the door uh so they can do it
[00:48:42.550]all
[00:48:42.920]within that app it also they
[00:48:44.700]pay through that way so we don't
[00:48:46.690]have to manage a separate
[00:48:48.310]payment
[00:48:48.960]system um it does room
[00:48:50.430]reservations we can send out
[00:48:52.390]announcements to this is all in
[00:48:54.510]theory correct
[00:48:55.660]i mean you've not actually
[00:48:57.540]launched this my question is
[00:48:59.600]when that crashes that that you
[00:49:01.820]know
[00:49:02.260]inevitable somebody can't get
[00:49:04.980]it to work um who do they call
[00:49:07.440]what do they do then yep so um
[00:49:09.800]they
[00:49:10.320]would initially call me to say
[00:49:11.830]there's an issue and then i
[00:49:13.450]would work with the company
[00:49:14.560]jellyfish
[00:49:15.180]a lake of people that made it
[00:49:17.020]out of Tahoe actually made it
[00:49:18.940]after opening a co-working
[00:49:20.840]space and
[00:49:21.600]realizing everything that they
[00:49:23.680]needed so the information I
[00:49:25.440]sent Andy was um all of the
[00:49:27.050]different
[00:49:27.820]or the most commonly used
[00:49:30.970]platforms I found through
[00:49:32.550]research and some of them do
[00:49:35.060]some of it
[00:49:36.020]and some of them do the rest of
[00:49:38.050]it jelly switch seemed to do
[00:49:40.000]almost everything we needed and
[00:49:42.290]so
[00:49:42.540]the nice thing about purchasing
[00:49:45.700]that software or membership
[00:49:48.280]with them is that if something
[00:49:51.080]goes
[00:49:51.600]down, we have professional tech
[00:49:54.760]people that can help fix it
[00:49:57.110]because like I can operate
[00:49:59.600]a lot of different programs,
[00:50:02.120]but if something crashes, I'm
[00:50:04.780]not, I don't know if I'd be
[00:50:06.780]tech
[00:50:07.420]savvy enough to fix it. So it
[00:50:09.690]was just kind of an insurance
[00:50:11.890]policy for me. And if we get
[00:50:14.060]busy enough
[00:50:15.200]and we generate enough revenue,
[00:50:17.590]we will hire a co-working space
[00:50:19.800]coordinator that will be able
[00:50:22.020]to
[00:50:22.220]sit at the entry and process
[00:50:24.360]daily memberships. And then we'll
[00:50:27.400]be able to do other work for us
[00:50:29.560]during downtime. But it, having
[00:50:33.000]a software company to be able
[00:50:35.760]to go back to for tech support
[00:50:38.620]was extremely important to me.
[00:50:40.800]And I didn't want to, we
[00:50:42.320]thought about starting with,
[00:50:44.350]you know,
[00:50:45.200]Excel and PayPal and Calendar,
[00:50:48.650]but I'm hoping that we'll be
[00:50:51.570]successful and I don't want to
[00:50:54.880]have to transfer everything
[00:50:56.860]over to a system and then one I
[00:50:58.860]don't want to have to migrate
[00:51:00.800]that
[00:51:01.240]information and two I don't
[00:51:03.100]want to have to re-educate my
[00:51:05.040]users but we may find out it's
[00:51:07.100]not cost effective depending on
[00:51:08.800]how many people we have coming
[00:51:10.370]and going.
[00:51:11.120]Andrea can you tell me if that
[00:51:14.280]software has the ability to
[00:51:17.170]multiple sites? Yes. So not
[00:51:20.590]only
[00:51:21.240]multiple rooms within a site
[00:51:23.700]but multiple sites yes so um
[00:51:26.050]the company um in lake i can't
[00:51:28.380]even
[00:51:29.000]remember name i'll have to look
[00:51:30.890]it up um they and they've
[00:51:32.330]already bought or they've
[00:51:34.180]already built
[00:51:34.960]our app we just haven't
[00:51:36.520]launched it um because we're
[00:51:38.520]not open but they have i
[00:51:40.140]believe three
[00:51:41.160]locations in lake tahoe that
[00:51:43.320]are all on that same platform
[00:51:45.480]so like you would go in as a
[00:51:47.370]user and you
[00:51:48.320]would select which facility,
[00:51:50.090]which location you want to go
[00:51:51.710]to, and then you would be able
[00:51:53.500]to go
[00:51:54.600]there. And they started, they
[00:51:55.920]said they started small. They
[00:51:57.200]started with about 1,500 square
[00:51:58.910]feet.
[00:51:59.360]So that's about where we are.
[00:52:02.520]And I think they're up to like
[00:52:05.170]300, 300 and some members,
[00:52:09.500]something like that. They've
[00:52:11.590]grown really fast. And their
[00:52:13.600]whole service area, I believe
[00:52:15.610]is about
[00:52:16.220]25,000, which is what our area
[00:52:19.380]that we serve is about that
[00:52:21.400]same area. We're just not all
[00:52:23.300]in one
[00:52:23.880]town. Deb, that's eventually
[00:52:27.040]where we'd like to get to with
[00:52:29.670]what Andrea's doing. We're
[00:52:32.450]starting
[00:52:33.460]it out. It's Angela and myself,
[00:52:35.560]the two of us that work for MEDC
[00:52:37.360]currently on managing sign-ups
[00:52:39.480]and doing an orientation of the
[00:52:40.970]space, and that's probably
[00:52:42.630]myself when they call initially
[00:52:43.900]when
[00:52:44.240]there's troubles up there.
[00:52:45.380]So eventually once we have
[00:52:47.200]membership and some revenue
[00:52:49.210]coming in,
[00:52:50.120]we're looking at programming or
[00:52:51.380]even a part-time person to help
[00:52:52.590]manage that
[00:52:53.140]space. But initially we're
[00:52:54.310]going to try and make it work.
[00:52:55.520]You know,
[00:52:56.020]I just fit that in from
[00:52:57.580]elevator repair to removing
[00:52:59.700]bats from the third floor
[00:53:01.440]bathroom. You know, just, it's
[00:53:02.850]another day in the Keystone
[00:53:03.940]Business Center.
[00:53:04.860]Well, you know,
[00:53:10.180]there's been a hundred
[00:53:11.470]different varieties of this
[00:53:13.340]through the,
[00:53:14.020]through the years.
[00:53:15.020]Our County actually has
[00:53:18.170]dedicated space at one of their
[00:53:20.660]buildings that has
[00:53:22.680]handicap accessibility. And you
[00:53:25.080]can literally walk in there,
[00:53:27.120]use their wifi, use their big
[00:53:29.180]screen TV, sit down and have a
[00:53:31.170]meeting.
[00:53:31.940]And at this point doesn't cost
[00:53:34.570]you a nickel.
[00:53:36.580]And so my concern is we get
[00:53:38.270]them used to that to get them
[00:53:40.130]in there, to get them to use it.
[00:53:41.800]And then all of a sudden, oh,
[00:53:43.050]by the way, next week, it's
[00:53:44.250]going to start costing you, you
[00:53:45.600]know, to use this space.
[00:53:46.780]And much like someone mentioned
[00:53:48.750]about USDA and those sorts of
[00:53:50.480]folks who come through your
[00:53:52.150]community, they need a place to
[00:53:53.960]land.
[00:53:54.720]They need a place to do that.
[00:53:55.840]We had been using pretty much
[00:53:57.880]the library, which pretty got
[00:54:00.090]locked down because of COVID.
[00:54:04.260]I'm wondering how much
[00:54:07.390]competition there is for that
[00:54:08.960]quote unquote free space that
[00:54:11.360]will take a whole nother level
[00:54:14.280]of education. And I'm not
[00:54:16.580]saying we shouldn't, because I
[00:54:18.620]believe people will pay for
[00:54:20.370]that if it's the right service.
[00:54:25.020]If we have an expectation from
[00:54:26.950]several folks that you can come
[00:54:29.000]to Shatterton and do this for
[00:54:30.810]nothing, you know, just shy of
[00:54:33.440]sitting in the McDonald's
[00:54:34.590]parking lot and using their Wi-Fi,
[00:54:36.900]how do you make that leap to
[00:54:38.770]the paid service?
[00:54:40.220]I think maybe it's a build it
[00:54:41.690]and they'll come. Andy, is that
[00:54:43.560]kind of where you guys are
[00:54:44.920]going?
[00:54:47.300]You know, the Keystone gives us
[00:54:49.570]a lot of extra space for, you
[00:54:51.580]know, when REIT comes to town,
[00:54:53.870]Nebraska Enterprise Fund.
[00:54:56.140]So, I mean, for some of those
[00:54:57.300]service providers, we generally
[00:54:58.680]have a conference room or
[00:54:59.700]something that we can put them
[00:55:00.850]up in there.
[00:55:01.620]But, you know, for private
[00:55:02.830]individuals, everybody's going
[00:55:04.300]to pay.
[00:55:04.760]And basically, the way we're
[00:55:06.910]staffed, we're not going to do
[00:55:09.130]daily or weekly rates at first.
[00:55:11.620]You know, we're going to do the
[00:55:12.820]shortest term we're going to do
[00:55:14.030]is a month.
[00:55:15.020]And if you just sign up for a
[00:55:15.990]month, it's going to be a
[00:55:16.920]higher rate than if you sign a
[00:55:18.180]recurring agreement there.
[00:55:19.240]Because it's like with us
[00:55:22.400]managing that space, I don't
[00:55:25.360]want a lot of extra daily tasks.
[00:55:29.220]There's going to be some, but,
[00:55:30.630]you know, we're going to try
[00:55:31.890]and simplify options for people
[00:55:33.340]at first.
[00:55:34.040]But the Keystone gives us
[00:55:35.510]options that we can keep the co-work
[00:55:37.610]space separate than what we do
[00:55:39.370]for some of those service
[00:55:40.840]providers that are in McCook.
[00:55:43.940]Yeah, we're lucky that when I
[00:55:47.040]started, they had just finished
[00:55:49.120]our office space. We were in
[00:55:51.340]one location in our Opportunity
[00:55:53.250]Center, which for those that
[00:55:55.050]haven't been there has CCC, the
[00:55:56.930]Chamber, Department of Labor
[00:55:58.880]and Health and Human Services
[00:56:00.630]in there. So it's a nice
[00:56:02.570]resource area to begin with.
[00:56:05.300]but we were just in two little
[00:56:08.460]offices in a very narrow space
[00:56:11.050]and they a tenant had left
[00:56:13.620]and the city of Lexington who
[00:56:15.880]owns it built out that space
[00:56:18.070]and so we currently use our
[00:56:20.140]couple
[00:56:20.860]offices the kitchenette and the
[00:56:23.230]boardroom but there was about
[00:56:25.410]1500 feet that I ordered and
[00:56:28.300]they said, well, we'd like you
[00:56:30.910]to do something with this. And,
[00:56:33.730]uh, which is great, but also
[00:56:36.240]I might decide what I want to
[00:56:38.410]do with it before I put up
[00:56:40.300]walls. Um, so, um, we decided
[00:56:43.040]to do this.
[00:56:44.180]So we're not paying any extra
[00:56:45.970]overhead because it was already
[00:56:48.010]part of our space. Um, the
[00:56:49.800]other
[00:56:50.300]thing is that we are about half
[00:56:53.870]what I was able to find across
[00:56:57.290]most of Nebraska, or at least
[00:57:00.920]east
[00:57:01.560]of us for membership rates. So
[00:57:03.480]what we are doing is we're
[00:57:04.970]seeing our introductory rates.
[00:57:07.050]And I don't
[00:57:07.820]know how long introductory will
[00:57:09.720]last. It may last, you know,
[00:57:11.610]three months, it may last two
[00:57:13.360]years. But
[00:57:14.240]that was kind of our way around
[00:57:16.410]of if we need to increase it um
[00:57:18.480]we had said introductory rates
[00:57:20.820]which me you know signifies it's
[00:57:23.980]going to go up the other thing
[00:57:26.130]is you could always do um what
[00:57:28.700]they call them like a founder's
[00:57:31.310]rate so anyone like at the
[00:57:33.410]point that you are at and you
[00:57:35.700]decide
[00:57:36.420]okay we need to charge you
[00:57:38.250]could then give either keep the
[00:57:40.530]people that have been there at
[00:57:42.720]the same
[00:57:43.480]free if you want and call it a
[00:57:45.670]founders or give them a reduced
[00:57:48.180]price when you do add prices to
[00:57:50.550]it.
[00:57:51.180]So that would be two ways that
[00:57:52.730]I would, I would handle that.
[00:57:54.500]Well, I thought everything
[00:57:59.800]today was super beneficial. So
[00:58:05.990]thank you everyone for sharing.
[00:58:12.880]Mike did have to hop off.
[00:58:14.660]So thank you, Andy, Paula.
[00:58:18.540]Looks like Michelle hopped off
[00:58:20.810]too.
[00:58:21.360]Andrea, thank you so much for
[00:58:23.360]all of your information that
[00:58:25.280]you plugged in as well.
[00:58:27.000]Any ideas for topics for two
[00:58:30.600]weeks from now?
[00:58:33.000]Is there any follow-up you'd
[00:58:34.600]like to see based off of today?
[00:58:41.680]I did talk with Joan Scheele at
[00:58:43.790]USDA Rural Development in
[00:58:45.660]Lincoln. She would be able to
[00:58:48.850]join us in two weeks and really
[00:58:50.650]go over some of the USDA Rural
[00:58:52.120]Development programs. I know
[00:58:53.980]that we had seen a couple of
[00:58:55.940]notes go by about some webinars
[00:58:58.040]and Mike had asked, gee, can we
[00:59:00.310]find out a little bit more
[00:59:02.080]about those? So that's one
[00:59:04.340]option.
[00:59:05.060]Okay.
[00:59:08.480]I wouldn't mind hearing a
[00:59:10.200]little bit more detail about,
[00:59:12.330]this is really strictly for
[00:59:14.220]economic developers, sorry for
[00:59:16.530]the folks that are interested
[00:59:18.600]in this, but NBDC is rolling
[00:59:20.560]out a program where they will
[00:59:22.540]do essentially a business appraisal,
[00:59:25.250]no cost to the people who are
[00:59:27.140]potentially buying that.
[00:59:29.380]It's called buy-in, I think was
[00:59:31.420]what the program's called.
[00:59:33.380]If someone from NBDC could give
[00:59:35.850]us a little bit of a tutorial
[00:59:38.080]on how that could work.
[00:59:39.480]I'm really interested in that.
[00:59:41.560]It's really tough to get appraisals.
[00:59:44.200]Do you know if Odie's involved
[00:59:47.330]with that, Ingersoll?
[00:59:49.420]Or I could reach out to Odie if
[00:59:51.160]he is, otherwise Kathy Lyon is
[00:59:53.040]the director.
[00:59:54.200]I'm sorry, Sean, I couldn't
[00:59:56.590]hear you.
[00:59:58.820]Do you know if the buy-in, Odie
[01:00:01.210]Ingersoll is typically an NWC
[01:00:03.520]transition expert.
[01:00:05.400]Do you know if he's been
[01:00:06.470]involved?
[01:00:07.160]I can reach out to him or
[01:00:08.160]directly to Kathy Lang, the
[01:00:09.430]director.
[01:00:10.100]Is anyone on the phone?
[01:00:11.740]I'm assuming that Odie's
[01:00:13.870]involved, but I just saw a
[01:00:16.100]little blurb came through on
[01:00:18.550]either Facebook or an email
[01:00:20.800]that I got kind of advertising
[01:00:23.600]it again.
[01:00:24.780]So there's probably a name on
[01:00:26.700]that.
[01:00:27.280]I can research that a little
[01:00:28.390]bit.
[01:00:28.820]If you want to send that to me,
[01:00:30.450]Deb, I will look at it and call
[01:00:32.080]Odie and try to get him on the
[01:00:33.600]agenda for the next one. I
[01:00:35.290]think it's the 23rd at the same
[01:00:37.900]time. Is that right?
[01:00:39.860]I believe so. Yeah. That'd be
[01:00:42.660]good. I'll send something to
[01:00:43.970]you, Sean.
[01:00:44.660]I would assume.
[01:00:46.360]What's the group want to do?
[01:00:47.980]Would there be time to do both
[01:00:51.380]of them if we can? I mean, it
[01:00:54.900]kind of worked today.
[01:00:58.820]I might do one next time and
[01:01:01.140]one the time following. There's
[01:01:04.020]no reason we can't schedule out
[01:01:05.850]ahead.
[01:01:06.480]The other thing that I thought
[01:01:08.980]that would be interesting is,
[01:01:11.660]and maybe some of you are
[01:01:13.540]extremely familiar with this,
[01:01:16.280]but we're focusing strictly on
[01:01:18.880]workforce issues. And I know
[01:01:21.240]that everybody has that. So we're
[01:01:22.800]starting with our youth.
[01:01:24.980]and trying to get them educated
[01:01:26.740]about the opportunities that we
[01:01:28.570]have here in our area.
[01:01:30.020]So hopefully they either stay
[01:01:31.570]or after college they come back.
[01:01:33.440]We've done some career days,
[01:01:36.570]and we are going to start
[01:01:38.620]bringing in the next two years
[01:01:41.950]extension,
[01:01:42.660]and they are going to do their
[01:01:44.100]connecting dots.
[01:01:45.160]They have a 2.0 now, and then
[01:01:47.470]the other one is probably not
[01:01:49.330]as applicable.
[01:01:50.640]It's real-world budgeting.
[01:01:52.380]But I think it'd be interesting
[01:01:54.540]for them to walk through in
[01:01:56.360]detail with us what all they
[01:01:58.260]cover in that connecting the
[01:02:00.260]dots 1.0 and 2.0 or if they're
[01:02:03.240]only going to do the two, what's
[01:02:05.620]included in that.
[01:02:07.200]So then people would know if
[01:02:08.350]they want to bring them out.
[01:02:09.620]There can be an expense to that.
[01:02:12.800]So I know a lot of ESUs cover
[01:02:14.880]that.
[01:02:16.580]But I know that we have had
[01:02:18.100]schools ask us if it was worth
[01:02:19.840]sending their kids to.
[01:02:21.480]And I just haven't been through
[01:02:23.660]it.
[01:02:24.120]So I've talked briefly with
[01:02:25.520]them, but never in detail kind
[01:02:27.220]of the agenda for the day.
[01:02:28.600]We could do, in addition, 4-H
[01:02:30.840]has an InVenture Day piece that
[01:02:32.920]is, again, the same kind of
[01:02:34.840]thing.
[01:02:35.560]We could cover those all in one
[01:02:37.160]as well.
[01:02:37.780]Yeah, and I think we can do
[01:02:39.320]that at any point in time.
[01:02:41.020]So that could be three meetings
[01:02:42.850]from now or whatever when we
[01:02:44.470]don't have a topic.
[01:02:46.580]well and just a reminder next
[01:02:49.390]thursday at 4 30 mountain 5 30
[01:02:53.600]central if you would like to
[01:02:56.330]hop on
[01:02:57.040]our social group and talk
[01:02:59.080]offline sometimes we talk
[01:03:01.220]business sometimes we just talk
[01:03:03.850]about life
[01:03:04.800]so all are welcome is it my
[01:03:07.960]turn to buy chelsea yes philip
[01:03:11.530]outlaw chelsea whatever he
[01:03:14.910]chooses to
[01:03:16.440]go by he's buying i'll bring
[01:03:19.790]the first two rounds
[01:03:22.360]well you're sitting into your
[01:03:26.860]camper at the fairgrounds
[01:03:34.800]So, Sean, if you and Deb work a
[01:03:37.960]little bit and see if you can
[01:03:40.230]come up with an NBDC contact. I
[01:03:43.340]work can work with the 4-H and
[01:03:44.900]the USDA Rural Development
[01:03:46.300]folks. How about that?
[01:03:47.800]We're going to try out first
[01:03:49.680]maybe in two weeks and the next
[01:03:51.740]one, maybe the USDA. Is that
[01:03:53.870]the order preference and maybe
[01:03:56.270]the one after that the
[01:03:57.550]workforce or the attention.
[01:03:59.800]Works for me.
[01:04:03.800]I found the link to that. It's
[01:04:06.960]called by side at NBC. And I
[01:04:09.040]can't find it. I can't find an
[01:04:10.980]email for you, Sean, in my
[01:04:13.110]address book. So if you would
[01:04:15.050]post that right here before we
[01:04:17.050]leave or email it to D. Cotty
[01:04:19.130]or GP com.net. I just need Sean's
[01:04:21.550]email.
[01:04:22.100]Everyone. I'll just call Odie.
[01:04:33.800]Kelsey, something that we could
[01:04:36.850]do at the end of the year is
[01:04:38.980]ask a contact from DED to
[01:04:40.790]present on the Community and
[01:04:43.230]Civic Center Financing Fund.
[01:04:46.160]I know that it is getting even
[01:04:48.010]more competitive to get some of
[01:04:50.020]those dollars.
[01:04:51.300]And so I know I have a
[01:04:52.480]community that's looking and I
[01:04:54.460]was talking to our field staff
[01:04:56.470]and she was giving me some
[01:04:57.790]pointers on, you know,
[01:04:59.620]what might be more attractive
[01:05:02.720]as an option for a project than
[01:05:05.360]others and things like that,
[01:05:08.320]that I think would be nice for
[01:05:11.470]everyone to know. Just because
[01:05:14.040]that is a great source of
[01:05:16.830]funding
[01:05:17.080]for communities. But they, I
[01:05:19.150]think they've changed a few
[01:05:20.910]things and it is getting more
[01:05:22.750]and more
[01:05:23.380]competitive. So it'd be nice to
[01:05:25.190]be able to get a refresher and
[01:05:26.730]maybe some pointers on things
[01:05:28.540]to
[01:05:28.540]concentrate on in the
[01:05:30.020]application unless everyone's
[01:05:32.250]already done that so I thought
[01:05:34.310]that might be a good
[01:05:35.480]topic no I'm good with that and
[01:05:38.040]then just a quick highlight
[01:05:40.660]sometime in October there will
[01:05:42.820]be a
[01:05:43.540]virtual NIDA conference meeting
[01:05:47.650]awards something there's I just
[01:05:52.050]pulled up the doodle calendar
[01:05:55.290]and
[01:05:55.840]And it's, yeah, it could be any
[01:05:57.620]time in October.
[01:05:58.760]So as soon as that gets more
[01:06:00.670]fine-tuned, I'll let everyone
[01:06:03.020]know.
[01:06:03.780]Awesome.
[01:06:07.040]I had an inquiry from Jason
[01:06:09.160]Teller, who's another extension
[01:06:11.960]educator in this space.
[01:06:14.160]And he's down in, what, Phelps
[01:06:16.180]County?
[01:06:16.880]Somewhere down there.
[01:06:17.900]And he's interested in this
[01:06:19.980]type of a group.
[01:06:21.400]I said, join us and see how it
[01:06:23.710]works.
[01:06:25.220]your own. It doesn't make any
[01:06:26.590]difference, so I'm not sure
[01:06:27.850]what he's going to do, but I
[01:06:29.460]did offer
[01:06:30.400]the invitation to at least jump
[01:06:32.410]on and see how this has been
[01:06:34.100]working. Absolutely. All right.
[01:06:36.820]Well, thanks, guys. We went
[01:06:39.440]over on time. Oops, but it's
[01:06:42.000]all good information and great
[01:06:44.660]conversation, so have a great
[01:06:46.360]rest of the week, everyone.
[01:06:48.040]Thanks, Jenny. Thanks, Kelsey.
[01:06:50.280]Is the next term the 23rd at 10
[01:06:54.270]o'clock the next? Yes. When we're
[01:06:58.230]on Odeon? Yes. Okay, thank you.

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