June 20, 2024 • 38 mins
Join us on this journey of entrepreneurial discovery with our guest, Caleb Talley from Startup Junkie, as he recounts his leap from studying print journalism at the University of Arkansas to shaping the startup ecosystem in Northwest Arkansas. Caleb's story is a testament to the vibrant and often underestimated entrepreneurial spirit thriving in the region. His transition from journalism to marketing and events without prior experience unveils a landscape rich with opportunities and collaborative support systems that have enabled local startups to soar.
Discover how Northwest Arkansas, a region steeped in history and culture, has become a magnet for entrepreneurial talent. Thanks to the influence of major enterprises like Walmart, the area has cultivated a supportive environment that fosters innovation and attracts secondary industries. Caleb shares insights into impactful initiatives such as the Fuel accelerator program and LifeWorks, which are designed to help startups flourish and sustain long-term growth. We also draw interesting parallels with states like Kentucky, highlighting how both regions are becoming increasingly attractive for new businesses through community support and economic incentives.
As we navigate the current entrepreneurial landscape, Caleb sheds light on the challenges and emerging trends shaped by the economic climate. The episode delves into issues such as the struggle to raise capital amidst high-interest rates and lower-than-expected GDP numbers. Yet, there's a silver lining as the rise in entrepreneurial interest, partly fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, opens new avenues for innovation. Learn about the University of Arkansas' pioneering efforts to imbue students with entrepreneurial skills and the substantial career benefits of startup experience. From versatile hiring practices to exciting micro-lending initiatives like Kiva, this episode covers the dynamic opportunities that make Northwest Arkansas a beacon for aspiring entrepreneurs.
As you're inspired to embark on your side hustle journey after listening to this episode, you might wonder where to start or how to make your vision a reality. With a team of experienced marketing professionals and a track record of helping clients achieve their dreams, we are ready to assist you in reaching your goals. To find out more, visit www.reversedout.com.
Start for FREE
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Subscribe to Side Hustle City and join our Community on Facebook
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Side Hustle City and thanks for
joining us.
Our goal is to help you connectto real people who found
success turning their sidehustle into a main hustle, and
we hope you can too.
I'm Adam Kaler.
I'm joined by Kyle Stevie, myco-host.
Let's get started, all right.
(00:24):
Welcome back everybody to theSide Hustle City podcast Today,
special guest from startupjunkie Caleb Talley.
Caleb, thanks for being on theshow, man.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well, I appreciate the invite.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Glad to be here.
Yeah, man, we're going to talksome startups today.
We're going to get peoplepumped up about, you know,
positivity and helping peopleget their company idea off the
ground and what they need andall that good stuff.
But first, Caleb, I want tostart with your background.
You started out in sounds likethe publishing industry.
You're down in Arkansas andmaybe not the first place people
(00:57):
think of when they thinkstartups.
Right.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, I wouldn't think so and, honestly, when I
was going through the College ofthe University of Arkansas,
even in school, I graduated in2015 and studied print
journalism and I might have beenone of a handful of people that
were even in a print journalismtrack at the time.
You know the professor pullsthe the full intro auditorium
(01:22):
full of people and we, you know,meagerly raise our hand in the
back as all the broadcastjournalists you know, kind of
make their way to the front.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yeah, yeah, so what is it like?
And at least you're in the SEC,I mean, you've got that going
for you too.
That's a fact, yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Basketball is about to get a lot better here in
Arkansas, ok.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Sorry for the fans in Kentucky.
Well, we're UC fans over here.
So we're moderate at football,I would say, and we're pretty
good at basketball and it'sgoing to get better as well.
We got some guys coming in.
This next year is going to beall right.
We just missed the tournament,but it's going to be looking
good.
And anytime you guys can beatthe rest of the SEC schools, I'm
all for it.
That's our plan at least beatthe rest of the sec schools.
(02:05):
I'm all for it, like that's ourplan at least.
I'd like to see some more.
I'd like to see some more, um,some more teams in the sec start
winning stuff.
I mean kentucky, arkansas,tennessee I mean you're always
good.
I mean you could beat 98 ofevery other college football
program.
But it's just you've got these,these guys at the top who seem
to monopolize everything, andthere's three or four programs
in the SEC.
Everybody knows who I'm talkingabout.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Some of you are listening right now that just
they.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
what, for whatever reason, they've got these
recruits and they just, I don'tknow, they just they're falling
in love with these programs andthey just got machines, and it's
how do you read success?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
But we do a good job of beating up on each other in
the SEC, that's right.
No, we do do a good job of that, that's for sure.
But we're excited about youknow.
Next, we just missed thetournament too, had a pretty
down season, but you know, wegot Coach Cal and we're excited
for next season.
Yeah, it's got a lot ofoptimism.
Yeah, well, maybe not as much,but hey, we're we're always a
little bright-eyed optimism whenit comes to, you know, august
(03:02):
and fall.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Well, you'll always be in the recruiting
conversation with Coach Cal,that's a guarantee.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
He's got connections and that's what you need.
I mean, that's really what youneed.
So good luck with that.
And yeah, I respect your SECand I respect all the schools in
the SEC and just a factory andwe're going to find out if we
get any Arkansas guys in thedraft today up here in
Cincinnati I'd be.
I don't know who's out there,but you never know, we might get
(03:29):
some guys.
Maybe not, maybe, not Maybe.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
I have a better chance to get some UC guys on
the team.
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
But so so Arkansas guy, you were in publishing, you
kind of you left that what madeyou want to get into startups
and then tell us a little bitabout the organization.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Sure, I'll give you kind of like the elevator pitch
of my Wolverine origin story.
So, as I mentioned, I was instate journalism in college,
actually was a news reporterright out of college.
So before getting intopublishing publishing did some
of the actual you know newspaperreporting kind of in that scene
for a couple of years, some ofthe actual you know newspaper
reporting kind of in that scenefor a couple of years, got into
(04:07):
publishing and Little Rock umwas doing a lot of of business
um coverage um from um from amagazine publishing perspective,
and just really fell in lovewith all the activity that was
going on in Arkansas in terms ofentrepreneurship, innovation,
uh, there just was a lot of heatand energy, specifically in
Northwest Arkansas where theuniversity is, and so I had the
(04:29):
opportunity, knew some folksthat were working for an
organization called StartupJunkie, a nonprofit organization
based there in Fayetteville,serves the broader Northwest
Arkansas region.
We say Northwest Arkansasbecause that's kind of from the
outside looking in.
You know you've got uh, severalcities that are kind of grown
together so we kind of lumpourselves all together there um
(04:50):
as an MSA um, our own little youknow oasis there Um, but knew
some folks that were working, uh, at startup junkie.
Um, they had a need for amarketing and events director
and I told people I'm arecovered journalist because I
jumped ship and sought that rolein marketing with no marketing
(05:12):
experience whatsoever and I havebeen there ever since and will
be five years next monthactually, and loving every bit
of it.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Nice, oh, I love it, man.
So does it now in Arkansas,like just in cincinnati, we got
tons of fortune 500 companieshere actually a lot for the size
of city that we have and ormetro we got like three million
people in the metro if youinclude dayton.
So I guess it's not that smallbut a lot of fortune 500
companies, not just regular ones, big ones, right, I mean kroger
(05:43):
, biggest grocery chain in thecountry.
You know, procter Gamble,biggest packaged foods company
in the country.
Ge, just separated into threecompanies and now one of their
companies, one of the newer ones, the biggest one is based here
doing GE aviation stuff.
How does a company like Walmartinteract in Arkansas with your
(06:04):
startup ecosystem?
How do they play, how do theyfactor in?
I would say, surprisingly well.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I mean, they are obviously the big boys in the
region.
I mean we consider ourselveslucky to have somebody like them
in our backyard because they dofund a lot of initiatives.
The Walton Family Foundation,actually of initiatives, um, the
Walton family foundation,actually that, um, you know, as
a by-product of the Waltonfamily, of course, from Walmart,
uh, wealth, they fund a lot ofour actual programmatic work
(06:33):
that we do through startupjunkie that allows us to, um,
provide resources andprogramming for startups and
founders, um, but I would say,the region itself, just the fact
that you've got, you know,walmart, um, you've got Tyson,
you've got JB Hunt, you've got abunch of folks that have
(06:54):
founded some very powerhouseenterprises in a corner of the
world.
That definitely wasn't what itis today, where you've got about
30 people a day moving into theregion.
There wasn't a lot going on upthere at the time.
You had the university, so Ithink that just that
entrepreneurial spirit has beenthere for a long time.
For that reason You've got, Iguess, kind of ingrained in the
(07:15):
DNA of folks there in the hillsof the Ozarks of just trying to,
you know, scratch out a livingand scratch out opportunity from
not a whole lot and I thinkthat has remained in the dna,
even with folks you know fromall over the country that have
moved there for walmart or forany of the other enterprises, um
(07:35):
, so I think that's somethingthat's really stuck.
But I would say they they areum, you know, as far as the
initiatives that they supportand a lot of that wealth they've
created in the regiondefinitely makes its way through
to the entrepreneurialcommunity community as a whole,
and you just think about thetype of talent that enterprises
(07:56):
like that will attract into theregion.
That eventually, you know, theydecide they want to do their
own thing.
They have a side hustle thatthey end up spinning out, you
know, into northwest Arkansasand start new businesses
themselves.
That's good.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Yeah, because I think a lot of people that work in
these organizations I mean, Iworked in the ad agency and it's
big here because P&G is thebiggest advertiser in the world
they have a lot of money tospend, so you always have these
like ad agencies that have somekind of a footprint here in town
.
In the same thing with Walmartit's such a big company with so
many things out there and you'vegot so many companies that feed
(08:32):
off of Walmart that there's,you know, financial management
companies and all kinds of stuffthat will come around because
Walmart's there.
You'll have these secondary typeof industry companies in there
and then the people that work inthose things and they see how
one of these big organizationsrun, they see how maybe their
small organization runs and theycome up with ideas,
(08:54):
efficiencies, ideas, things thatare going to make these
companies run better.
And a lot of times, like evenwith us with our startup, we
people were faxing agreements,real estate agreements back and
forth to each other forever andyou know, 90% of the agents
don't do any work.
10% of them do and most of themare older and they have systems
(09:16):
in place.
I mean, our technology replacedthe fax machine in real estate
and it was hard to convince that10%.
Right, but that's what you havein a lot of these big
businesses crazy inefficiencies,but in a way they get.
There's gatekeepers that liketo keep things the way they are.
They hate change.
Do you deal with a lot ofstartup people that that face
(09:41):
those barriers?
Speaker 2 (09:43):
I would say so, and we kind of have started to try
to bridge that gap through someprogramming of our own.
We actually facilitate a runand accelerator program called
Fuel.
It was originally a supplychain logistics accelerator
program.
Now we've gone to severaldifferent verticals.
We're running multiple cohortsa year.
(10:04):
But the idea with that programspecifically is that we would
bring in folks with backgroundknowledge, folks that have been
in the trenches, been on theother side of the table at
places like Walmart and helpstartups that we recruit from
all over the country tonorthwest Arkansas because they
want to be here, obviously tosell to enterprises like that,
and we help them get enterpriseready.
So that's where we try to lowerthe barrier for them, to kind
(10:28):
of make that process easier.
For us it's kind of, in ourfunders, more of an economic
development play.
If we can get folks here, setthem up to succeed in that way,
then they're more likely to stayin Northwest Arkansas, open a
local sales office, expand,maybe relocate their
headquarters entirely.
They're hiring locally and sothat's kind of where we fit in
(10:52):
that pipeline of resources.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Yeah, that totally makes sense.
Now, are you guys seeing asurge in population?
Or, I know for a fact, peopleare leaving cold weather states,
particularly New York.
I mean, you've got a lot ofproblems up there with politics,
among other things, taxes, youknow, et cetera, et cetera.
Just people don't want to bearound all that, all those
people.
Right, sometimes going to aplace like Arkansas feels better
(11:18):
, it clears your head, you don'thave all this nonsense.
But the fear, I think, for a lotof people is well, I'm no
longer in this big market withall these opportunities.
What they fail to realize issure, but you're also in a place
with a lot of competition.
It's not just you selling tothese companies.
Wouldn't you rather be a bigfish in a small pond and have
(11:39):
the backing of the state ofArkansas?
Because they're desperate.
They're more desperate, justlike Kentucky here, kentucky, I
would say, if I was opening astartup, kentucky would be
attractive place, becauseeveryone in the state of
Kentucky here supports eachother.
They're like, oh my God,somebody wants to come here and
and and open a business here.
(11:59):
Let's, let's throw everythingat them, right, exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
And is that?
Speaker 1 (12:03):
does that have the feeling in Arkansas?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Absolutely.
I feel like Arkansas andKentucky probably kindred
spirits in that regard.
Come one, come all.
Like I said, northwest Arkansasis experiencing, you know, 30
plus folks a day.
Last I saw the stats on that,their initiatives designed just
to bring folks, you know, or toencourage folks to come to
Northwest Arkansas, regardlessof kind of what their
backgrounds are Maybe they'rechefs, maybe they're, you know,
(12:29):
woodworkers or just variousdegrees of skill sets to come to
the area, just because you knowthe powers that be, know that
it takes all of those differenttypes of individuals and skill
sets in order to really create aquality of life in the region
that folks might have in otherlarger cities.
But there's an entity calledthe Northwest Arkansas Council
(12:49):
and a couple of years ago theystarted a program called
LifeWorks here where they wererecruiting folks from all over
the country to relocate toNorthwest Arkansas.
They were taking a handful ofcohorts, a handful of folks per
cohort, and they were givingindividuals ten thousand dollars
in a mountain bike to come tonorthwest arkansas.
Um, so not not a bad deal, uh,and of course they were
(13:11):
advertising that in places likeaustin and seattle and you know
folks where, where people arekind of experiencing some of
that excessive growth and and,um, you know, uh, we started to
get bandied about a couple ofyears ago that Fayetteville was
the next Austin.
Uh, and I took issue with thata little bit.
I said I don't want to be thenext Austin, I want to be the
(13:32):
first Fayetteville.
You know, I want to be the thefirst of its kind, the best of
its kind, rather than kind of acopy and paste to somewhere else
.
Um, it was funny, they, theyput up billboards in some of
those larger cities that wouldsay something along the lines of
you know, it's like Austin usedto be 20 years ago, but you can
afford your mortgage.
And just, you know, tongue incheek, little comments like that
(13:53):
.
I like that, yeah.
But I think what folksexperience when they do come
into the region from placesoutside of that and we saw a ton
of that during COVID, you know,when people realized that they
could work, you know,potentially from wherever, um,
folks were looking for placeslike that to where it was kind
of a little slower paced.
You know, higher quality oflife, um, um, you know, less
(14:15):
expensive than some of the otherplaces around the country, um,
and they were finding a placethat was incredibly welcoming of
them and their ideas and theirstartups and things of that
nature.
There's a very collaborativevibe.
I guess you could say inArkansas it's not zero sum.
Folks are willing to see otherpeople, even in their same
(14:39):
verticals, succeed.
It's kind of like a rising tideboats analogy.
Yeah, it's healthy.
It's a healthy attitude,absolutely, and we see that with
the folks that we work with.
So through our primary servicesto the region, we do one-on-one
consulting.
So we've got a team ofconsultants, third-party funded,
so everything we offer is free.
(15:01):
So we meet with folks anywherefrom idea stage on upwards, and
so we see about 2000 people comethrough the door a year just
wanting one on one consultingfor entrepreneurship.
You know, an idea they have andgiven that we've been doing that
for a few years now, we've kindof got a deep Rolodex of folks
who have, you know, folks thathave gone on and succeeded at
whatever they've been pursuing.
(15:22):
And so there are plenty oftimes where we'll connect
somebody, somebody who's wantingto build this or start that.
You know we'll help connectthem to somebody that's already
done it.
And from the outside, lookingin, you know that might be
someone who's creating acompetitor you know competitive
business or you know theircompetitor, but it's really not
more times than not thatindividual is going to be
(15:43):
incredibly welcoming.
Talk about some of the stuffthey overcame.
We bring people in to talkabout their entrepreneurial
journey and some of the battlesthey overcame on that journey,
and it's a lot morecollaborative than what we've
heard the horror stories we'veheard from folks that have come
in from other regions.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
And speaking of the otherregions, I mean you guys are not
far from a lot of big, decentsized place.
I mean you're kind of sittingin the middle of and if you guys
aren't familiar with NorthwestArkansas, I mean you're talking
Memphis, st Louis, kansas City,wichita, Oklahoma City, norman,
(16:24):
fort Worth, shreveport.
I mean there's a lot of placesthat are trying to do the same
thing you guys are doing, buthere you are right in the middle
, probably with a lower cost ofliving than most of those places
.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Absolutely, yeah, we are.
I mean, we're five or six hoursfrom anywhere it feels like.
And also, I think that's partof what has allowed a lot of the
you know, supply chainlogistics, the retail and all
the vendors associated with thathow they found a lot of success
because they are right in themiddle of everything, so it's
(16:53):
easier to.
I mean, if you're shippingsomething to a major city,
here's a spot where you haveaccess to a bunch of them within
a short time frame too.
So just from that perspectivealone, logistically it's kind of
an ideal spot.
So, yeah, totally, it lookslike it, yeah no-transcript.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Cherokee Creek, choctaw, like I mean, they're
all kind of right around youguys as well.
Do you guys see someentrepreneurship coming out of
those communities?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
We don't necessarily work, so that's kind of more so
on the Oklahoma side of theborder, which is close to us.
So we don't work too closelywith them just because of the
way our grant structures andfunding is associated
specifically to the counties inthe region that we're in.
However, we have done some work, some contract work, to just
kind of do you know some someentrepreneurial assessments with
(18:11):
Tahlequah in Oklahoma a fewyears ago, and that's the
capital of Cherokee nation, uh,there, which is just, you know,
maybe two hours away from us, um, and they've got a lot of
activity going on too.
There's a lot of interest, youknow.
They're a lot of kind of umidea sharing and, uh things of
that nature to kind of figureout, taking that playbook and
helping them kind of establishsome activity there.
(18:33):
So there's definitely a lot ofinterest and a lot of potential
activity that.
So I'm sure there's going to besome great things coming out of
that area.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Yeah, because I've seen even, you know, crossing
borders like, again, I'm inanother state, but our states,
you know, they work together incertain ways and they don't work
together in certain ways, right, but it'd be interesting to do
something there.
I just saw there's a companythat builds modular homes, which
these tiny homes, or functional, I mean, they don't even look
like trailers anymore.
(19:01):
I mean, these things look likelittle houses, right, and
they're more affordable built infactories.
There was a gentleman he movedout to I think it was in New
Mexico, one of the cities there,and there was a gentleman he
moved out to I think it was inNew Mexico, one of the cities
there, and there was areservation close to where they
were and he said why don't weopen a factory there?
And some of those people neededhouses.
So these guys are, they'rebuilding their own houses now
(19:22):
while they're working at thisfactory.
And it was an interestingcollaboration.
I thought that was, you know,it was a beneficial thing and it
was like using capitalism forsomething good for everybody,
right, and I was like that's,that's kind of smart and the
fact that you're that close tothat community and, uh, you know
, have the ability to interactwith them.
I thought that'd be kind ofpowerful, um, but now what?
(19:44):
What are you seeing as far asentrepreneurship in general,
outside of just the Arkansasthing?
I've noticed and I've actuallysaw a chart the other day the
last 40 years entrepreneurship'sactually been in a decline in
America for some reason.
Not sure exactly why.
I cannot recall what theproblem was, but we're kind of
(20:05):
in a recession right now.
I mean, people are a littlescared to spend money there's.
You know, the economy seems tokind of be in a decline.
Some numbers just came out.
Gdp numbers came out lower thanexpected.
Who knows how long this isgoing to last.
Interest rates are crazy high,which means money is expensive.
You know, borrowing money isexpensive, not just for startups
(20:26):
, who may want to get a loan tokick off their idea, but money
for investors.
Sometimes people use cheapmoney to invest in startups.
What are you seeing right nowin the entrepreneurial world?
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yeah, raising money is difficult, I think for
anybody.
I know to an extent it shouldbe difficult, but I think it's
especially difficult right nowand it's something that we've
been trying to work on inArkansas Northwest arkansas, you
think about kind of anecosystem and the pillars that
kind of hold it up as it grows.
Um, our venture capital pillaris probably a two by four um in
(21:01):
northwest arkansas now.
So we've been working on tryingto kind of uh build that out a
little bit.
There's not a ton of uh venturecapitalists in in our region,
um, so we welcome those that arelistening and would like to
come see some of the deal flowthat we've got going on.
Um, but I would say a lot ofthat is associated with just
kind of a sense of a false senseof security, if I were to say.
(21:21):
But a sense of security when itcomes to, um, you know, a
traditional nine to five um, youknow, business job situation,
uh, when at Startup Junkie wewere going to career fairs at
the university, we'd set up shopand we kind of, you know, just
carrying the flag forentrepreneurship and collecting
resumes for some of the startupsthat are clients of ours, and
(21:43):
we didn't see a lot of activity.
You know folks were lining upto talk to the folks from
corporate offices you know thebig corporate offices that we
have in our region, becausethere was just this.
You know they go throughbusiness school and business
school tells them this is howthe world works and you know
they're lining up to get some ofthose comfortable, secure
(22:05):
corporate jobs.
I think COVID shifted some ofthat in our region specifically.
You know, I think people realizethat no job is secure, so that,
like I said, there's a falsesense of security.
So a lot of folks were senthome during that period or were
at home and just thought, hey,there's something better than
this.
And so I don't know that.
(22:26):
We've seen, actually we've seenan increase regionally in
entrepreneurship, and I don'tknow if that's just because it
seems a little more tangible,you know, just because of the
activity of the last few yearsand just the various things and
what society has kind of pushedit that direction.
But we've seen kind of anincrease which is exciting.
(22:49):
We went from I mentioned wemeet with about 2000 folks a
year for one-on-one consulting.
That's up from about five to800 four years ago.
And so just that pace of folksinterested in doing something,
whether or not they actuallypursue it or run it down or quit
their day jobs over it, it'sanother thing.
(23:09):
But that level of interest inpursuing entrepreneurship I
think is is kind of increasing,maybe on, you know, at a micro
level, but still exciting to see.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Yeah, I mean, how is the northwest Arkansas area when
it comes to that mindset ofentrepreneurship?
Where are you guys at right now?
Do you still have that?
You know?
Oh, I got to go work a job atnine to five and you know, do
this whole thing?
Or do you?
Are you starting to see, evenat the universities where you
(23:42):
used to have that mentality?
I'm at university right nowprepping for a job.
To you know what?
Maybe maybe I don't want a job.
This economy kind of seems alittle crappy.
To you know what?
Maybe I don't want a job.
This economy kind of seems alittle crappy.
Maybe I'm prepping to build abusiness and it sounds like you
guys are there for that.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Yeah, we're absolutely there for that and we
work pretty closely with theuniversity and some of their
programming too and kind of workin lockstep for the students
that do think that way.
I think where you know, I can'treally speak for a lot of other
universities because I onlywent to one, but I feel like the
sense is that they're kind ofcreating a product in that
student.
You know it's a factory forproducing a product and that
(24:21):
product is an employee of a youknow a corporate.
But what the University ofArkansas has done a really good
job of creating a track toencourage and prepare folks that
are interested inentrepreneurship and building
their own business, and so wework really closely with that
division.
Part of that program is aninternship division where
(24:42):
students can go and work instartups and it's subsidized.
So you know they're getting tointern and help build, you know,
a business with a founder whilethey're in school and you know
getting graded for for helpingother entrepreneurs who are
actually building a business.
So it's a super cool programthat we've we've been a part of
and support as much as we canbecause it is.
(25:04):
I mean it's exciting to seebecause those students come from
all sorts of backgrounds.
I mean we'll get a list of thestudents that have applied and
are going through the programand they'll have their major
listed beside them.
You know, and at first it wasall folks that were kind of you
know, interested in smallbusiness, their business school
students, um, and now you'reseeing you know engineering
students, students you know fromjournal, journalism students,
(25:25):
you know students from you knowarts and you know bachelor of
arts backgrounds and things ofthat nature, all just interested
in entrepreneurship.
Just because I feel like it's alittle more palpable now that
it's kind of you know,increasing in the region.
But it's exciting to see thosestudents with various
backgrounds go through thatprogram and either go and take a
(25:46):
role, end up being maybe thefirst employee of one of those
startups that they are interningfor, or jumping in
entrepreneurship entirely afterthat program, after graduating.
So it's definitely kind ofseeding interest.
And then we work with, you know, the high schools, various
schools in the region too, justto kind of demonstrate this as a
(26:07):
very viable option for thosewho are willing to do the work,
cause it's not easy, those whoare willing to take the take,
who are willing to do the work,um, cause it's not easy.
Those who are willing to takethe take the leap and then do
the work.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Well, how many of those students and and you know
somebody who's been in a startupit just completely changes your
mindset and you build a set ofskills working in one of those
things Cause you wear so manyhats right, you got to
understand several differentthings.
You got to understand I meanyou may be doing marketing one
day, design the next day, andyou may be asked to get into the
(26:38):
website and start doing somecoding, uh, or go to a meeting.
I mean there's so manydifferent things that you can be
involved in with a startup.
Do you see this?
Even even in the failedstartups, do you see this
benefiting their career, thepeople that were involved?
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Well, it could go either way, I would.
I would naturally say yesbecause I mean for the folks
that we hire at Startup Junkieand we're a pretty lean team, we
try to operate like a startupourselves.
We hire at Startup Junkie andwe're a pretty lean team, we try
to operate like a startupourselves and I tell people that
Startup Junkie is kind of likea career accelerator in and of
itself.
Folks that have worked herehave gone on to work in awesome
places just because of the skillsets they've acquired from
(27:18):
being able to do a little bit ofeverything.
But also the folks that reallyget involved in entrepreneurship
our founder, jeff Emmerine.
He's a serial entrepreneur andfounded Startup Junkie about 15
years ago.
He jokes that he's unhirable.
That's 100 percent.
Yep, I would be unhirable, justbecause you know he's he.
(27:39):
He calls himself a shiny objectguy.
You know it's always lookingfor opportunity and wanting to
fix things and wants the abilityin the autonomy to fix things.
So I think there it could goone of both ways.
You've got folks that are shinyobject folks and you know they
can't sit still and do whatthey're told.
They're going to want to go fixproblems.
(27:59):
And you've got folks that youknow, they become Swiss army
knives because of their time ata startup in the trenches, and
therefore they can go be a Swissarmy knives because of their
time at a startup, um, in thetrenches, and therefore they can
go be a Swiss army knife,effectively, for somebody else.
So I think it really is thereare two types of folks and um,
so it could go both.
Uh, go either way.
I would say, though, if youfind in our hiring and you find
(28:20):
a Swiss army knife like thatthat has can wear all the hats,
hire them.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Yeah, yeah, it's really really hard to find and I
would say, yeah, probably thebest place to look would be in
like a startup community orsomebody who's been at a startup
and you know what I've noticedtoo there's a lot less say like
unicorn companies popping upbecause you have a lot of aqua
hires from these biggercompanies.
So even if you're say you'relooking for a job or whatever,
(28:46):
and you decide I'm going to goto the startup route, you may
end up in a big company becausethey are looking for innovation,
they're looking for people whothink outside the box and they
realize that you do have a lotof Swiss army knife people in
these startups and if it's, youknow, remotely attached to their
industry, somehow they may goin and scoop it up.
I mean, I've seen, I've seencompanies like Kroger buy
(29:07):
FinTech companies.
Right, you're like what thehell is that?
What does that got to do with,uh, with what Kroger's doing?
But they'll, they.
They have a vision, you justnever know and they'll find a
use for it, but really they'rebuying the team.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Absolutely, and that's I mean.
There's a lot of opportunitythere.
I think, from our perspectivetoo and for some of the folks
we've worked with from aconsulting standpoint, of being
able to go in and kind of coachcorporate teams on how to think
more like a startup.
I think there's kind of a gapthat can be bridged, whether
you're outsourcing it by goingand acquiring a company to bring
(29:43):
in those folks, or even justkind of bringing in some
assistance folks that kind ofthink like that every day and,
um, you know, bring that to your, your um decision-making team
and kind of trying to reshapehow they're approaching problems
and thinking about that stuff.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
What gets you excited about?
What you guys are doing Likewhat?
What is it that gets youexcited about?
What you see every day when yougo into work?
What wakes you up in themorning?
Speaker 2 (30:09):
I think right now.
So it's different all the time,just because, by virtue of all
the different things that we'reworking on, one of the things I
get most excited about now isone of our programs that we
facilitate.
That's a micro lending programthrough Kiva, which is an
international nonprofit, but wehave a hub here and we just
(30:29):
surpassed over a million dollarslent through that program Zero
interest, zero fees inincrements of twenty five
dollars or more.
You don't have to have a creditscore.
You could have a checkeredcredit passed.
The idea is to get capital tofolks who wouldn't otherwise be
able to walk into a bank and geta loan for a griddle for their
(30:50):
boot truck.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Which is most people.
Let's be honest these banksdon't want to lend any money to
you unless you've got money.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
And the folks that cover this program.
They are a little moretraditional brick and mortar
small business rather than someof the tech enabled, um scalable
ventures that we're alsoworking with.
So think about, you know, boottruck um owner operator that
needs a new griddle, orbarbershop needs a new chair, um
, sandwich shop needs a new sign, that kind of thing.
(31:18):
Um, and that funding, uh, orthose loans, are coming through
the community Um, you knowthey're supporting a member of
the community and then thatsmall business owner is then
putting that into their businessand it's so palpable you can
see the impact it has on themimmediately and then you can
just see them pouring back intothat community that supported
(31:39):
them.
So that gets me excited to seethat Just kind of the success of
that program.
And the repayment rate on thoseloans, um, last I checked was
about 83 percent um, and I knowsome banks would love to have a
repayment rate on loans um over80 percent um, and, like I said,
these are folks that have, youknow, no credit score or a
(32:00):
really bad credit score, um, butI think it comes with wanting
to give back to the folks thatgave back to them.
That's right, Kind of fullcircle.
I think also just a lot of theactivity with our accelerator
programming too.
We're in the middle of a healthtech cohort.
We've got companies from allover the world here in Northwest
(32:20):
Arkansas for this program andjust the opportunity to see them
succeed and hope that some ofthem stay.
We've seen probably 20, 30percent of the companies that
come to that program stay.
Um, just excited to see thatand just see the growth of those
companies and the potential ofnew hires, uh, locally, um, and
just to see them light up whenthey get those meetings.
(32:41):
You know they kind of toil awayin some of the coastal cities
that they've been working in fora long time and then to come
here and then have theopportunity to get access to a
decision maker within the firstweek.
Or they're going on a bike ridewith somebody in the C-suite
from an enterprise they'repursuing and just to see that
light bulb come on like wait, Ican have that here.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Caleb, who are you guys looking for?
So I've noticed that there's alot of baby boomer businesses
out here in industries that weneed.
So, for instance, hvac,plumbing, electrical I mean
we're not going to build anyaffordable housing anytime soon
if you have no electricians,right?
So these businesses are tryingto sell.
I've seen them on like placeslike Biz Buy Sell.
They're profitable businesses,cash flow and netting you know
(33:29):
100 200 000 a year.
Are you guys looking for folkslike that are looking to buy
those businesses, or encouragingpeople to buy cash flowing
businesses like that and workingwith them on helping them get
loans and things like you justmentioned about kiva?
Uh, or are you guys like, hey,look, here's our number one
target.
We want tech businesses.
Scalable tech businesses aregoing to sell for a bill, maybe
(33:49):
secondary.
We want to find these peoplelike what is yours, what are
your personas that you'relooking for?
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Honestly, all comers.
We don't necessarily have kindof an ideal customer profile.
When it comes to our clientbase, we are very top of the
funnel, um, just by nature ofhow we were founded.
So I mentioned kind of havingall those consulting meetings
where, where folks are coming inat idea stage, I would say most
of our clients are idea stage,um, and we don't turn anybody
(34:19):
away.
So, um, really, I mean the fullspectrum we don't see a lot of
activity from folks that arelooking to buy businesses or
folks that are trying to sellbusinesses Not sure why, but
don't get a ton of those.
But we do like to work with veryscalable tech businesses.
Just because the potential for,you know, growing in the region
and kind of seeding that nextbig enterprise, we do work with
(34:42):
those and that's part of ouraccelerated program is pursuing
those specifically for thatprogram.
But for, as a whole, you know,startup junkie as a whole, the
ultimate goal is just to lowerbarriers to entrepreneurship, to
get folks started in throughthe door and to be able to you
know they might have a sidehustle and and they might not
(35:05):
even want to, you know, scale itand quit their day job and, you
know, exit it, you know, get abig check one day.
Maybe they just want to do thatside hustle forever and and and
yeah, that's perfectly fine,we'll help them, you know, with
anything we can help them with.
And then we get folks that youknow they are.
That is the goal, is to kind ofbuild up a very sustainable
(35:26):
business and and then exit itand then retire into the sunset.
We've seen those folks too.
So, like I said, we take allcomers, because I think it takes
all of those types ofentrepreneurs to really build a
solid tier sustainable ecosystemto your sustainable ecosystem.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
I agree, I agree, and it sounds like you guys are
very accommodating, more so thansome of the incubators and
places that I've seen.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
We see some interesting stuff.
Oh, I'm sure you guys get somecrazy ideas.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
But the fact that you're going to listen, I mean.
God bless you guys for doingthat.
So how do people reach out toyou?
How do they find theorganization?
Can they email you directly, oris there somebody better?
What should they do?
Speaker 2 (36:10):
They're more than welcome to email me.
My email is Caleb C-A-L-E-B atstartupjunkieorg.
Actually, on our website,there's a portal right there at
the front, right as you log on.
That will connect you withsomebody if you're interested in
meeting with us.
Like I said, no cost for folksto to connect with us to take
consulting meetings.
We don't charge for anything.
We're nonprofit, uh funded todo this work.
(36:30):
Um, I would encourage folks toto check us out and give us a
shout if there's anything wecould help them with, whether
they're an entrepreneur or youknow, maybe they're a
like-minded organization thatwants to do similar work and,
you know, just wants to shareideas.
Uh, we welcome that too.
And if they're in the region,we do about 250 events a year as
(36:50):
well.
Uh intended to bring folkstogether, um to say uh, motivate
, inspirate and collaborate.
So, um, you know we do do a lotof those, uh, so encourage
folks to come.
Come if they're nearby, close.
Like I said, we're in themiddle of everything, so come
and see us sometime.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Well, and I love your headline on the website
improving lives throughinnovation and entrepreneurship
and that is very true.
That's what I've experiencedbeing an entrepreneur and seeing
other entrepreneurs and itdefinitely improves people's
lives and it has a multiplyingeffect.
I will tell you that right now.
So, caleb, I really appreciateit.
Man, this has been great.
I love talking to guys like youand God bless you for doing
(37:30):
this kind of work, and it isgoing to have effects years
beyond you, I would say.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Well, I appreciate the opportunity.
Thank you for having me on.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Thanks.
Thanks for joining us on thisweek's episode of side hustle
city.
Well, you've heard from ourguests.
Now let's hear from you.
Join our community on Facebook,side hustle city.
It's a group where people shareideas, share their
inspirational stories andmotivate each other to be
successful and turn their sidehustle into their main hustle.
We'll see you there and we'llsee you next week on the show.
(38:01):
Thank you.
Welcome to Side Hustle City and thanks for
joining us.
Our goal is to help you connectto real people who found
success turning their sidehustle into a main hustle, and
we hope you can too.
I'm Adam Kaler.
I'm joined by Kyle Stevie, myco-host.
Let's get started, all right.
(00:24):
Welcome back everybody to theSide Hustle City podcast Today,
special guest from startupjunkie Caleb Talley.
Caleb, thanks for being on theshow, man.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well, I appreciate the invite.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Glad to be here.
Yeah, man, we're going to talksome startups today.
We're going to get peoplepumped up about, you know,
positivity and helping peopleget their company idea off the
ground and what they need andall that good stuff.
But first, Caleb, I want tostart with your background.
You started out in sounds likethe publishing industry.
You're down in Arkansas andmaybe not the first place people
(00:57):
think of when they thinkstartups.
Right.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, I wouldn't think so and, honestly, when I
was going through the College ofthe University of Arkansas,
even in school, I graduated in2015 and studied print
journalism and I might have beenone of a handful of people that
were even in a print journalismtrack at the time.
You know the professor pullsthe the full intro auditorium
(01:22):
full of people and we, you know,meagerly raise our hand in the
back as all the broadcastjournalists you know, kind of
make their way to the front.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yeah, yeah, so what is it like?
And at least you're in the SEC,I mean, you've got that going
for you too.
That's a fact, yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Basketball is about to get a lot better here in
Arkansas, ok.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Sorry for the fans in Kentucky.
Well, we're UC fans over here.
So we're moderate at football,I would say, and we're pretty
good at basketball and it'sgoing to get better as well.
We got some guys coming in.
This next year is going to beall right.
We just missed the tournament,but it's going to be looking
good.
And anytime you guys can beatthe rest of the SEC schools, I'm
all for it.
That's our plan at least beatthe rest of the sec schools.
(02:05):
I'm all for it, like that's ourplan at least.
I'd like to see some more.
I'd like to see some more, um,some more teams in the sec start
winning stuff.
I mean kentucky, arkansas,tennessee I mean you're always
good.
I mean you could beat 98 ofevery other college football
program.
But it's just you've got these,these guys at the top who seem
to monopolize everything, andthere's three or four programs
in the SEC.
Everybody knows who I'm talkingabout.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Some of you are listening right now that just
they.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
what, for whatever reason, they've got these
recruits and they just, I don'tknow, they just they're falling
in love with these programs andthey just got machines, and it's
how do you read success?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
But we do a good job of beating up on each other in
the SEC, that's right.
No, we do do a good job of that, that's for sure.
But we're excited about youknow.
Next, we just missed thetournament too, had a pretty
down season, but you know, wegot Coach Cal and we're excited
for next season.
Yeah, it's got a lot ofoptimism.
Yeah, well, maybe not as much,but hey, we're we're always a
little bright-eyed optimism whenit comes to, you know, august
(03:02):
and fall.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Well, you'll always be in the recruiting
conversation with Coach Cal,that's a guarantee.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
He's got connections and that's what you need.
I mean, that's really what youneed.
So good luck with that.
And yeah, I respect your SECand I respect all the schools in
the SEC and just a factory andwe're going to find out if we
get any Arkansas guys in thedraft today up here in
Cincinnati I'd be.
I don't know who's out there,but you never know, we might get
(03:29):
some guys.
Maybe not, maybe, not Maybe.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
I have a better chance to get some UC guys on
the team.
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
But so so Arkansas guy, you were in publishing, you
kind of you left that what madeyou want to get into startups
and then tell us a little bitabout the organization.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Sure, I'll give you kind of like the elevator pitch
of my Wolverine origin story.
So, as I mentioned, I was instate journalism in college,
actually was a news reporterright out of college.
So before getting intopublishing publishing did some
of the actual you know newspaperreporting kind of in that scene
for a couple of years, some ofthe actual you know newspaper
reporting kind of in that scenefor a couple of years, got into
(04:07):
publishing and Little Rock umwas doing a lot of of business
um coverage um from um from amagazine publishing perspective,
and just really fell in lovewith all the activity that was
going on in Arkansas in terms ofentrepreneurship, innovation,
uh, there just was a lot of heatand energy, specifically in
Northwest Arkansas where theuniversity is, and so I had the
(04:29):
opportunity, knew some folksthat were working for an
organization called StartupJunkie, a nonprofit organization
based there in Fayetteville,serves the broader Northwest
Arkansas region.
We say Northwest Arkansasbecause that's kind of from the
outside looking in.
You know you've got uh, severalcities that are kind of grown
together so we kind of lumpourselves all together there um
(04:50):
as an MSA um, our own little youknow oasis there Um, but knew
some folks that were working, uh, at startup junkie.
Um, they had a need for amarketing and events director
and I told people I'm arecovered journalist because I
jumped ship and sought that rolein marketing with no marketing
(05:12):
experience whatsoever and I havebeen there ever since and will
be five years next monthactually, and loving every bit
of it.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Nice, oh, I love it, man.
So does it now in Arkansas,like just in cincinnati, we got
tons of fortune 500 companieshere actually a lot for the size
of city that we have and ormetro we got like three million
people in the metro if youinclude dayton.
So I guess it's not that smallbut a lot of fortune 500
companies, not just regular ones, big ones, right, I mean kroger
(05:43):
, biggest grocery chain in thecountry.
You know, procter Gamble,biggest packaged foods company
in the country.
Ge, just separated into threecompanies and now one of their
companies, one of the newer ones, the biggest one is based here
doing GE aviation stuff.
How does a company like Walmartinteract in Arkansas with your
(06:04):
startup ecosystem?
How do they play, how do theyfactor in?
I would say, surprisingly well.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I mean, they are obviously the big boys in the
region.
I mean we consider ourselveslucky to have somebody like them
in our backyard because they dofund a lot of initiatives.
The Walton Family Foundation,actually of initiatives, um, the
Walton family foundation,actually that, um, you know, as
a by-product of the Waltonfamily, of course, from Walmart,
uh, wealth, they fund a lot ofour actual programmatic work
(06:33):
that we do through startupjunkie that allows us to, um,
provide resources andprogramming for startups and
founders, um, but I would say,the region itself, just the fact
that you've got, you know,walmart, um, you've got Tyson,
you've got JB Hunt, you've got abunch of folks that have
(06:54):
founded some very powerhouseenterprises in a corner of the
world.
That definitely wasn't what itis today, where you've got about
30 people a day moving into theregion.
There wasn't a lot going on upthere at the time.
You had the university, so Ithink that just that
entrepreneurial spirit has beenthere for a long time.
For that reason You've got, Iguess, kind of ingrained in the
(07:15):
DNA of folks there in the hillsof the Ozarks of just trying to,
you know, scratch out a livingand scratch out opportunity from
not a whole lot and I thinkthat has remained in the dna,
even with folks you know fromall over the country that have
moved there for walmart or forany of the other enterprises, um
(07:35):
, so I think that's somethingthat's really stuck.
But I would say they they areum, you know, as far as the
initiatives that they supportand a lot of that wealth they've
created in the regiondefinitely makes its way through
to the entrepreneurialcommunity community as a whole,
and you just think about thetype of talent that enterprises
(07:56):
like that will attract into theregion.
That eventually, you know, theydecide they want to do their
own thing.
They have a side hustle thatthey end up spinning out, you
know, into northwest Arkansasand start new businesses
themselves.
That's good.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Yeah, because I think a lot of people that work in
these organizations I mean, Iworked in the ad agency and it's
big here because P&G is thebiggest advertiser in the world
they have a lot of money tospend, so you always have these
like ad agencies that have somekind of a footprint here in town
.
In the same thing with Walmartit's such a big company with so
many things out there and you'vegot so many companies that feed
(08:32):
off of Walmart that there's,you know, financial management
companies and all kinds of stuffthat will come around because
Walmart's there.
You'll have these secondary typeof industry companies in there
and then the people that work inthose things and they see how
one of these big organizationsrun, they see how maybe their
small organization runs and theycome up with ideas,
(08:54):
efficiencies, ideas, things thatare going to make these
companies run better.
And a lot of times, like evenwith us with our startup, we
people were faxing agreements,real estate agreements back and
forth to each other forever andyou know, 90% of the agents
don't do any work.
10% of them do and most of themare older and they have systems
(09:16):
in place.
I mean, our technology replacedthe fax machine in real estate
and it was hard to convince that10%.
Right, but that's what you havein a lot of these big
businesses crazy inefficiencies,but in a way they get.
There's gatekeepers that liketo keep things the way they are.
They hate change.
Do you deal with a lot ofstartup people that that face
(09:41):
those barriers?
Speaker 2 (09:43):
I would say so, and we kind of have started to try
to bridge that gap through someprogramming of our own.
We actually facilitate a runand accelerator program called
Fuel.
It was originally a supplychain logistics accelerator
program.
Now we've gone to severaldifferent verticals.
We're running multiple cohortsa year.
(10:04):
But the idea with that programspecifically is that we would
bring in folks with backgroundknowledge, folks that have been
in the trenches, been on theother side of the table at
places like Walmart and helpstartups that we recruit from
all over the country tonorthwest Arkansas because they
want to be here, obviously tosell to enterprises like that,
and we help them get enterpriseready.
So that's where we try to lowerthe barrier for them, to kind
(10:28):
of make that process easier.
For us it's kind of, in ourfunders, more of an economic
development play.
If we can get folks here, setthem up to succeed in that way,
then they're more likely to stayin Northwest Arkansas, open a
local sales office, expand,maybe relocate their
headquarters entirely.
They're hiring locally and sothat's kind of where we fit in
(10:52):
that pipeline of resources.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Yeah, that totally makes sense.
Now, are you guys seeing asurge in population?
Or, I know for a fact, peopleare leaving cold weather states,
particularly New York.
I mean, you've got a lot ofproblems up there with politics,
among other things, taxes, youknow, et cetera, et cetera.
Just people don't want to bearound all that, all those
people.
Right, sometimes going to aplace like Arkansas feels better
(11:18):
, it clears your head, you don'thave all this nonsense.
But the fear, I think, for a lotof people is well, I'm no
longer in this big market withall these opportunities.
What they fail to realize issure, but you're also in a place
with a lot of competition.
It's not just you selling tothese companies.
Wouldn't you rather be a bigfish in a small pond and have
(11:39):
the backing of the state ofArkansas?
Because they're desperate.
They're more desperate, justlike Kentucky here, kentucky, I
would say, if I was opening astartup, kentucky would be
attractive place, becauseeveryone in the state of
Kentucky here supports eachother.
They're like, oh my God,somebody wants to come here and
and and open a business here.
(11:59):
Let's, let's throw everythingat them, right, exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
And is that?
Speaker 1 (12:03):
does that have the feeling in Arkansas?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Absolutely.
I feel like Arkansas andKentucky probably kindred
spirits in that regard.
Come one, come all.
Like I said, northwest Arkansasis experiencing, you know, 30
plus folks a day.
Last I saw the stats on that,their initiatives designed just
to bring folks, you know, or toencourage folks to come to
Northwest Arkansas, regardlessof kind of what their
backgrounds are Maybe they'rechefs, maybe they're, you know,
(12:29):
woodworkers or just variousdegrees of skill sets to come to
the area, just because you knowthe powers that be, know that
it takes all of those differenttypes of individuals and skill
sets in order to really create aquality of life in the region
that folks might have in otherlarger cities.
But there's an entity calledthe Northwest Arkansas Council
(12:49):
and a couple of years ago theystarted a program called
LifeWorks here where they wererecruiting folks from all over
the country to relocate toNorthwest Arkansas.
They were taking a handful ofcohorts, a handful of folks per
cohort, and they were givingindividuals ten thousand dollars
in a mountain bike to come tonorthwest arkansas.
Um, so not not a bad deal, uh,and of course they were
(13:11):
advertising that in places likeaustin and seattle and you know
folks where, where people arekind of experiencing some of
that excessive growth and and,um, you know, uh, we started to
get bandied about a couple ofyears ago that Fayetteville was
the next Austin.
Uh, and I took issue with thata little bit.
I said I don't want to be thenext Austin, I want to be the
(13:32):
first Fayetteville.
You know, I want to be the thefirst of its kind, the best of
its kind, rather than kind of acopy and paste to somewhere else
.
Um, it was funny, they, theyput up billboards in some of
those larger cities that wouldsay something along the lines of
you know, it's like Austin usedto be 20 years ago, but you can
afford your mortgage.
And just, you know, tongue incheek, little comments like that
(13:53):
.
I like that, yeah.
But I think what folksexperience when they do come
into the region from placesoutside of that and we saw a ton
of that during COVID, you know,when people realized that they
could work, you know,potentially from wherever, um,
folks were looking for placeslike that to where it was kind
of a little slower paced.
You know, higher quality oflife, um, um, you know, less
(14:15):
expensive than some of the otherplaces around the country, um,
and they were finding a placethat was incredibly welcoming of
them and their ideas and theirstartups and things of that
nature.
There's a very collaborativevibe.
I guess you could say inArkansas it's not zero sum.
Folks are willing to see otherpeople, even in their same
(14:39):
verticals, succeed.
It's kind of like a rising tideboats analogy.
Yeah, it's healthy.
It's a healthy attitude,absolutely, and we see that with
the folks that we work with.
So through our primary servicesto the region, we do one-on-one
consulting.
So we've got a team ofconsultants, third-party funded,
so everything we offer is free.
(15:01):
So we meet with folks anywherefrom idea stage on upwards, and
so we see about 2000 people comethrough the door a year just
wanting one on one consultingfor entrepreneurship.
You know, an idea they have andgiven that we've been doing that
for a few years now, we've kindof got a deep Rolodex of folks
who have, you know, folks thathave gone on and succeeded at
whatever they've been pursuing.
(15:22):
And so there are plenty oftimes where we'll connect
somebody, somebody who's wantingto build this or start that.
You know we'll help connectthem to somebody that's already
done it.
And from the outside, lookingin, you know that might be
someone who's creating acompetitor you know competitive
business or you know theircompetitor, but it's really not
more times than not thatindividual is going to be
(15:43):
incredibly welcoming.
Talk about some of the stuffthey overcame.
We bring people in to talkabout their entrepreneurial
journey and some of the battlesthey overcame on that journey,
and it's a lot morecollaborative than what we've
heard the horror stories we'veheard from folks that have come
in from other regions.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
And speaking of the otherregions, I mean you guys are not
far from a lot of big, decentsized place.
I mean you're kind of sittingin the middle of and if you guys
aren't familiar with NorthwestArkansas, I mean you're talking
Memphis, st Louis, kansas City,wichita, Oklahoma City, norman,
(16:24):
fort Worth, shreveport.
I mean there's a lot of placesthat are trying to do the same
thing you guys are doing, buthere you are right in the middle
, probably with a lower cost ofliving than most of those places
.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Absolutely, yeah, we are.
I mean, we're five or six hoursfrom anywhere it feels like.
And also, I think that's partof what has allowed a lot of the
you know, supply chainlogistics, the retail and all
the vendors associated with thathow they found a lot of success
because they are right in themiddle of everything, so it's
(16:53):
easier to.
I mean, if you're shippingsomething to a major city,
here's a spot where you haveaccess to a bunch of them within
a short time frame too.
So just from that perspectivealone, logistically it's kind of
an ideal spot.
So, yeah, totally, it lookslike it, yeah no-transcript.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Cherokee Creek, choctaw, like I mean, they're
all kind of right around youguys as well.
Do you guys see someentrepreneurship coming out of
those communities?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
We don't necessarily work, so that's kind of more so
on the Oklahoma side of theborder, which is close to us.
So we don't work too closelywith them just because of the
way our grant structures andfunding is associated
specifically to the counties inthe region that we're in.
However, we have done some work, some contract work, to just
kind of do you know some someentrepreneurial assessments with
(18:11):
Tahlequah in Oklahoma a fewyears ago, and that's the
capital of Cherokee nation, uh,there, which is just, you know,
maybe two hours away from us, um, and they've got a lot of
activity going on too.
There's a lot of interest, youknow.
They're a lot of kind of umidea sharing and, uh things of
that nature to kind of figureout, taking that playbook and
helping them kind of establishsome activity there.
(18:33):
So there's definitely a lot ofinterest and a lot of potential
activity that.
So I'm sure there's going to besome great things coming out of
that area.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Yeah, because I've seen even, you know, crossing
borders like, again, I'm inanother state, but our states,
you know, they work together incertain ways and they don't work
together in certain ways, right, but it'd be interesting to do
something there.
I just saw there's a companythat builds modular homes, which
these tiny homes, or functional, I mean, they don't even look
like trailers anymore.
(19:01):
I mean, these things look likelittle houses, right, and
they're more affordable built infactories.
There was a gentleman he movedout to I think it was in New
Mexico, one of the cities there,and there was a gentleman he
moved out to I think it was inNew Mexico, one of the cities
there, and there was areservation close to where they
were and he said why don't weopen a factory there?
And some of those people neededhouses.
So these guys are, they'rebuilding their own houses now
(19:22):
while they're working at thisfactory.
And it was an interestingcollaboration.
I thought that was, you know,it was a beneficial thing and it
was like using capitalism forsomething good for everybody,
right, and I was like that's,that's kind of smart and the
fact that you're that close tothat community and, uh, you know
, have the ability to interactwith them.
I thought that'd be kind ofpowerful, um, but now what?
(19:44):
What are you seeing as far asentrepreneurship in general,
outside of just the Arkansasthing?
I've noticed and I've actuallysaw a chart the other day the
last 40 years entrepreneurship'sactually been in a decline in
America for some reason.
Not sure exactly why.
I cannot recall what theproblem was, but we're kind of
(20:05):
in a recession right now.
I mean, people are a littlescared to spend money there's.
You know, the economy seems tokind of be in a decline.
Some numbers just came out.
Gdp numbers came out lower thanexpected.
Who knows how long this isgoing to last.
Interest rates are crazy high,which means money is expensive.
You know, borrowing money isexpensive, not just for startups
(20:26):
, who may want to get a loan tokick off their idea, but money
for investors.
Sometimes people use cheapmoney to invest in startups.
What are you seeing right nowin the entrepreneurial world?
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yeah, raising money is difficult, I think for
anybody.
I know to an extent it shouldbe difficult, but I think it's
especially difficult right nowand it's something that we've
been trying to work on inArkansas Northwest arkansas, you
think about kind of anecosystem and the pillars that
kind of hold it up as it grows.
Um, our venture capital pillaris probably a two by four um in
(21:01):
northwest arkansas now.
So we've been working on tryingto kind of uh build that out a
little bit.
There's not a ton of uh venturecapitalists in in our region,
um, so we welcome those that arelistening and would like to
come see some of the deal flowthat we've got going on.
Um, but I would say a lot ofthat is associated with just
kind of a sense of a false senseof security, if I were to say.
(21:21):
But a sense of security when itcomes to, um, you know, a
traditional nine to five um, youknow, business job situation,
uh, when at Startup Junkie wewere going to career fairs at
the university, we'd set up shopand we kind of, you know, just
carrying the flag forentrepreneurship and collecting
resumes for some of the startupsthat are clients of ours, and
(21:43):
we didn't see a lot of activity.
You know folks were lining upto talk to the folks from
corporate offices you know thebig corporate offices that we
have in our region, becausethere was just this.
You know they go throughbusiness school and business
school tells them this is howthe world works and you know
they're lining up to get some ofthose comfortable, secure
(22:05):
corporate jobs.
I think COVID shifted some ofthat in our region specifically.
You know, I think people realizethat no job is secure, so that,
like I said, there's a falsesense of security.
So a lot of folks were senthome during that period or were
at home and just thought, hey,there's something better than
this.
And so I don't know that.
(22:26):
We've seen, actually we've seenan increase regionally in
entrepreneurship, and I don'tknow if that's just because it
seems a little more tangible,you know, just because of the
activity of the last few yearsand just the various things and
what society has kind of pushedit that direction.
But we've seen kind of anincrease which is exciting.
(22:49):
We went from I mentioned wemeet with about 2000 folks a
year for one-on-one consulting.
That's up from about five to800 four years ago.
And so just that pace of folksinterested in doing something,
whether or not they actuallypursue it or run it down or quit
their day jobs over it, it'sanother thing.
(23:09):
But that level of interest inpursuing entrepreneurship I
think is is kind of increasing,maybe on, you know, at a micro
level, but still exciting to see.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Yeah, I mean, how is the northwest Arkansas area when
it comes to that mindset ofentrepreneurship?
Where are you guys at right now?
Do you still have that?
You know?
Oh, I got to go work a job atnine to five and you know, do
this whole thing?
Or do you?
Are you starting to see, evenat the universities where you
(23:42):
used to have that mentality?
I'm at university right nowprepping for a job.
To you know what?
Maybe maybe I don't want a job.
This economy kind of seems alittle crappy.
To you know what?
Maybe I don't want a job.
This economy kind of seems alittle crappy.
Maybe I'm prepping to build abusiness and it sounds like you
guys are there for that.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Yeah, we're absolutely there for that and we
work pretty closely with theuniversity and some of their
programming too and kind of workin lockstep for the students
that do think that way.
I think where you know, I can'treally speak for a lot of other
universities because I onlywent to one, but I feel like the
sense is that they're kind ofcreating a product in that
student.
You know it's a factory forproducing a product and that
(24:21):
product is an employee of a youknow a corporate.
But what the University ofArkansas has done a really good
job of creating a track toencourage and prepare folks that
are interested inentrepreneurship and building
their own business, and so wework really closely with that
division.
Part of that program is aninternship division where
(24:42):
students can go and work instartups and it's subsidized.
So you know they're getting tointern and help build, you know,
a business with a founder whilethey're in school and you know
getting graded for for helpingother entrepreneurs who are
actually building a business.
So it's a super cool programthat we've we've been a part of
and support as much as we canbecause it is.
(25:04):
I mean it's exciting to seebecause those students come from
all sorts of backgrounds.
I mean we'll get a list of thestudents that have applied and
are going through the programand they'll have their major
listed beside them.
You know, and at first it wasall folks that were kind of you
know, interested in smallbusiness, their business school
students, um, and now you'reseeing you know engineering
students, students you know fromjournal, journalism students,
(25:25):
you know students from you knowarts and you know bachelor of
arts backgrounds and things ofthat nature, all just interested
in entrepreneurship.
Just because I feel like it's alittle more palpable now that
it's kind of you know,increasing in the region.
But it's exciting to see thosestudents with various
backgrounds go through thatprogram and either go and take a
(25:46):
role, end up being maybe thefirst employee of one of those
startups that they are interningfor, or jumping in
entrepreneurship entirely afterthat program, after graduating.
So it's definitely kind ofseeding interest.
And then we work with, you know, the high schools, various
schools in the region too, justto kind of demonstrate this as a
(26:07):
very viable option for thosewho are willing to do the work,
cause it's not easy, those whoare willing to take the take,
who are willing to do the work,um, cause it's not easy.
Those who are willing to takethe take the leap and then do
the work.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Well, how many of those students and and you know
somebody who's been in a startupit just completely changes your
mindset and you build a set ofskills working in one of those
things Cause you wear so manyhats right, you got to
understand several differentthings.
You got to understand I meanyou may be doing marketing one
day, design the next day, andyou may be asked to get into the
(26:38):
website and start doing somecoding, uh, or go to a meeting.
I mean there's so manydifferent things that you can be
involved in with a startup.
Do you see this?
Even even in the failedstartups, do you see this
benefiting their career, thepeople that were involved?
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Well, it could go either way, I would.
I would naturally say yesbecause I mean for the folks
that we hire at Startup Junkieand we're a pretty lean team, we
try to operate like a startupourselves.
We hire at Startup Junkie andwe're a pretty lean team, we try
to operate like a startupourselves and I tell people that
Startup Junkie is kind of likea career accelerator in and of
itself.
Folks that have worked herehave gone on to work in awesome
places just because of the skillsets they've acquired from
(27:18):
being able to do a little bit ofeverything.
But also the folks that reallyget involved in entrepreneurship
our founder, jeff Emmerine.
He's a serial entrepreneur andfounded Startup Junkie about 15
years ago.
He jokes that he's unhirable.
That's 100 percent.
Yep, I would be unhirable, justbecause you know he's he.
(27:39):
He calls himself a shiny objectguy.
You know it's always lookingfor opportunity and wanting to
fix things and wants the abilityin the autonomy to fix things.
So I think there it could goone of both ways.
You've got folks that are shinyobject folks and you know they
can't sit still and do whatthey're told.
They're going to want to go fixproblems.
(27:59):
And you've got folks that youknow, they become Swiss army
knives because of their time ata startup in the trenches, and
therefore they can go be a Swissarmy knives because of their
time at a startup, um, in thetrenches, and therefore they can
go be a Swiss army knife,effectively, for somebody else.
So I think it really is thereare two types of folks and um,
so it could go both.
Uh, go either way.
I would say, though, if youfind in our hiring and you find
(28:20):
a Swiss army knife like thatthat has can wear all the hats,
hire them.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Yeah, yeah, it's really really hard to find and I
would say, yeah, probably thebest place to look would be in
like a startup community orsomebody who's been at a startup
and you know what I've noticedtoo there's a lot less say like
unicorn companies popping upbecause you have a lot of aqua
hires from these biggercompanies.
So even if you're say you'relooking for a job or whatever,
(28:46):
and you decide I'm going to goto the startup route, you may
end up in a big company becausethey are looking for innovation,
they're looking for people whothink outside the box and they
realize that you do have a lotof Swiss army knife people in
these startups and if it's, youknow, remotely attached to their
industry, somehow they may goin and scoop it up.
I mean, I've seen, I've seencompanies like Kroger buy
(29:07):
FinTech companies.
Right, you're like what thehell is that?
What does that got to do with,uh, with what Kroger's doing?
But they'll, they.
They have a vision, you justnever know and they'll find a
use for it, but really they'rebuying the team.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Absolutely, and that's I mean.
There's a lot of opportunitythere.
I think, from our perspectivetoo and for some of the folks
we've worked with from aconsulting standpoint, of being
able to go in and kind of coachcorporate teams on how to think
more like a startup.
I think there's kind of a gapthat can be bridged, whether
you're outsourcing it by goingand acquiring a company to bring
(29:43):
in those folks, or even justkind of bringing in some
assistance folks that kind ofthink like that every day and,
um, you know, bring that to your, your um decision-making team
and kind of trying to reshapehow they're approaching problems
and thinking about that stuff.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
What gets you excited about?
What you guys are doing Likewhat?
What is it that gets youexcited about?
What you see every day when yougo into work?
What wakes you up in themorning?
Speaker 2 (30:09):
I think right now.
So it's different all the time,just because, by virtue of all
the different things that we'reworking on, one of the things I
get most excited about now isone of our programs that we
facilitate.
That's a micro lending programthrough Kiva, which is an
international nonprofit, but wehave a hub here and we just
(30:29):
surpassed over a million dollarslent through that program Zero
interest, zero fees inincrements of twenty five
dollars or more.
You don't have to have a creditscore.
You could have a checkeredcredit passed.
The idea is to get capital tofolks who wouldn't otherwise be
able to walk into a bank and geta loan for a griddle for their
(30:50):
boot truck.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Which is most people.
Let's be honest these banksdon't want to lend any money to
you unless you've got money.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
And the folks that cover this program.
They are a little moretraditional brick and mortar
small business rather than someof the tech enabled, um scalable
ventures that we're alsoworking with.
So think about, you know, boottruck um owner operator that
needs a new griddle, orbarbershop needs a new chair, um
, sandwich shop needs a new sign, that kind of thing.
(31:18):
Um, and that funding, uh, orthose loans, are coming through
the community Um, you knowthey're supporting a member of
the community and then thatsmall business owner is then
putting that into their businessand it's so palpable you can
see the impact it has on themimmediately and then you can
just see them pouring back intothat community that supported
(31:39):
them.
So that gets me excited to seethat Just kind of the success of
that program.
And the repayment rate on thoseloans, um, last I checked was
about 83 percent um, and I knowsome banks would love to have a
repayment rate on loans um over80 percent um, and, like I said,
these are folks that have, youknow, no credit score or a
(32:00):
really bad credit score, um, butI think it comes with wanting
to give back to the folks thatgave back to them.
That's right, Kind of fullcircle.
I think also just a lot of theactivity with our accelerator
programming too.
We're in the middle of a healthtech cohort.
We've got companies from allover the world here in Northwest
(32:20):
Arkansas for this program andjust the opportunity to see them
succeed and hope that some ofthem stay.
We've seen probably 20, 30percent of the companies that
come to that program stay.
Um, just excited to see thatand just see the growth of those
companies and the potential ofnew hires, uh, locally, um, and
just to see them light up whenthey get those meetings.
(32:41):
You know they kind of toil awayin some of the coastal cities
that they've been working in fora long time and then to come
here and then have theopportunity to get access to a
decision maker within the firstweek.
Or they're going on a bike ridewith somebody in the C-suite
from an enterprise they'repursuing and just to see that
light bulb come on like wait, Ican have that here.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Caleb, who are you guys looking for?
So I've noticed that there's alot of baby boomer businesses
out here in industries that weneed.
So, for instance, hvac,plumbing, electrical I mean
we're not going to build anyaffordable housing anytime soon
if you have no electricians,right?
So these businesses are tryingto sell.
I've seen them on like placeslike Biz Buy Sell.
They're profitable businesses,cash flow and netting you know
(33:29):
100 200 000 a year.
Are you guys looking for folkslike that are looking to buy
those businesses, or encouragingpeople to buy cash flowing
businesses like that and workingwith them on helping them get
loans and things like you justmentioned about kiva?
Uh, or are you guys like, hey,look, here's our number one
target.
We want tech businesses.
Scalable tech businesses aregoing to sell for a bill, maybe
(33:49):
secondary.
We want to find these peoplelike what is yours, what are
your personas that you'relooking for?
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Honestly, all comers.
We don't necessarily have kindof an ideal customer profile.
When it comes to our clientbase, we are very top of the
funnel, um, just by nature ofhow we were founded.
So I mentioned kind of havingall those consulting meetings
where, where folks are coming inat idea stage, I would say most
of our clients are idea stage,um, and we don't turn anybody
(34:19):
away.
So, um, really, I mean the fullspectrum we don't see a lot of
activity from folks that arelooking to buy businesses or
folks that are trying to sellbusinesses Not sure why, but
don't get a ton of those.
But we do like to work with veryscalable tech businesses.
Just because the potential for,you know, growing in the region
and kind of seeding that nextbig enterprise, we do work with
(34:42):
those and that's part of ouraccelerated program is pursuing
those specifically for thatprogram.
But for, as a whole, you know,startup junkie as a whole, the
ultimate goal is just to lowerbarriers to entrepreneurship, to
get folks started in throughthe door and to be able to you
know they might have a sidehustle and and they might not
(35:05):
even want to, you know, scale itand quit their day job and, you
know, exit it, you know, get abig check one day.
Maybe they just want to do thatside hustle forever and and and
yeah, that's perfectly fine,we'll help them, you know, with
anything we can help them with.
And then we get folks that youknow they are.
That is the goal, is to kind ofbuild up a very sustainable
(35:26):
business and and then exit itand then retire into the sunset.
We've seen those folks too.
So, like I said, we take allcomers, because I think it takes
all of those types ofentrepreneurs to really build a
solid tier sustainable ecosystemto your sustainable ecosystem.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
I agree, I agree, and it sounds like you guys are
very accommodating, more so thansome of the incubators and
places that I've seen.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
We see some interesting stuff.
Oh, I'm sure you guys get somecrazy ideas.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
But the fact that you're going to listen, I mean.
God bless you guys for doingthat.
So how do people reach out toyou?
How do they find theorganization?
Can they email you directly, oris there somebody better?
What should they do?
Speaker 2 (36:10):
They're more than welcome to email me.
My email is Caleb C-A-L-E-B atstartupjunkieorg.
Actually, on our website,there's a portal right there at
the front, right as you log on.
That will connect you withsomebody if you're interested in
meeting with us.
Like I said, no cost for folksto to connect with us to take
consulting meetings.
We don't charge for anything.
We're nonprofit, uh funded todo this work.
(36:30):
Um, I would encourage folks toto check us out and give us a
shout if there's anything wecould help them with, whether
they're an entrepreneur or youknow, maybe they're a
like-minded organization thatwants to do similar work and,
you know, just wants to shareideas.
Uh, we welcome that too.
And if they're in the region,we do about 250 events a year as
(36:50):
well.
Uh intended to bring folkstogether, um to say uh, motivate
, inspirate and collaborate.
So, um, you know we do do a lotof those, uh, so encourage
folks to come.
Come if they're nearby, close.
Like I said, we're in themiddle of everything, so come
and see us sometime.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Well, and I love your headline on the website
improving lives throughinnovation and entrepreneurship
and that is very true.
That's what I've experiencedbeing an entrepreneur and seeing
other entrepreneurs and itdefinitely improves people's
lives and it has a multiplyingeffect.
I will tell you that right now.
So, caleb, I really appreciateit.
Man, this has been great.
I love talking to guys like youand God bless you for doing
(37:30):
this kind of work, and it isgoing to have effects years
beyond you, I would say.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Well, I appreciate the opportunity.
Thank you for having me on.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Thanks.
Thanks for joining us on thisweek's episode of side hustle
city.
Well, you've heard from ourguests.
Now let's hear from you.
Join our community on Facebook,side hustle city.
It's a group where people shareideas, share their
inspirational stories andmotivate each other to be
successful and turn their sidehustle into their main hustle.
We'll see you there and we'llsee you next week on the show.
(38:01):
Thank you.
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.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!