November 6, 2025 • 35 mins
Some communities grow because a big investor arrives. Others, like Jacksonville, North Carolina, and Onslow County, grow because small decisions, rooted in service, continue to accumulate.
In this episode of Consulting from the Couch, banking/finance veteran and community builder Scott Riggs joins us to unpack how microloans, partnerships, and servant leadership are powering new jobs and stronger neighborhoods across Onslow County.
We explore the Community Business Loan Fund, a gap-financing model that helps small owners who aren’t “bank-ready” turn good ideas into payroll. Riggs also takes us behind the scenes of Project Frontier, the coalition effort that brought Amazon’s last-mile facility to the community—a blueprint for how readiness and relationships beat luck every time.
From honoring mentors to launching Capital Connections, Scott shares a grounded vision for what real community growth looks like: quality of life, balanced work, and opportunity that lasts.
Run Time: 36 minutes
Capital Connections
Scott Riggs, Founder
https://rsriggsassociates.com/
(910) 340-2306
scott@rsriggsassociates.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:12):
Welcome to Consulting from the Couch, where
we explore the people, ideas,and leadership shaping our
communities and our lives onestory at a time.
Today's guest is someone whoembodies what it means to lead
with a purpose.
Scott Riggs is not only aseasoned finance professional
with more than 35 years ofexperience, but he is also a
(00:33):
tireless community advocate.
As the founder of CapitalConnection and a key leader in
Jacksville and Onslow Counties'economic development efforts,
Scott has helped unlock funding,foster local entrepreneurship,
and bring game-changinginnovations like Project
Frontier to life.
Welcome, Scott, and thank youfor joining us today.
SPEAKER_01 (00:54):
Steve, I appreciate it, my friend.
It's always good to be with youand just thanks for this
opportunity to sit down and havea little time on the couch.
SPEAKER_00 (01:01):
Absolutely.
So before we get going, take acouple minutes and tell the
listeners about Scott Riggs.
SPEAKER_01 (01:08):
Well, there's not a whole lot to say other than uh
had humble beginnings.
Uh grew up in a family of fivelocally here in Oslo County, up
in the northern part of thecounty, a little place called
Richlands, North Carolina.
I was very blessed to have youknow mom and dad that instilled
certain values, introduced us touh to faith early in our in our
(01:32):
lives and uh you know and workethic as well.
I was telling this story to afriend of mine not too long ago,
talking about you know,childhood and things like that.
And I can remember coming homeuh for playing in the yard.
I was about 11 years old, and Icame home playing in playing in
the yard with some friends, andneighbor said, Do you want to
(01:52):
earn some money this summerwhile you're out of school?
I'm like, Well, yeah.
And so it was uh it was born intobacco.
So I got my first job in tobaccoat 11 years old.
SPEAKER_00 (02:02):
And knowing now, or knowing then what you know now,
or vice versa or vice versa,however you say it, working in
tobacco is like working in thelogwoods, which I had a lot of
experience with.
Yes, brother.
Okay, exactly.
But it taught you hard work andit taught you what you probably
didn't want to do later on inlife.
SPEAKER_01 (02:19):
It did.
It did, absolutely did.
SPEAKER_00 (02:22):
Well, that's great.
Well, look, man, before we getgoing and I start asking you the
questions, first I want to tellyou congratulations, man.
You've had a very eventful firsthalf of the year.
Uh in April, during NationalSmall Business Week, you're
awarded the 2025 Citizenship andService Award by the Jack
Swansley Chamber of Commerce.
(02:44):
And later in the month, youreceived the 2025 United Way
Golden Rule Light KeepersVolunteer of the Year Award.
So congratulations.
Thank you.
Kudos, and that's one of thereasons you're on the podcast,
besides being my buddy, man.
That's one of the reasons you'reon the podcast because
leadership through volunteerism.
(03:05):
Yeah, man, that's awesome.
So congratulations.
SPEAKER_01 (03:07):
Thank you.
Thank you.
I was I just I've always beentaught and still think today
that giving back is uh one ofthe best things that we can do.
SPEAKER_00 (03:15):
Let's talk about service.
You've grown up and you'veworked and lived and raised a
family here in Oslo County for30 plus years.
What has inspired you and yourlong-term commitment to
volunteerism and specificallywe're gonna hone in on a lot of
your economic development andcommunity development areas in
Jikesville and Oslo County?
SPEAKER_01 (03:36):
So kind of going back to what uh I was talking
about earlier in my you knowearly in my life, I remember uh
there was there was a time, youknow, my dad was a was a career
banker, and I followed in hisfootsteps, you know, as a lot of
people know here locally.
But I can remember the aspect ofgiving back and just helping
(03:56):
others and not seeking anyrecognition, just just loving
people and just serving people.
I can remember getting in thecar with him.
He never really said he neversaid anything about it.
We just we went to uh went tothe Pig Weagley grocery store in
Richlands and he bought, I don'tknow, seemed like dozens of bags
(04:18):
of groceries.
I'm I'm sure it was less thanthat, but he bought bought
groceries and we uh my sisterand I, and my brother was was
really small then, my sister andI, we rode with him to this
humble little house on the backside of town, and he uh he got
the groceries out of the back ofthe car, went up and put them on
the porch, knocked on the doorand came back and got the car
(04:40):
and sat in the car.
And I remember seeing a shadowfigure just come and and look
out and just throw a hand up,and he threw his hand up and we
backed out of the driveway andwent home and never really said
anything about it.
But just that act of kindnessand just that connection just
kind of resonated with with me,and I that's that's kind of how
I've I grew up.
SPEAKER_00 (04:58):
It had to be pretty impactful.
You made a great comment aboutdoing it and not looking or
seeking recognition or lookingfor accolades and things of that
nature.
That's the true spirit of givingand and giving back, right?
SPEAKER_01 (05:16):
I I I I believe that, yes.
SPEAKER_00 (05:17):
Yeah, I totally yeah, I totally agree with you.
And for us growing up here inour community, working in the
with the businesses that weworked, you in the banking
industry, me in the electricutility industry, our businesses
were cornerstones of thecommunity, did a lot of things
(05:37):
for the community, and it wasonly natural that between our
upbringings and going to workwhere we worked, uh it was just
a natural fit.
SPEAKER_01 (05:48):
And I agree.
And early early in my career, mymy first banking job, you the my
my manager, my my mentor at thetime, he was active in rotary.
Another mentor of mine wasactive in JC's, and JC's was a
younger person's organizationand uh junior chamber of
(06:10):
commerce.
And I got involved with JC'sright out of college in my in my
first in my first umprofessional role or banking
role.
And that's I met some really,really good people.
And just just their acts ofkindness, the way that they just
it was it was like it was secondnature just to provide help and
(06:31):
hope for for kids and for forother people.
And uh it just it just kind ofcarried them all and it
resonated with me, and it's justbecame part of my my lifestyle,
and I just that's just part ofwho I am now.
SPEAKER_00 (06:42):
That's awesome, man.
That's awesome.
Let's talk about your role aschairman of the Jack Swanso
Economic Development Loan FundCommittee.
unknown (06:53):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (06:54):
What sparked the idea to launch this community
business loan fund?
And you may need to explain it alittle bit.
Okay.
And what gap was it designed tofill?
SPEAKER_01 (07:06):
So the community business loan fund is part of
what's called the JacksonvilleOns Economic Development
Partnership, which is a 501c3nonprofit.
And the the idea really, I'vegot to give credit to former
executive director MarkSutherland for the for bringing
me in and talking to me aboutthe the concept and the idea.
(07:27):
And he had had conversationswith some other leadership
within economic development, andhe told me that my name had come
up about the potential to uhspearhead that just because of
my background, and I startedkind of doing my own thing,
which we'll I guess we'll talkabout later.
And so that he brought me in, wetalked about it, and I thought
it was a great idea.
(07:48):
So the the concept, the ideabehind the community business
loan fund is to do exactly whatyou said.
It's it's a gap filler.
It's not meant to compete withbanks or other uh finance
institutions.
It's it's meant to be thatplatform for folks that maybe
need uh some assistance in instarting their business or or or
(08:10):
uh expanding their business.
Maybe they need uh they're to apoint in their business, they're
they're ready to buy a locationand they don't have they don't
have all the down payment, forexample.
Or they need some equipment, orthey need a little bit of
working capital to hire somepeople, that kind of thing.
But they're not quite what Iwould call lender ready or or
bank ready.
But it's a it's a it's a viable,reasonable situation.
(08:33):
And so we take an application,we we have a committee, we
review that information, and ifit makes sense, we try to find a
way to help people access thecapital.
And I mean it's not meant to bea uh a stop all or to be the you
know the main source for people.
(08:53):
Um our parameters are a minimumof ten thousand dollars and a
and a maximum of seventy-five.
We're probably gonna drop thatdown to fifty, which kind of
correlates to a microloan space.
But I find that in our area,that that amount of capital
helps a lot of small businessesand kind of a good fit for a lot
of small businesses.
So that's that's in a nutshellkind of what's intended to do
and what it's intended to be.
SPEAKER_00 (09:15):
And with this particular loan fund, the Truist
Foundation and Duke Energy, theyseeded the loan fund back in
2022.
Can you provide an update,maybe, or progress report, maybe
how many loans you guys havehave made or grants or whatever
to date and and where you stand?
You kind of just told uspotentially about lowering the
(09:35):
threshold.
Just provide us a little updateif you could.
SPEAKER_01 (09:38):
Yeah, sure.
So the Truist Foundation, verythankful for their existence and
their involvement.
Again, I give credit to uh toMark Sutherland and to uh Terry
Ashby, who at the time was atTruist here in Jacksonville.
And we were able to uh apply fora grant to the Truist
Foundation.
They they granted the requestand just received capital of uh
(09:59):
of$100,000, and that money wentto three specific credit
requests that were all newbusinesses.
One of them is actually indowntown Jacksonville and
thriving very, very well.
I'd love to see that.
We patronize them sometimes.
There are a couple others thatare doing well themselves.
Uh we've had no pushback on anyof the the credits that we did,
(10:23):
and and all of them went toeither secure equipment or to
provide working capital, uh,ultimately help people to hire
positions.
And the so all that money wasthe with the exception of maybe
a couple of thousand dollars,was all deployed in three
credits that are all performingand have have had good success
stories.
SPEAKER_00 (10:42):
That's awesome, man.
SPEAKER_01 (10:43):
And then and then Lauren Wargo from Duke Energy,
that that Duke Energy grant, youknow, that was in November of
last year.
And and Steve, that was one ofprobably the best moments of my
adult life was to be a part of agrant situation where we took
that money and we broke it upinto nine$2,500 grants.
(11:04):
And just the applications andthe stories behind those
applications and just seeingwhat people are trying to do,
what they're trying toaccomplish, and for that money
to go to such good and to helppeople maybe get over the hump
or get to the next level intheir in their entrepreneurial
or business journey uh was justwas just fabulous.
And I I'm very thankful for thatopportunity.
SPEAKER_00 (11:25):
I want to talk about that a little bit because when
we think about economicdevelopment or job creation, we
want to go to a grand scale,right?
We want to say we say, hey,we're gonna add a FedEx
distribution center and it'sgonna bring 300 jobs.
And maybe it's because my dadwas a small business owner and
(11:45):
he was in business for 50 plusyears.
In my opinion, the foundation ofthis country, the foundation of
Jacksville, Ozlow, North.
I mean, the foundation is basedon small business.
SPEAKER_01 (12:00):
You're you're right.
I mean, Jacksonville and OsloCounty is a is a picture of the
national scale.
I I'd say 85 plus percent of allhiring and business activity in
this country is small business.
SPEAKER_00 (12:12):
Yeah.
And that$2,500 grant that youmade to those small businesses,
it was probably like$100 millionto FedEx or to whomever to fill
in the bullets.
SPEAKER_01 (12:25):
Yeah.
I mean, it it could have been.
It could have been just a, youknow, a lot of times small
business just those those littlewhat I'll call droplets of of
capital.
SPEAKER_00 (12:38):
Just that little nudge.
SPEAKER_01 (12:39):
That's that little nudge can get them to the next
level to where they're able tohire the right person.
They're able to put in the rightpiece of equipment to help them
go to another level or increasetheir inventory or uh anything
like that that can that gets toyeah, that's a really good way
to look at it.
I think that little nudge to getthem to that point of where it's
the maybe sometimes it's thedifference between success and
(13:01):
failure.
SPEAKER_00 (13:02):
And we're gonna come back because I think that plays
a vital role, what we justtalked about and what you're
doing now.
And we're gonna get to that in afew minutes.
Let's talk a little bit morethough about I mentioned Project
Frontier in the introduction.
Tell us a little bit about thatproject.
I know my former employee that Iretired from, Jones Onslo, we
(13:23):
were involved with that withsome grant monies to help with
some of the pre-construction,getting the land ready and stuff
like that.
Sure.
But specifically, what was thevision behind the initiative and
what was the impact you hoped ithad on our community?
And it's actually having animpact if you want to talk about
what the business is that'scoming there.
SPEAKER_01 (13:42):
Sure.
So initially, this uhconversation came up as it does
a lot of times in economicdevelopment circles, to what
we've talked about a little bithere before about workforce
development, job creation, taxbase, things, you know, quality
of life kind of stuff.
And in this particular instance,you know, Monso County,
(14:05):
Jacksonville didn't really havewhat's referred to in economic
development circles as product.
And when I refer to product, I'mtalking about sometimes you'll
go into communities, you'll seethese what what's referred to
maybe as a shell building, likewhere maybe an industrial or or
building has been built.
And it it's in intended to beable to hopefully entice a a
(14:26):
business or an industry torelocate uh and bring jobs and
bring, you know, bringopportunity to that community.
We really didn't have any anyproduct at that time, and so a a
building committee was developedand stood up within Jacksonville
Onslow economic development.
And we started having someconversations about you know
(14:46):
some ideas and some things, andit kind of rose from the ashes,
and we have a lot of partnerswithin economic development that
are local partners that are thatare public and private,
municipal like governments likethe city of Jacksonville, uh,
Onslow County, Jones Oslo, EMC,and and others that that are
(15:07):
viable, amazing partners toeconomic development.
And so one thing led to another.
Uh, we were talking about it.
The city had some ideas, um, itjust kind of kept evolving.
Uh next thing we know, becauseof the partnerships and the
collaboration, uh steps keptbeing taken.
It just evolved.
(15:28):
And next thing we knew, therewas a very interested party that
wanted to come to Jacksonville.
They had expansion plans in thispart of the world, and it's it's
Amazon.
And that's a it wound up beingan initial 100,000 square feet
of facility.
It's a it's a last milefacility.
If anybody's familiar with withthe process, that last mile
(15:49):
facility is where product thatmaybe you've ordered online gets
from a larger distributioncenter, it gets filtered down to
a last mile facility and then itgets trucked out from that last
mile facility.
And there's several of thosethat are going up in East North
Carolina, and Jacksonville wasone of those.
And if you've been by that areaoverall Frontier Road in the
Williamsburg area, uh there's alot of building over there now.
SPEAKER_00 (16:12):
And I joke about that with my daughter.
She lives in New York, she's anattorney in New York, and during
COVID, she moved from New York.
She was still in law school atthe time, but she moved from
from New York down here.
She was able to take law classesonline like many students were,
and she set up here in thebasement actually.
(16:36):
But she had become veryaccustomed to ordering from
Amazon.
She lived as an in an apartmentin downtown New York City,
Manhattan.
And if she needed toothpaste,she would order toothpaste from
Amazon.
She would order washing powderfrom Amazon.
SPEAKER_02 (16:50):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (16:51):
That didn't stop when she moved down here.
She kept ordering those things,and literally the FedEx guy or
the UPS guy, whoever, wasdelivering to our house every
day.
And I joked with her when I toldher that this Amazon
distribution center was cominghere.
They looked at data from COVIDwhen you were here and decided
(17:12):
to build a facility because itwas the Spencer Goodson
Distribution Center.
So you see this one address?
Yes, that is exactly.
It's the catalyst for this wholeproject.
Thank you, Spencer.
So let's talk about measuringsuccess.
So how do you measure success,Roslow County's economic
(17:34):
development?
Whether it's and I'm just goingto throw out job creation,
diversity of business ownership,community reinvestment.
How do you define success?
SPEAKER_01 (17:42):
Well, I think all of those those items play into it,
but for me, I think it's it'sit's quality of life.
SPEAKER_00 (17:48):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (17:50):
It's what the citizenry is able to experience
in regards to job opportunities.
It's a well-balancedlive-work-play kind of scenario.
You choose to live in acommunity because of several
reasons.
One, you feel safe.
Another one, you feel like youcan derive a good living from an
(18:11):
income source.
You have friends and you have asocial life.
There's activities, there'sthings you do recreationally and
things like that.
And you know, Jacksonville for afor a while has been
experiencing what I I refer toas growing pains.
You know, we have the the luxuryof having a lot of federal
(18:33):
dollars that flow here on amonthly basis.
That's a lot of communitiesdon't have.
And so we've kind of got abaseline to to to build from.
And at the same time, we're inbetween two North Carolina
ports, one to the south and oneto the to the northeast.
And so we're kind of in aconundrum a little bit from a
(18:54):
maybe from a transportationperspective.
But, you know, all those thingsare are are looked at, you know,
highways, rails, you know, sea,all that stuff gets looked at.
And if you really take a take alook at strategically where
we're located, there's a reasonwhy Camp Lejeune and and New
River Air Station and CampJohnson and all are
(19:15):
strategically placed here.
Okay.
And the other thing is, youknow, we have on the on the
private side, I think there'sbeen more of an embracing of the
assets that we have and what wehave to offer.
And what I'm seeing right nowfrom a quality of life
perspective, I think it's Ithink it's manifesting in
relationships between city andcounty partners, corporate
(19:39):
partners on the private side,and people that want to see that
quality of life be raised in ourarea.
And I and I think it's I thinkit's happening.
SPEAKER_00 (19:47):
I would agree.
And uh, if you listen to thispodcast one time, ten times, you
will probably hear me say thisin every podcast.
You mentioned aboutpartnerships, and it's about
relationships.
It's about buildingrelationships, whether it's in
business or personal lives orwhatever.
(20:08):
And I think over the lastseveral years, you and I have
our our career paths have kindof paralleled each other.
Where we are today or where wehave been two or three years
ago, when you're getting thatpoint, that's not where we were
30 years ago, 25 years ago.
I agree.
Yeah, and I think that plays abig role in it.
Last question about volunteerismand leadership, and then we're
(20:30):
going to shift gears about andtalk about your business.
As a volunteer leader deeplyinvolved in his community, what
fuels your motivation?
And how do you manage, moreimportantly, I think I know what
fuels your motivation, but howdo you manage your time between
your business, the volunteeropportunities that you do decide
to participate in, and yourfamily?
SPEAKER_01 (20:54):
The word that comes to mind for me, Steve, is grace,
because my wife has a lot ofgrace.
I understand, man.
Understand.
You know, and and and my kidshave have have have grown up in
it.
You know, just for me, it's it'sit's almost like getting up and
putting your feet on the floorin the morning.
You're you're just thankful thatthat happened.
(21:14):
But just find what what you'repassionate about and what what
makes you happy and find a wayto help other people feel that
happiness.
You know, I use uh I use anacrostic in in my in my in my
life.
It's it's interesting to use theword fuel because that's the
acrostic that I use is a type offuel and it's it's it it's coal,
(21:36):
C O A L.
And under the C I look atcommunication, uh character and
capacity.
Um if it wasn't for my calendar,that gives me my capacity
because everything has to go inthe calendar.
If it doesn't go in thecalendar, it probably doesn't
get done.
You know, the the A, I mean theO in in coal is for
(21:58):
organization.
You're just having a a mindsetof putting things in in some
type of order so you can try touh to accomplish those things
and be intentional about it andand have a have a desire to to
want to make those things kindof happen and and participate.
The A stands for attitude.
Uh I think you know, I justmentioned mindset.
(22:19):
I think it's important to havethe right mindset and have an
attitude of of servanthood andand being being willing to to to
participate and just and takeaction.
And then the L part that thatstands for just living.
You know, uh we have to we haveto live this life every day.
(22:40):
And uh what better way than toyou not only make sure that your
family's taken care of and thatyour constituents are taken care
of in your business or at yourjob, but your neighbors and and
and your friends and people inthe community that you hopefully
can have a uh a better day todaythan they had yesterday.
SPEAKER_00 (22:57):
That's an awesome way to look at it, man.
That's awesome.
So before we do transition toyour business, I'm going off
script here and I'm gonna hityou with something.
SPEAKER_02 (23:06):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (23:07):
So a few weeks ago, and you might have mentioned
this earlier.
A few weeks ago, a good friendof yours, a former boss of
yours, and I would say probablya mentor of yours, Buddha Howard
passed away.
Can you talk to me about theinfluence that Buddha had not
(23:28):
only on your career but also onyour life?
SPEAKER_01 (23:30):
Well, you you you got me.
I I got you then.
You got me into feels there,man.
I know, man.
And I'm sorry, I didn't mean tohit you about this.
It's okay.
It's okay.
No, that's good.
I mean, Buddha, Buddha Howardwas was one of a kind.
He he was kind of quiet, uh, buthe himself was a was a mover and
a shaker.
He was the kind of guy that waswas behind the scenes.
(23:52):
He didn't want to be in theforefront, he didn't want to
have the limelight on him, hejust he was just a doer.
And he would he was afacilitator.
He would, you know, he hadconnections and he'd make the
phone calls or he'd show up orwhatever the case may be.
But yes, he definitely was a avery, very strong professional
mentor to me.
He gave me the opportunity tomake a transition in
(24:14):
Jacksonville at a time that wasappropriate for for me and my
family.
He was a his leadership stylewas he was a very good listener.
He was just one of those peoplethat you really enjoyed being
around and he he carried a bigstick, but it it it it didn't
(24:38):
have to have a lot of noise anda lot of sound to it, if that
makes sense.
SPEAKER_00 (24:41):
Yeah, no, I know what you're saying.
SPEAKER_01 (24:42):
You know, and uh I uh I really feel for his family.
You know, Buddha was wasinstrumental in economic
development probably in thattransition time, uh 2013, 2014,
2015.
Uh he was heavily involved inrotary.
Uh he lived by the rotary motto,and it was evident in his
(25:04):
family.
I had the the privilege of beingable to attend his his his
funeral service down inSouthport a couple of Fridays
ago.
And it was just the outpouringof love from that community for
that man was uh was amazing.
SPEAKER_00 (25:18):
You can say a lot about somebody, and you know,
when I leave this earth, it'spretty simple, but the thing I
can you could talk a lot aboutBuddha, you can say this about
that, you can about whatever,but and the way I would say that
Buddha was just a good dude,man.
He was just a good he was just agood dude.
SPEAKER_01 (25:35):
That's that's a good summary of Buddha Howard.
He's just a good dude.
SPEAKER_00 (25:37):
He was just a good dude, man.
SPEAKER_01 (25:38):
So that hits the nail on the head for him.
SPEAKER_00 (25:41):
So anyway, let's transition, shift gears, and
we'll talk about your business.
Capital Connections started inMay of 21.
What motivated you to transitioninto the commercial lending
consultant space and how dothose three and a half decades
of banking continue to shapeyour approach today?
SPEAKER_01 (25:59):
Yeah, so after I transitioned away from corporate
world and out of out of bankingitself, a few weeks after, um, I
actually was starting to get afew phone calls from some former
clients just asking questionsabout processes and certain
things about how to go aboutapproaching scenarios.
And um and I just told them, Isaid, Well guys, I'm I'm not
(26:22):
there anymore.
So I I I really all I can tellyou was is what I would do and
and and what my experience tellsme in that situation.
And I had one client in orformer client in particular that
needed something and it justwasn't gonna be a fit uh at the
bank.
So I made uh I had some otherconnections that I made over
(26:43):
over my career, and I reachedout to one of those connections
and he said, Yeah, I I'm I'mpretty sure I thought I can help
him.
And uh he was in the same spacethat I've gotten into, which is
commercial debt brokerage andequity brokerage and and that
type of thing.
And he took the client and uh Iintroduced them and made the
connection and things just wentfrom there and it went out to be
in uh a very good situation forboth of them.
(27:06):
And so the guy that I refer Ireferred to, the broker I
referred the business to, hecalled me uh a couple of weeks
later and he said, He said,Scott, he said, that was a that
was a really good referral.
He said, He said, Why don't youdo this?
He said, or what are you doingnow?
And I told him that I reallywasn't doing anything.
He said, You would be reallygood at this.
He says, You've got theexperience, he says, you know
(27:27):
what to look for.
He said, I I just I think aboutit.
So that's what I did.
I started thinking about it,talked to my wife, and we uh we
birthed capital connections, andso that's what we do.
We we focus on commerciallending consultation and
commercial debt brokerage andequity placement services.
(27:48):
And over the last four years,we've had the opportunity to
build multiple, multiplerelationships nationwide.
We've actually goneinternational now.
SPEAKER_00 (27:57):
Uh we're actually working on you and I were
talking about that last week.
SPEAKER_01 (28:00):
We're actually working on a couple of projects
that are international now.
And just to build thoserelationships and continue, just
using the process that Imentioned earlier, my coal
process, and you know, settingmyself up every day with you
know, I start my day out with adevotion every day and get my
attitude right first and thenand then and then attack my day
in a a bit at the time.
(28:23):
And it's it's just turned intosomething that I I never I never
really thought that it would,and I'm I'm very thankful.
SPEAKER_00 (28:29):
In four years, I know you've got some great
stories.
I know you would have some greatsuccess stories from the bank as
well, but pick one, if you can,just one.
Tell me a nice success storyover the last four years, man.
Something that we talked aboutin those$2,500 mini grants or
whatever, something that justmade you feel good.
SPEAKER_01 (28:52):
Well, there's a lot.
Yeah, there's a lot.
SPEAKER_00 (28:55):
Oh, I'm sure there is.
SPEAKER_01 (28:56):
But one that just kind of comes to mind that I'll
just uh they say we're nameremain nameless to protect the
innocent.
But there's a localentrepreneur.
She has she's just the epitomeof of a dynamo.
She is one of those types ofpersonalities, she'll she'll get
in the crowd with the bull,she'll look at the bull in the
(29:17):
eye, and the bull comes at her,she just holds her hands out,
grabs him by the horns, and justtakes over.
And in the last couple of years,I've seen her you know, her
story kind of is is a good one.
She she's a former Marine, uh,that's how she got to the area.
She uh you know went through theCOVID period and she had gotten
(29:38):
into remodeling homes and doingtrying to do a little house
flipping and things like that.
And uh she learned along theway, of course, COVID didn't
help, but you know, when shewould try to reach out to
subcontractors or people to gethelp her get through the
process, she was having a hardtime getting people to show up
on time and get things done theway she wanted them.
So that take the bull by thehorns meant.
(30:00):
Mentality, she went and got ageneral contractor's license on
her own.
And she has since from thatpoint, she started building
homes.
She has gotten into building herown commercial real estate.
She's an entrepreneur.
She's helping people right now,today, feel better by giving
back to them and allowing themto use her facility to help
(30:22):
them.
She is she's just an up andcoming and she she doesn't stop.
And to have been a part ofhelping her along the way in
some consultation and somecapital resources and just
helping just being a partnercoming alongside her and helping
her navigate the process willalways be something that'd be
special.
SPEAKER_00 (30:42):
Kind of wrapping this thing up, what's one
practical way that they can getinvolved and make a tangible
impact in their community?
SPEAKER_01 (30:55):
I think we talked about it a little bit earlier,
but yeah, there areorganizations and there's
there's there's ways.
I mean you can certainly Googlesearch or Bing Search or
whatever type of browser youuse.
You can go and look for forthings to do.
But you know, if it'sfaith-based, there's always
something in the community thatcan be done through through uh
church affiliated or faith-basedorganizations.
(31:15):
Yeah, if you're you know, I Ithink finding going to find
something that you're passionateabout and you and you want to be
involved with, you know, like ifit's youth sports, I mean you
know, there's look at thiscommunity from what it was.
We were talking about fifteen,twenty, twenty-five years ago,
what it was and what it is now.
You know, youth sports hasexploded.
I mean, we've gone from justlike baseball and basketball and
(31:39):
soccer to now there'svolleyball, there's there's you
know, there is the cross,there's all there's all kinds of
things that you can do to help,you know, and kids are always
looking for mentors and and andthey're always looking for
volunteers to help in thatsituation.
United Way is another one.
There's there's what's calledVolunteer Onslow.
You can sign up for forvolunteering through that.
And if, you know, there'sthere's just a multitude of
(32:02):
things that you can do, but Ithink it's just being
intentional and just looking.
If you look and ask questions,you're if especially if it's in
the volunteer space, you'regonna get an answer of yeah, you
can come help us and we'll finda way to make it work.
SPEAKER_00 (32:13):
Volunteers are always needed, but I think you
make a tremendously great pointabout something that you're
passionate about.
If you're passionate about itand you volunteer in that space
that you're passionate about,people will see that.
SPEAKER_01 (32:28):
They will.
SPEAKER_00 (32:29):
People will see, hey, he's excited to be here,
hey, she's excited to be here,as opposed to potentially just
checking a box.
SPEAKER_01 (32:37):
I I agree.
And and it's you know, to see uha kid's face light up because
you know, you were there, youwere present, you were, you
know, because you you tookaction and man took that step to
be involved, to see that thatfamily or that individual be
able to get connected withresources that they need to help
(32:58):
them move to the next chapter oftheir life, whatever the case
may be.
I mean, that that stuff ispriceless and it's in it's
invaluable and it's it's veryrewarding, and I hope people
take advantage of of doing stufflike that.
SPEAKER_00 (33:10):
Well, Scott, this was awesome, man.
I appreciate it a bunch.
I appreciate you.
It's always good to see you andbe with you.
I just appreciate the timeyou've given me.
Listen, Scott Riggs, he's aclear example of how business
expertise and community servicecan come together to create real
lasting change.
He's proving that volunteerleadership and strategic
(33:30):
thinking go hand in hand.
So if today's episode hasinspired you to get involved or
invest in your local community,take some of Scott's advice that
I he didn't say on the podcasthere, but I did some research
and I read it somewhere.
Start where you are, use whatyou know, and always find a way
to serve.
SPEAKER_01 (33:49):
That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (33:50):
Yeah.
I read that when I wasresearching you.
So, real quickly, I do want youif there's small businesses in
the community in the area andthere they may be in need of
your service, this is yourlittle shameless plug, 30
seconds, man.
So take it.
SPEAKER_01 (34:06):
I sure I appreciate that.
So if uh you're a business ownerand you're in in need of some
some capital, the bank's notyou're not where you need to be
with the bank just yet, uh,reach out to us.
Um we are uh on online atwww.rsriggsassociates.com.
(34:27):
Uh I can be reached at910-340-2306.
You can also find us on Facebookat Capital Connections, and
we're on LinkedIn at CapitalConnections as well.
SPEAKER_00 (34:38):
Yeah, and we'll put all that stuff in the show notes
when the podcast comes out.
So Scott, listen, thank youagain, man, and listeners, thank
you.
We appreciate you taking thetime to listen to this episode
of Consulting from the Couch.
And be sure to follow us bygoing to blcconsultinglc.com and
leave a quick review or share itwith someone who also loves to
(35:02):
hear just about great leadershipstories in our communities.
So until next time, I'm SteveGoodson and talk soon.
Welcome to Consulting from the Couch, where
we explore the people, ideas,and leadership shaping our
communities and our lives onestory at a time.
Today's guest is someone whoembodies what it means to lead
with a purpose.
Scott Riggs is not only aseasoned finance professional
with more than 35 years ofexperience, but he is also a
(00:33):
tireless community advocate.
As the founder of CapitalConnection and a key leader in
Jacksville and Onslow Counties'economic development efforts,
Scott has helped unlock funding,foster local entrepreneurship,
and bring game-changinginnovations like Project
Frontier to life.
Welcome, Scott, and thank youfor joining us today.
SPEAKER_01 (00:54):
Steve, I appreciate it, my friend.
It's always good to be with youand just thanks for this
opportunity to sit down and havea little time on the couch.
SPEAKER_00 (01:01):
Absolutely.
So before we get going, take acouple minutes and tell the
listeners about Scott Riggs.
SPEAKER_01 (01:08):
Well, there's not a whole lot to say other than uh
had humble beginnings.
Uh grew up in a family of fivelocally here in Oslo County, up
in the northern part of thecounty, a little place called
Richlands, North Carolina.
I was very blessed to have youknow mom and dad that instilled
certain values, introduced us touh to faith early in our in our
(01:32):
lives and uh you know and workethic as well.
I was telling this story to afriend of mine not too long ago,
talking about you know,childhood and things like that.
And I can remember coming homeuh for playing in the yard.
I was about 11 years old, and Icame home playing in playing in
the yard with some friends, andneighbor said, Do you want to
(01:52):
earn some money this summerwhile you're out of school?
I'm like, Well, yeah.
And so it was uh it was born intobacco.
So I got my first job in tobaccoat 11 years old.
SPEAKER_00 (02:02):
And knowing now, or knowing then what you know now,
or vice versa or vice versa,however you say it, working in
tobacco is like working in thelogwoods, which I had a lot of
experience with.
Yes, brother.
Okay, exactly.
But it taught you hard work andit taught you what you probably
didn't want to do later on inlife.
SPEAKER_01 (02:19):
It did.
It did, absolutely did.
SPEAKER_00 (02:22):
Well, that's great.
Well, look, man, before we getgoing and I start asking you the
questions, first I want to tellyou congratulations, man.
You've had a very eventful firsthalf of the year.
Uh in April, during NationalSmall Business Week, you're
awarded the 2025 Citizenship andService Award by the Jack
Swansley Chamber of Commerce.
(02:44):
And later in the month, youreceived the 2025 United Way
Golden Rule Light KeepersVolunteer of the Year Award.
So congratulations.
Thank you.
Kudos, and that's one of thereasons you're on the podcast,
besides being my buddy, man.
That's one of the reasons you'reon the podcast because
leadership through volunteerism.
(03:05):
Yeah, man, that's awesome.
So congratulations.
SPEAKER_01 (03:07):
Thank you.
Thank you.
I was I just I've always beentaught and still think today
that giving back is uh one ofthe best things that we can do.
SPEAKER_00 (03:15):
Let's talk about service.
You've grown up and you'veworked and lived and raised a
family here in Oslo County for30 plus years.
What has inspired you and yourlong-term commitment to
volunteerism and specificallywe're gonna hone in on a lot of
your economic development andcommunity development areas in
Jikesville and Oslo County?
SPEAKER_01 (03:36):
So kind of going back to what uh I was talking
about earlier in my you knowearly in my life, I remember uh
there was there was a time, youknow, my dad was a was a career
banker, and I followed in hisfootsteps, you know, as a lot of
people know here locally.
But I can remember the aspect ofgiving back and just helping
(03:56):
others and not seeking anyrecognition, just just loving
people and just serving people.
I can remember getting in thecar with him.
He never really said he neversaid anything about it.
We just we went to uh went tothe Pig Weagley grocery store in
Richlands and he bought, I don'tknow, seemed like dozens of bags
(04:18):
of groceries.
I'm I'm sure it was less thanthat, but he bought bought
groceries and we uh my sisterand I, and my brother was was
really small then, my sister andI, we rode with him to this
humble little house on the backside of town, and he uh he got
the groceries out of the back ofthe car, went up and put them on
the porch, knocked on the doorand came back and got the car
(04:40):
and sat in the car.
And I remember seeing a shadowfigure just come and and look
out and just throw a hand up,and he threw his hand up and we
backed out of the driveway andwent home and never really said
anything about it.
But just that act of kindnessand just that connection just
kind of resonated with with me,and I that's that's kind of how
I've I grew up.
SPEAKER_00 (04:58):
It had to be pretty impactful.
You made a great comment aboutdoing it and not looking or
seeking recognition or lookingfor accolades and things of that
nature.
That's the true spirit of givingand and giving back, right?
SPEAKER_01 (05:16):
I I I I believe that, yes.
SPEAKER_00 (05:17):
Yeah, I totally yeah, I totally agree with you.
And for us growing up here inour community, working in the
with the businesses that weworked, you in the banking
industry, me in the electricutility industry, our businesses
were cornerstones of thecommunity, did a lot of things
(05:37):
for the community, and it wasonly natural that between our
upbringings and going to workwhere we worked, uh it was just
a natural fit.
SPEAKER_01 (05:48):
And I agree.
And early early in my career, mymy first banking job, you the my
my manager, my my mentor at thetime, he was active in rotary.
Another mentor of mine wasactive in JC's, and JC's was a
younger person's organizationand uh junior chamber of
(06:10):
commerce.
And I got involved with JC'sright out of college in my in my
first in my first umprofessional role or banking
role.
And that's I met some really,really good people.
And just just their acts ofkindness, the way that they just
it was it was like it was secondnature just to provide help and
(06:31):
hope for for kids and for forother people.
And uh it just it just kind ofcarried them all and it
resonated with me, and it's justbecame part of my my lifestyle,
and I just that's just part ofwho I am now.
SPEAKER_00 (06:42):
That's awesome, man.
That's awesome.
Let's talk about your role aschairman of the Jack Swanso
Economic Development Loan FundCommittee.
unknown (06:53):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (06:54):
What sparked the idea to launch this community
business loan fund?
And you may need to explain it alittle bit.
Okay.
And what gap was it designed tofill?
SPEAKER_01 (07:06):
So the community business loan fund is part of
what's called the JacksonvilleOns Economic Development
Partnership, which is a 501c3nonprofit.
And the the idea really, I'vegot to give credit to former
executive director MarkSutherland for the for bringing
me in and talking to me aboutthe the concept and the idea.
(07:27):
And he had had conversationswith some other leadership
within economic development, andhe told me that my name had come
up about the potential to uhspearhead that just because of
my background, and I startedkind of doing my own thing,
which we'll I guess we'll talkabout later.
And so that he brought me in, wetalked about it, and I thought
it was a great idea.
(07:48):
So the the concept, the ideabehind the community business
loan fund is to do exactly whatyou said.
It's it's a gap filler.
It's not meant to compete withbanks or other uh finance
institutions.
It's it's meant to be thatplatform for folks that maybe
need uh some assistance in instarting their business or or or
(08:10):
uh expanding their business.
Maybe they need uh they're to apoint in their business, they're
they're ready to buy a locationand they don't have they don't
have all the down payment, forexample.
Or they need some equipment, orthey need a little bit of
working capital to hire somepeople, that kind of thing.
But they're not quite what Iwould call lender ready or or
bank ready.
But it's a it's a it's a viable,reasonable situation.
(08:33):
And so we take an application,we we have a committee, we
review that information, and ifit makes sense, we try to find a
way to help people access thecapital.
And I mean it's not meant to bea uh a stop all or to be the you
know the main source for people.
(08:53):
Um our parameters are a minimumof ten thousand dollars and a
and a maximum of seventy-five.
We're probably gonna drop thatdown to fifty, which kind of
correlates to a microloan space.
But I find that in our area,that that amount of capital
helps a lot of small businessesand kind of a good fit for a lot
of small businesses.
So that's that's in a nutshellkind of what's intended to do
and what it's intended to be.
SPEAKER_00 (09:15):
And with this particular loan fund, the Truist
Foundation and Duke Energy, theyseeded the loan fund back in
2022.
Can you provide an update,maybe, or progress report, maybe
how many loans you guys havehave made or grants or whatever
to date and and where you stand?
You kind of just told uspotentially about lowering the
(09:35):
threshold.
Just provide us a little updateif you could.
SPEAKER_01 (09:38):
Yeah, sure.
So the Truist Foundation, verythankful for their existence and
their involvement.
Again, I give credit to uh toMark Sutherland and to uh Terry
Ashby, who at the time was atTruist here in Jacksonville.
And we were able to uh apply fora grant to the Truist
Foundation.
They they granted the requestand just received capital of uh
(09:59):
of$100,000, and that money wentto three specific credit
requests that were all newbusinesses.
One of them is actually indowntown Jacksonville and
thriving very, very well.
I'd love to see that.
We patronize them sometimes.
There are a couple others thatare doing well themselves.
Uh we've had no pushback on anyof the the credits that we did,
(10:23):
and and all of them went toeither secure equipment or to
provide working capital, uh,ultimately help people to hire
positions.
And the so all that money wasthe with the exception of maybe
a couple of thousand dollars,was all deployed in three
credits that are all performingand have have had good success
stories.
SPEAKER_00 (10:42):
That's awesome, man.
SPEAKER_01 (10:43):
And then and then Lauren Wargo from Duke Energy,
that that Duke Energy grant, youknow, that was in November of
last year.
And and Steve, that was one ofprobably the best moments of my
adult life was to be a part of agrant situation where we took
that money and we broke it upinto nine$2,500 grants.
(11:04):
And just the applications andthe stories behind those
applications and just seeingwhat people are trying to do,
what they're trying toaccomplish, and for that money
to go to such good and to helppeople maybe get over the hump
or get to the next level intheir in their entrepreneurial
or business journey uh was justwas just fabulous.
And I I'm very thankful for thatopportunity.
SPEAKER_00 (11:25):
I want to talk about that a little bit because when
we think about economicdevelopment or job creation, we
want to go to a grand scale,right?
We want to say we say, hey,we're gonna add a FedEx
distribution center and it'sgonna bring 300 jobs.
And maybe it's because my dadwas a small business owner and
(11:45):
he was in business for 50 plusyears.
In my opinion, the foundation ofthis country, the foundation of
Jacksville, Ozlow, North.
I mean, the foundation is basedon small business.
SPEAKER_01 (12:00):
You're you're right.
I mean, Jacksonville and OsloCounty is a is a picture of the
national scale.
I I'd say 85 plus percent of allhiring and business activity in
this country is small business.
SPEAKER_00 (12:12):
Yeah.
And that$2,500 grant that youmade to those small businesses,
it was probably like$100 millionto FedEx or to whomever to fill
in the bullets.
SPEAKER_01 (12:25):
Yeah.
I mean, it it could have been.
It could have been just a, youknow, a lot of times small
business just those those littlewhat I'll call droplets of of
capital.
SPEAKER_00 (12:38):
Just that little nudge.
SPEAKER_01 (12:39):
That's that little nudge can get them to the next
level to where they're able tohire the right person.
They're able to put in the rightpiece of equipment to help them
go to another level or increasetheir inventory or uh anything
like that that can that gets toyeah, that's a really good way
to look at it.
I think that little nudge to getthem to that point of where it's
the maybe sometimes it's thedifference between success and
(13:01):
failure.
SPEAKER_00 (13:02):
And we're gonna come back because I think that plays
a vital role, what we justtalked about and what you're
doing now.
And we're gonna get to that in afew minutes.
Let's talk a little bit morethough about I mentioned Project
Frontier in the introduction.
Tell us a little bit about thatproject.
I know my former employee that Iretired from, Jones Onslo, we
(13:23):
were involved with that withsome grant monies to help with
some of the pre-construction,getting the land ready and stuff
like that.
Sure.
But specifically, what was thevision behind the initiative and
what was the impact you hoped ithad on our community?
And it's actually having animpact if you want to talk about
what the business is that'scoming there.
SPEAKER_01 (13:42):
Sure.
So initially, this uhconversation came up as it does
a lot of times in economicdevelopment circles, to what
we've talked about a little bithere before about workforce
development, job creation, taxbase, things, you know, quality
of life kind of stuff.
And in this particular instance,you know, Monso County,
(14:05):
Jacksonville didn't really havewhat's referred to in economic
development circles as product.
And when I refer to product, I'mtalking about sometimes you'll
go into communities, you'll seethese what what's referred to
maybe as a shell building, likewhere maybe an industrial or or
building has been built.
And it it's in intended to beable to hopefully entice a a
(14:26):
business or an industry torelocate uh and bring jobs and
bring, you know, bringopportunity to that community.
We really didn't have any anyproduct at that time, and so a a
building committee was developedand stood up within Jacksonville
Onslow economic development.
And we started having someconversations about you know
(14:46):
some ideas and some things, andit kind of rose from the ashes,
and we have a lot of partnerswithin economic development that
are local partners that are thatare public and private,
municipal like governments likethe city of Jacksonville, uh,
Onslow County, Jones Oslo, EMC,and and others that that are
(15:07):
viable, amazing partners toeconomic development.
And so one thing led to another.
Uh, we were talking about it.
The city had some ideas, um, itjust kind of kept evolving.
Uh next thing we know, becauseof the partnerships and the
collaboration, uh steps keptbeing taken.
It just evolved.
(15:28):
And next thing we knew, therewas a very interested party that
wanted to come to Jacksonville.
They had expansion plans in thispart of the world, and it's it's
Amazon.
And that's a it wound up beingan initial 100,000 square feet
of facility.
It's a it's a last milefacility.
If anybody's familiar with withthe process, that last mile
(15:49):
facility is where product thatmaybe you've ordered online gets
from a larger distributioncenter, it gets filtered down to
a last mile facility and then itgets trucked out from that last
mile facility.
And there's several of thosethat are going up in East North
Carolina, and Jacksonville wasone of those.
And if you've been by that areaoverall Frontier Road in the
Williamsburg area, uh there's alot of building over there now.
SPEAKER_00 (16:12):
And I joke about that with my daughter.
She lives in New York, she's anattorney in New York, and during
COVID, she moved from New York.
She was still in law school atthe time, but she moved from
from New York down here.
She was able to take law classesonline like many students were,
and she set up here in thebasement actually.
(16:36):
But she had become veryaccustomed to ordering from
Amazon.
She lived as an in an apartmentin downtown New York City,
Manhattan.
And if she needed toothpaste,she would order toothpaste from
Amazon.
She would order washing powderfrom Amazon.
SPEAKER_02 (16:50):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (16:51):
That didn't stop when she moved down here.
She kept ordering those things,and literally the FedEx guy or
the UPS guy, whoever, wasdelivering to our house every
day.
And I joked with her when I toldher that this Amazon
distribution center was cominghere.
They looked at data from COVIDwhen you were here and decided
(17:12):
to build a facility because itwas the Spencer Goodson
Distribution Center.
So you see this one address?
Yes, that is exactly.
It's the catalyst for this wholeproject.
Thank you, Spencer.
So let's talk about measuringsuccess.
So how do you measure success,Roslow County's economic
(17:34):
development?
Whether it's and I'm just goingto throw out job creation,
diversity of business ownership,community reinvestment.
How do you define success?
SPEAKER_01 (17:42):
Well, I think all of those those items play into it,
but for me, I think it's it'sit's quality of life.
SPEAKER_00 (17:48):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (17:50):
It's what the citizenry is able to experience
in regards to job opportunities.
It's a well-balancedlive-work-play kind of scenario.
You choose to live in acommunity because of several
reasons.
One, you feel safe.
Another one, you feel like youcan derive a good living from an
(18:11):
income source.
You have friends and you have asocial life.
There's activities, there'sthings you do recreationally and
things like that.
And you know, Jacksonville for afor a while has been
experiencing what I I refer toas growing pains.
You know, we have the the luxuryof having a lot of federal
(18:33):
dollars that flow here on amonthly basis.
That's a lot of communitiesdon't have.
And so we've kind of got abaseline to to to build from.
And at the same time, we're inbetween two North Carolina
ports, one to the south and oneto the to the northeast.
And so we're kind of in aconundrum a little bit from a
(18:54):
maybe from a transportationperspective.
But, you know, all those thingsare are are looked at, you know,
highways, rails, you know, sea,all that stuff gets looked at.
And if you really take a take alook at strategically where
we're located, there's a reasonwhy Camp Lejeune and and New
River Air Station and CampJohnson and all are
(19:15):
strategically placed here.
Okay.
And the other thing is, youknow, we have on the on the
private side, I think there'sbeen more of an embracing of the
assets that we have and what wehave to offer.
And what I'm seeing right nowfrom a quality of life
perspective, I think it's Ithink it's manifesting in
relationships between city andcounty partners, corporate
(19:39):
partners on the private side,and people that want to see that
quality of life be raised in ourarea.
And I and I think it's I thinkit's happening.
SPEAKER_00 (19:47):
I would agree.
And uh, if you listen to thispodcast one time, ten times, you
will probably hear me say thisin every podcast.
You mentioned aboutpartnerships, and it's about
relationships.
It's about buildingrelationships, whether it's in
business or personal lives orwhatever.
(20:08):
And I think over the lastseveral years, you and I have
our our career paths have kindof paralleled each other.
Where we are today or where wehave been two or three years
ago, when you're getting thatpoint, that's not where we were
30 years ago, 25 years ago.
I agree.
Yeah, and I think that plays abig role in it.
Last question about volunteerismand leadership, and then we're
(20:30):
going to shift gears about andtalk about your business.
As a volunteer leader deeplyinvolved in his community, what
fuels your motivation?
And how do you manage, moreimportantly, I think I know what
fuels your motivation, but howdo you manage your time between
your business, the volunteeropportunities that you do decide
to participate in, and yourfamily?
SPEAKER_01 (20:54):
The word that comes to mind for me, Steve, is grace,
because my wife has a lot ofgrace.
I understand, man.
Understand.
You know, and and and my kidshave have have have grown up in
it.
You know, just for me, it's it'sit's almost like getting up and
putting your feet on the floorin the morning.
You're you're just thankful thatthat happened.
(21:14):
But just find what what you'repassionate about and what what
makes you happy and find a wayto help other people feel that
happiness.
You know, I use uh I use anacrostic in in my in my in my
life.
It's it's interesting to use theword fuel because that's the
acrostic that I use is a type offuel and it's it's it it's coal,
(21:36):
C O A L.
And under the C I look atcommunication, uh character and
capacity.
Um if it wasn't for my calendar,that gives me my capacity
because everything has to go inthe calendar.
If it doesn't go in thecalendar, it probably doesn't
get done.
You know, the the A, I mean theO in in coal is for
(21:58):
organization.
You're just having a a mindsetof putting things in in some
type of order so you can try touh to accomplish those things
and be intentional about it andand have a have a desire to to
want to make those things kindof happen and and participate.
The A stands for attitude.
Uh I think you know, I justmentioned mindset.
(22:19):
I think it's important to havethe right mindset and have an
attitude of of servanthood andand being being willing to to to
participate and just and takeaction.
And then the L part that thatstands for just living.
You know, uh we have to we haveto live this life every day.
(22:40):
And uh what better way than toyou not only make sure that your
family's taken care of and thatyour constituents are taken care
of in your business or at yourjob, but your neighbors and and
and your friends and people inthe community that you hopefully
can have a uh a better day todaythan they had yesterday.
SPEAKER_00 (22:57):
That's an awesome way to look at it, man.
That's awesome.
So before we do transition toyour business, I'm going off
script here and I'm gonna hityou with something.
SPEAKER_02 (23:06):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (23:07):
So a few weeks ago, and you might have mentioned
this earlier.
A few weeks ago, a good friendof yours, a former boss of
yours, and I would say probablya mentor of yours, Buddha Howard
passed away.
Can you talk to me about theinfluence that Buddha had not
(23:28):
only on your career but also onyour life?
SPEAKER_01 (23:30):
Well, you you you got me.
I I got you then.
You got me into feels there,man.
I know, man.
And I'm sorry, I didn't mean tohit you about this.
It's okay.
It's okay.
No, that's good.
I mean, Buddha, Buddha Howardwas was one of a kind.
He he was kind of quiet, uh, buthe himself was a was a mover and
a shaker.
He was the kind of guy that waswas behind the scenes.
(23:52):
He didn't want to be in theforefront, he didn't want to
have the limelight on him, hejust he was just a doer.
And he would he was afacilitator.
He would, you know, he hadconnections and he'd make the
phone calls or he'd show up orwhatever the case may be.
But yes, he definitely was a avery, very strong professional
mentor to me.
He gave me the opportunity tomake a transition in
(24:14):
Jacksonville at a time that wasappropriate for for me and my
family.
He was a his leadership stylewas he was a very good listener.
He was just one of those peoplethat you really enjoyed being
around and he he carried a bigstick, but it it it it didn't
(24:38):
have to have a lot of noise anda lot of sound to it, if that
makes sense.
SPEAKER_00 (24:41):
Yeah, no, I know what you're saying.
SPEAKER_01 (24:42):
You know, and uh I uh I really feel for his family.
You know, Buddha was wasinstrumental in economic
development probably in thattransition time, uh 2013, 2014,
2015.
Uh he was heavily involved inrotary.
Uh he lived by the rotary motto,and it was evident in his
(25:04):
family.
I had the the privilege of beingable to attend his his his
funeral service down inSouthport a couple of Fridays
ago.
And it was just the outpouringof love from that community for
that man was uh was amazing.
SPEAKER_00 (25:18):
You can say a lot about somebody, and you know,
when I leave this earth, it'spretty simple, but the thing I
can you could talk a lot aboutBuddha, you can say this about
that, you can about whatever,but and the way I would say that
Buddha was just a good dude,man.
He was just a good he was just agood dude.
SPEAKER_01 (25:35):
That's that's a good summary of Buddha Howard.
He's just a good dude.
SPEAKER_00 (25:37):
He was just a good dude, man.
SPEAKER_01 (25:38):
So that hits the nail on the head for him.
SPEAKER_00 (25:41):
So anyway, let's transition, shift gears, and
we'll talk about your business.
Capital Connections started inMay of 21.
What motivated you to transitioninto the commercial lending
consultant space and how dothose three and a half decades
of banking continue to shapeyour approach today?
SPEAKER_01 (25:59):
Yeah, so after I transitioned away from corporate
world and out of out of bankingitself, a few weeks after, um, I
actually was starting to get afew phone calls from some former
clients just asking questionsabout processes and certain
things about how to go aboutapproaching scenarios.
And um and I just told them, Isaid, Well guys, I'm I'm not
(26:22):
there anymore.
So I I I really all I can tellyou was is what I would do and
and and what my experience tellsme in that situation.
And I had one client in orformer client in particular that
needed something and it justwasn't gonna be a fit uh at the
bank.
So I made uh I had some otherconnections that I made over
(26:43):
over my career, and I reachedout to one of those connections
and he said, Yeah, I I'm I'mpretty sure I thought I can help
him.
And uh he was in the same spacethat I've gotten into, which is
commercial debt brokerage andequity brokerage and and that
type of thing.
And he took the client and uh Iintroduced them and made the
connection and things just wentfrom there and it went out to be
in uh a very good situation forboth of them.
(27:06):
And so the guy that I refer Ireferred to, the broker I
referred the business to, hecalled me uh a couple of weeks
later and he said, He said,Scott, he said, that was a that
was a really good referral.
He said, He said, Why don't youdo this?
He said, or what are you doingnow?
And I told him that I reallywasn't doing anything.
He said, You would be reallygood at this.
He says, You've got theexperience, he says, you know
(27:27):
what to look for.
He said, I I just I think aboutit.
So that's what I did.
I started thinking about it,talked to my wife, and we uh we
birthed capital connections, andso that's what we do.
We we focus on commerciallending consultation and
commercial debt brokerage andequity placement services.
(27:48):
And over the last four years,we've had the opportunity to
build multiple, multiplerelationships nationwide.
We've actually goneinternational now.
SPEAKER_00 (27:57):
Uh we're actually working on you and I were
talking about that last week.
SPEAKER_01 (28:00):
We're actually working on a couple of projects
that are international now.
And just to build thoserelationships and continue, just
using the process that Imentioned earlier, my coal
process, and you know, settingmyself up every day with you
know, I start my day out with adevotion every day and get my
attitude right first and thenand then and then attack my day
in a a bit at the time.
(28:23):
And it's it's just turned intosomething that I I never I never
really thought that it would,and I'm I'm very thankful.
SPEAKER_00 (28:29):
In four years, I know you've got some great
stories.
I know you would have some greatsuccess stories from the bank as
well, but pick one, if you can,just one.
Tell me a nice success storyover the last four years, man.
Something that we talked aboutin those$2,500 mini grants or
whatever, something that justmade you feel good.
SPEAKER_01 (28:52):
Well, there's a lot.
Yeah, there's a lot.
SPEAKER_00 (28:55):
Oh, I'm sure there is.
SPEAKER_01 (28:56):
But one that just kind of comes to mind that I'll
just uh they say we're nameremain nameless to protect the
innocent.
But there's a localentrepreneur.
She has she's just the epitomeof of a dynamo.
She is one of those types ofpersonalities, she'll she'll get
in the crowd with the bull,she'll look at the bull in the
(29:17):
eye, and the bull comes at her,she just holds her hands out,
grabs him by the horns, and justtakes over.
And in the last couple of years,I've seen her you know, her
story kind of is is a good one.
She she's a former Marine, uh,that's how she got to the area.
She uh you know went through theCOVID period and she had gotten
(29:38):
into remodeling homes and doingtrying to do a little house
flipping and things like that.
And uh she learned along theway, of course, COVID didn't
help, but you know, when shewould try to reach out to
subcontractors or people to gethelp her get through the
process, she was having a hardtime getting people to show up
on time and get things done theway she wanted them.
So that take the bull by thehorns meant.
(30:00):
Mentality, she went and got ageneral contractor's license on
her own.
And she has since from thatpoint, she started building
homes.
She has gotten into building herown commercial real estate.
She's an entrepreneur.
She's helping people right now,today, feel better by giving
back to them and allowing themto use her facility to help
(30:22):
them.
She is she's just an up andcoming and she she doesn't stop.
And to have been a part ofhelping her along the way in
some consultation and somecapital resources and just
helping just being a partnercoming alongside her and helping
her navigate the process willalways be something that'd be
special.
SPEAKER_00 (30:42):
Kind of wrapping this thing up, what's one
practical way that they can getinvolved and make a tangible
impact in their community?
SPEAKER_01 (30:55):
I think we talked about it a little bit earlier,
but yeah, there areorganizations and there's
there's there's ways.
I mean you can certainly Googlesearch or Bing Search or
whatever type of browser youuse.
You can go and look for forthings to do.
But you know, if it'sfaith-based, there's always
something in the community thatcan be done through through uh
church affiliated or faith-basedorganizations.
(31:15):
Yeah, if you're you know, I Ithink finding going to find
something that you're passionateabout and you and you want to be
involved with, you know, like ifit's youth sports, I mean you
know, there's look at thiscommunity from what it was.
We were talking about fifteen,twenty, twenty-five years ago,
what it was and what it is now.
You know, youth sports hasexploded.
I mean, we've gone from justlike baseball and basketball and
(31:39):
soccer to now there'svolleyball, there's there's you
know, there is the cross,there's all there's all kinds of
things that you can do to help,you know, and kids are always
looking for mentors and and andthey're always looking for
volunteers to help in thatsituation.
United Way is another one.
There's there's what's calledVolunteer Onslow.
You can sign up for forvolunteering through that.
And if, you know, there'sthere's just a multitude of
(32:02):
things that you can do, but Ithink it's just being
intentional and just looking.
If you look and ask questions,you're if especially if it's in
the volunteer space, you'regonna get an answer of yeah, you
can come help us and we'll finda way to make it work.
SPEAKER_00 (32:13):
Volunteers are always needed, but I think you
make a tremendously great pointabout something that you're
passionate about.
If you're passionate about itand you volunteer in that space
that you're passionate about,people will see that.
SPEAKER_01 (32:28):
They will.
SPEAKER_00 (32:29):
People will see, hey, he's excited to be here,
hey, she's excited to be here,as opposed to potentially just
checking a box.
SPEAKER_01 (32:37):
I I agree.
And and it's you know, to see uha kid's face light up because
you know, you were there, youwere present, you were, you
know, because you you tookaction and man took that step to
be involved, to see that thatfamily or that individual be
able to get connected withresources that they need to help
(32:58):
them move to the next chapter oftheir life, whatever the case
may be.
I mean, that that stuff ispriceless and it's in it's
invaluable and it's it's veryrewarding, and I hope people
take advantage of of doing stufflike that.
SPEAKER_00 (33:10):
Well, Scott, this was awesome, man.
I appreciate it a bunch.
I appreciate you.
It's always good to see you andbe with you.
I just appreciate the timeyou've given me.
Listen, Scott Riggs, he's aclear example of how business
expertise and community servicecan come together to create real
lasting change.
He's proving that volunteerleadership and strategic
(33:30):
thinking go hand in hand.
So if today's episode hasinspired you to get involved or
invest in your local community,take some of Scott's advice that
I he didn't say on the podcasthere, but I did some research
and I read it somewhere.
Start where you are, use whatyou know, and always find a way
to serve.
SPEAKER_01 (33:49):
That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (33:50):
Yeah.
I read that when I wasresearching you.
So, real quickly, I do want youif there's small businesses in
the community in the area andthere they may be in need of
your service, this is yourlittle shameless plug, 30
seconds, man.
So take it.
SPEAKER_01 (34:06):
I sure I appreciate that.
So if uh you're a business ownerand you're in in need of some
some capital, the bank's notyou're not where you need to be
with the bank just yet, uh,reach out to us.
Um we are uh on online atwww.rsriggsassociates.com.
(34:27):
Uh I can be reached at910-340-2306.
You can also find us on Facebookat Capital Connections, and
we're on LinkedIn at CapitalConnections as well.
SPEAKER_00 (34:38):
Yeah, and we'll put all that stuff in the show notes
when the podcast comes out.
So Scott, listen, thank youagain, man, and listeners, thank
you.
We appreciate you taking thetime to listen to this episode
of Consulting from the Couch.
And be sure to follow us bygoing to blcconsultinglc.com and
leave a quick review or share itwith someone who also loves to
(35:02):
hear just about great leadershipstories in our communities.
So until next time, I'm SteveGoodson and talk soon.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.