The Kansas City Economic Development Corporation serves Kansas City business owners with solutions and resources in business and real estate development, job creation, and community investment, with resources and connections to help grow Kansas City. Business Development Officer Jenna Scott rejoins the podcast to talk about how the KC EDC can help entrepreneurs in Kansas City. Listen in!
TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome to the Small Business Miracles podcast.
I’m Jeff Randolph. This small business podcast
is brought to you by EAG Advertising and Marketing.
We’re going to talk about marketing. We’re also
here to celebrate entrepreneurs by diving into
their story. We learn a little bit more about
what makes them tick. Today, we’re talking about
resources for business owners. What can the KC
Economic Development Corporation do for a business
owner? We’re going to find out, because today
I’m joined by business development officer from
the KCEDC, and we’re going to get an overview
of the many different kinds of resources out
there for businesses of all sizes. I’m excited
to have that conversation, and welcome back to
the show, Jenna Scott, business development officer
for the Kansas City Economic Development Corporation.
Jenna, welcome back to the show. You are one of the first returning
champions that we’ve had on the podcast. This
is you making a reappearance. I am honored. I
don’t know how I got into this position, but
I’m glad to be back. Man, well, because we interviewed
you for your last job. And now, because you’re
with the KCEDC, you like. That’s worthy of another
interview. We need to know all of these things.
So welcome back. Thank you. You started out on
your career journey. You took kind of a different
path to get here. A lot of people have a different
path. Tell us about your career journey because
this is a little bit of a different gig than
you had before. So let’s find out. Yeah. Career
journey has been a fun winding road. And it’s
funny because my last time we were here, we were
talking with Katie Irvin and Catalyst Development.
And one of her favorite graphics to use is that
your career. is a winding path of a road. Never
more true for me. The Jeremy Baramy of that.
Got it. Yes. We’re talking foothills, back and
forth, switchbacks, all the things. But I think
I might have gone through this a little bit when
we first talked. But for people who don’t know
me well, I started out in marketing and actually
sports marketing. Yeah, sports marketing. Yeah,
I worked through college, loved it. I’ve done
anything you can imagine on a football field
or a court. I have been the person to drop sub
sandwiches from a catwalk. Yeah, for the Sub
Above promotion. I’m not familiar with the Sub
Above promotion. I’m familiar with a lot of random
stuff, but that one I haven’t heard of yet. So
it was one of the activations that we did for
that particular business. Their tagline is the
Sub Above. And so we attached parachutes to them
and dropped them from the catwalk. You know,
that’s good times. I like all of those kinds
of things. Right. Really cool. Loved it. Got
to do a lot of cool things in my alma mater and
then switched over and worked at the Chiefs for
a while, which was amazing. Got to do community
outreach, which is the heartfelt stuff, the fun
things. And then fast forward, there was no job
available after my internship was open or after
my internship was done. So, you know, we had
to track back and figure out what we were going
to do next. And I ended up in higher education.
As you do. As one does. You go from sports marketing
to higher ed. Yeah, really similar places. So
I spent five years there, actually. I went from
the agency world to higher ed. So, yeah, I get
it. We do these things. I feel like at some point
you kind of just like, okay, maybe a break is
fine and we can go with a slow pace. things.
But so spent that time at Park University and
enjoyed it. It was great. Worked in recruitment
and then also switched over and worked in professional
education workforce development, which is where
I met Katie. So kind of connecting those dots
of like how on earth did you get from sports
to even working in a small business? And then
last summer, I happened to have a friend of mine
who reached out and said, hey, I have a job.
And I want you to take it. I give him all the
credit. Stephen is fantastic. He was my boss
at the KCEDC. He just left us not too long ago
to go to the city of Miami Beach, Florida, and
be the economic development director there. Rough
life. Okay, I get it. Exactly. But he came to
me, and he and I kind of just met over connection,
just reaching out to people and working through
some things. And he and I stayed in contact over
time. Really cool person, has a really cool story.
And the first time I ever met him. He told me
he didn’t think I was in the right spot. And
this is before I was with Katie, but he’s like,
you’re not using your abilities to the best that
you could. And I’m like, okay, well, thanks for
that. I’ll take that feedback. And what he means
by that is, of course, like you have more potential.
I think you could do great things. Not like,
you know, you’re really, you should try hard.
I’m not saying you’re not trying hard enough.
I just wish you’d try harder. It’s not that.
No, he’s definitely a mentor, kind of helped
me through this and said, hey, I want you to
come over to the EDC. I have a job open. And
I did. So randomly. landed in this position and
was like, hey, I don’t know a whole lot about
economic development. Come to find out most people
don’t know a whole lot about economic development.
We’re changing that today. We’re changing that
today right here. Absolutely. So it’s been eight
months now since I joined. I joined in December
and just have enjoyed every bit of it. It’s an
industry that a lot of people don’t even realize
exists. You may be aware of EDC or economic development,
but people just think that we’re the people that
make things happen. Like people drive by a building
like, oh, that cool, that building is just there.
That’s not how it works. And so it’s a really
cool industry that I really enjoyed getting to
explore. Well, let’s explore more because let’s
get into the EDC job itself. And I’ll talk about
your role there specifically in a minute. But
I want to make sure we have a good working understanding
of what the EDC does because it can be just kind
of, well, I know it’s there and I know it probably
helps, but I don’t really know. There’s a three
-sided triangle graph. Three -sided triangle,
like all of the triangles that are three -sided.
But it’s a great graphic on the website, and
we’ll link to it in the show notes. But let’s
walk through the pieces of what the EDC does.
Yeah. So economic development, first off, looks
a little different for every single entity around
the city. Economic development can be for a county
level. It can be for the state level. It can
be also for each city. So, for example, anything
like Overland Park. Theirs is embedded in their
chamber. We are technically a quasi -government
entity. Some of them are actually embedded into
the cities. So it looks a little different at
every level, which is why it’s a little confusing
for people. But for the EDC in Kansas City, we
have three sides. The first side is what we call
land development. Land development is exactly
what you think it is. That’s all of the times
that we use land to build buildings, to build…
businesses and our land development team at Dan
Moyet kind of covers all of that and they’re
really the incentive drivers that help us us
being business development. The other side is
entrepreneurial. So that is Casey BizCare office
and us kind of partnering together to help businesses.
We have an employee at the EDC that’s kind of,
we call her a dual citizen. So her name is Regina
Sosa. She does amazing work for small businesses,
that startup level, really helping businesses
to get off the ground. Casey BizCare takes care
of the how you. are set up pieces, the structural
pieces of being a business. And then Regina can
come in and help through different programs that
we have, different grant opportunities, things
like that to help businesses get off their feet.
And then Jim Erickson leads that department.
So he helps with the legislative side of anything
that Kansas City needs for the entrepreneurial
side. And then he also helps with Launch KC.
So Launch KC is a super cool group competition
that people can submit for. They do it once a
year. You win it. And you get a free workspace
and you can come in and that workspace is designed
to basically help you start your business. Interesting.
Yeah. The launch case piece that I jumped in
to take a look at that program because you’ve
got a grants competition. You’ve got a social
venture studio, social venture studio. If if
connects. Businesses with solutions rooted in
solving social, environmental, and racial issues
with the firepower necessary to thrive. So you’re
helping businesses that aren’t necessarily the
giant corporations already. These are the ones
that are doing good for the community. So that’s
a great competition as well. Yeah, absolutely.
And then the final slide is business development.
So business development, there are four business
development officers, and we split the city by
council district. Then we also have a person
in our office who’s our coordinator. And a project
manager. And so the four of us go through, and
our job really is kind of twofold. We like to
be able to connect with people for the big businesses,
which is what most people think of when they
think of economic development. That’s the Google
data center that you just saw come into Kansas
City not too long ago. Yeah, that’s a big deal.
Yeah, huge projects. And we partner with the
KCADC. Sometimes that’s Missouri Partnerships.
Sometimes that’s Missouri DED. That’s really
where we have a network of groups that bring.
entities into Kansas City and show them, hey,
this place is great. You should come here. You
should have your office here. And so you’re really
selling the city and while at the same time kind
of making it possible for bigger companies to
come in here and be a giant employer in Kansas
City. And that’s where you’re using some of those
land development pieces and tax financing and
all of those things. Exactly. The big business
side. And the other side is? The smaller side.
The small side. The business retention side.
Tell me more about that. Yeah. That’s really
what I like most. You know, people will see the,
I call it the sexy side with the attraction piece.
And it’s cool. Don’t get me wrong. It’s neat
to get to work on a giant project that has a
code name that nobody knows who it is. Yeah.
Oh, super secret. Oh, that, you know, you’ve
had me right there. The rest of this time I’m
going, yeah, okay, business development. Oh,
code names. We get to use code names. Code names,
NDAs, the whole bit, right? Because any company
who’s looking to move, it’s a competitive. And
so they’re looking for a reason to move to Kansas
City and use that. I like the retention side
more. I was in a small business with Katie. My
fiance is a small business owner. Small business
is really the backbone of what we do in Kansas
City. I think there’s so many small businesses
that add great value to us, and we want those
to grow. So the retention side of my job is I
meet with businesses all over the city, usually
closer to like a small, medium, large size that
are ready to grow. So if you’re a startup and
you’re just getting going and you’re maybe less
than three years in, every business is different.
not quite there yet. You stay with the Launch
KC side and the entrepreneurial side. But when
you’re ready, you can come to me and I can say,
hey, are you growing? Are you adding team members
to your facility? Are you adding new jobs? Are
you maybe ready to renovate? Are you doing any
of this stuff that instead of you looking maybe
on the other side of the state line? We have
you stay here. Stick around. Yeah. I want to
get into the resources that are available there.
So if a business is growing or is excited to
grow or whatever the case may be, what kind of
things do you point them to? Because it’s everything
from, I guess, networking to other tools. So
tell us what’s going on there. Yeah. So it’s
a multifaceted piece, right? There’s so many
options to what we can help them with. I always
tell people there’s kind of three main. things,
but everything else, my job is to be an I got
a guy person for you. I am essentially a project
manager when it comes to business development
to be able to say, I’ve listened to you. I’m
hearing how you’re growing. I’m hearing what
you want your business to look like. And I think
these three things will be best for you. So sometimes
that is a site selection. That’s a, Hey, you
know, I think you’re here in Kansas city, but
maybe you need to be here. Um, we have a relationship
with brokers all over the city. Um, so I need
a larger footprint or something like that. If
you need more space, if you’re, or you know,
if it’s just someplace that maybe you’re not
loving the location, we can help you. Kansas
city is square miles. There’s a lot of space.
Yes. We’ve got room. Yes. We’ve got space. Um,
so there’s that option of like, Hey, let’s look
at a site selection. Again, we work with a lot
of brokers to try to help them. Um, there’s no
like required. for the space either. So brokers
of all sizes, industrial, commercial, it doesn’t
really matter. The only companies we don’t necessarily
work a ton with are commercial, like retail.
Oh, sure. Okay. And then anybody who is a restaurant.
And that’s not necessarily our choice. It’s just
it has to do with the wages. So Kansas City’s
objective in having economic development incentives
is to create jobs with lasting impact for their
people. Those jobs are great. Those are great
jobs for kids or anybody who wants to be in that
industry and wants to have a little bit more
flexibility in their schedule and things like
that. But we’re looking for jobs that are usually
like % of county wage. So those are some of
the requirements that go along with some of the
incentives. Other things that I can help people
with, just connections, workforce development
stuff. One, obviously workforce development is
something I know a little bit about with Katie
and I’s work that we previously did. But again,
being in the college space, I know a lot of that.
We talk to a lot of workforce development companies,
some that are like second chance workforce development
companies, some that are for trade, some that
are for specific recruitment style, like all
different types of companies to make sure that
if you’re growing and you can’t find the people
that you need, I can help. Yeah. And then that
last piece is the incentives. It’s really figuring
out, OK, if you qualify for these things, let’s
help you here. You know, tax abatements, TIF
agreements, PIEA. It’s alphabet soup. Yeah. When
I started, I was like, wow. Give me a minute
with this cheat sheet over here so that I can
keep up to date on all the conversation. Yeah,
absolutely. So it is alphabet soup of every kind.
But each project is different and each incentive
is different and each. Every single time I do
something, I ask them when I started, I said,
I need a yes -no board. And they’re like, that
doesn’t exist. Good luck. I was like, oh, my
gosh. I could build one. Yeah, I could do this.
So really just kind of understanding the incentives
and then allowing the teams to actually run the
incentives to do them. So, again, my job is to
just be the middle person, to be an I got it
guy person, to say, hey, let me help you understand
what you need and then connect you to the right
people to make sure you can get what you need.
And that seems like the kind of thing that starts
with a conversation, right? I mean, if I don’t
know, I’m a business owner. I have some plans.
I have some ideas. My building’s not what I love
it to be, but I have some ideas. It really starts
with a conversation with you, right? Because
you’ll be able to tell me whether this is a connection
that you can make to this other person or if
there is a resource out there, there’s financing
for this, there’s microphones, whatever the case
may be. Yeah, absolutely. Every time is a conversation.
I tell people, even if you don’t feel like you’re
ready, come to us first. Because a lot of the
incentives and things that we can do, they’re
contingent on you not starting construction before
you apply for that. Oh, interesting. Okay. That’s
an important note. Yes, it is. Don’t start everything.
Don’t start everything. Have a conversation first.
And that way, at least, even if you’re not ready
for it in the next five years, you think you’re
going to do something, come to us. Have a conversation
with one of our business development officers.
Understand the options. Then in two years, you
can say, hey, I want to come to you. I think
we’re ready. That way you know the things before
you start and you don’t exit yourself out of
an option. That’s one of the most heartbreaking
things to me is as I’ve gotten into this business,
I hear a lot of, you know, it’s only for big
business. That’s only for big business. And that’s
really not the case. A lot of the time, small
business doesn’t want to deal with the city and
doesn’t want to deal with the paperwork and the
bureaucracy that comes with it. There can be
red tape, right? Sure. There is. But that’s my
job to help with, right? Even connecting to…
teams at the city and helping with permitting
and zoning and helping them to connect to a person
that makes it real instead of just feeling like
a number when you’re on the city’s website and
putting in your paperwork. I can connect you
to those people too so you can understand the
process a little more, understand what to expect
from them, and then you can go back and say,
okay, this was a lot simpler than I thought it
was. And if it starts with a conversation, you’re
obviously easy to talk to, but if I don’t know
what legislative map I belong in, you know, for
whose territory is what. I can just… contact
you anyway, and you’ll find the right person
for you to talk to. Absolutely. So we always
tell people, all of us have a, quote, territory,
yes, but if I happen to be out someplace that’s
more in the Northland, because I technically
take care of the plaza and South, but if I happen
to be in Northland and I meet somebody, we would
rather have a relationship with that person,
and you just continue to work with me. That way
you know who you’re getting. But we have that
coordinator on our team, Megan. She’s fantastic,
and I can give you the business development email.
And if somebody’s interested, they go to her.
She can get to the right person. Or they can
come to me and I can help farm it out too. Outstanding.
Well, hey, I feel as though I have a much better
overview of what the EDC can do for me. Yeah,
it’s fantastic. You know, that’s why I was so
excited that when we talked, he was like, come
back on. Because I know you guys serve such a
great community of smaller businesses. And it’s
just… The more we can help Kansas City grow,
the more we can grow. The tide that lifts all
boats. Exactly. That’s an important factor. That’s
been the coolest thing for me about economic
development that I didn’t know. Economic development
seems like just push this business here, just
put this here. And when you really look at it
from a holistic standpoint, business can change
communities. And so that’s one of the things
that I will, again, credit Stephen with of teaching
me whenever he brought me on is a lot of the
time you have companies who say, hey, we want
to build this thing. We want to put it here.
And you have to look at the community and say,
is this really what’s best for the community?
And then when you look at these businesses that
are coming in, you put a big business in Kansas
City that changes the neighborhood because what
happens is people come in. They have these jobs.
There’s ,jobs that are at this company.
,people are coming to work there every
day. That means that community is going to change
and develop. People are going to want to move
there because they want to be closer to their
job. Then the school districts change. Then the
restaurant options and the retail and everything
else changes around it. And so it’s really the
opportunity to help some of those underserved
communities that people don’t always see as an
option. There’s a pebble and a pond. The ripples
spread out and change everything. It’s a wonderful
thing. Is there a time where you are just a hero?
Like, you know, you get to help a company and
you just feel like, I helped with that. That’s
a great thing. I don’t ever see it as a hero.
It’s such a group effort, I have to tell you.
I mean, between just the EDC, you know, it’s
me finding the businesses, it’s land development
and any of our incentive guys working through
the paperwork. It’s the city and working with
their team and the planning and development and
the zoning. And then it’s also, you know, our
partners who are outside, those KCADCs, the other
economic development corporations that are around
Kansas City. Anybody that we get to work with,
it’s a partnership and it takes so much time.
That is maybe the best politically correct. answer
of this is a team effort. Well, let’s, let’s
forget about all the politically correct answers.
Cause we’ll go into the lightning round now,
if we can do that. Um, and, and we’re, we’d like
to help make you human to people. And, uh, I,
you threw out just recently, uh, in, in our conversation
right here on, on air, you said something about
my fiance is a small business owner. And I went,
Oh yeah, that’s right. Cause there’s an engagement
story there, right? Isn’t is, is that, um, I
want to, was there an engagement story? Do you
have, do you have something you’re comfortable
sharing with that? Yeah, absolutely. So for those
who don’t know, my fiance and I actually have
dated twice. We dated when we were in high school.
We ended up splitting up when I was in college.
He was in Kansas City. I was here just because
of distance. So you don’t mean two dates and
then you got engaged. You mean two separate times.
No, we’ve actually dated for quite a while, but
then got back together in And so the fun
part is we went on a trip in February to Isla
Mujeres, which is where one of my friends lives.
I have a really cool friend who’s done some really
cool things. happens to live on an island in
Mexico. It’s the island of women. The sun rises
in Mexico there. I’m a big fan. It’s absolutely
beautiful. But the really cool thing is she’s
the friend who introduced us the first time.
Oh, wow. And so she helped him to plan everything.
She did like a little picnic on the beach and
we were getting ready to go to dinner and we’re
like, we’re going on a trip the next day to Chiapas,
Mexico. So we were going more inland Mexico to
do some hiking and some cool stuff. And they
were like, let’s just go to a nice dinner tonight.
We’ll dress up. We’ll go. I had no idea. I was
clueless. I kind of had an idea that I Obviously,
it could be happening because we’ve been together
long enough. And I was like, I mean, that’s a
pretty good trip here. There was a clock going
on. Right. But when we went to the island, she
helped everything. And then we’re walking down
the beach and he kind of stopped in front of
me. And I was like, what are you doing? Keep
walking. We’re looking at the beach. And he turned
around. I was like. Oh, you’re nervous. So, yeah,
it was wonderful. We had that whole thing planned
out perfect. Had the photographer at sunset on
the beach. Just perfect. Everything you need.
Well, that’s a great story. And best wishes on
that. And I’m going to say best wishes and not
congratulations. Are people telling you best
wishes and congratulations? Or is it one or the
other? I think it’s congratulations most of the
time. Interesting. I’ll get your reaction to
this because this is one of those weird, like
the way language changes over time. And historically
speaking, like if you were, you know, the way
I’ve heard this story, it’s the, I don’t know,
advice column in the newspaper back in the day
for what is the right etiquette. And best wishes
historically is the thing that you use to tell
the bride. Okay. And you tell the groom congratulations.
And the reason that you do this, historically
speaking, this is changing over time. Because
now I think you can equally do best wishes, you
can equally do congratulations, and whatever
kind of sentiment you want to give is what you
give. But historically speaking… It was best
wishes to the bride because if you and congratulations
to the groom because like to the groom, it’s
like, congratulations, man. Wow. You you you
really did great here. Yeah. And you wouldn’t
say congratulations to the bride because it would
be like, you know, oh, congratulations. You finally
got a man, you know. Right. And so you would
say best wishes to the bride instead. Hearing
that. Do you have a reaction? Are you like, you
know, I kind of like the best wishes thing. That
is better because I’m capable of getting, you
know. I mean, I think it’s hilarious. It is.
It’s a fascinating the way these things happen.
I also think it’s hilarious how our language
has changed over time, right? Like just the things
that we don’t necessarily know why are said.
And the fact that you know these things. I say,
man, storehouse of useless information is really
all it is. I love it. I love it, though. Either
way, best wishes. Thank you. Or congratulations.
Maybe it’s best wishes now to the bride because
you have to plan things now. Oh, that’s probably
true. Best wishes, because now is when the work
happens. You have to plan a giant party. Let’s
see. You gave some advice in a previous lightning
round about advice you would give to an entrepreneur.
You talked about your marketing background, and
your advice was just hang on, because the people
who succeed did not quit. You kept going. You
kept pushing forward. And I know you feel that.
Is there something in your life that you’re like,
yeah, I shouldn’t have quit that. I probably
should have kept going with that. I don’t know
if that’s a piano lesson or if that’s a, you
know. You know, actually, I think I’m somewhat
of the opposite. I have a really hard time quitting
things. Oh, really? Yeah. So even like I’ve had
internships at college where I just kept going,
kept trying, kept doing. And it was like. You’re
done. Someone forces you to stop. Somebody forced
me to stop. I love to see things through to the
end. That’s something I should have stopped.
That’s tenacious, though. Having some tenacity
in there. Yeah. So I don’t know if you remember,
but when we had Katie on, we talked about The
Working Genius. Oh, yeah. Tenacity is, like,
my number one genius. Oh, that’s the trait. Yeah.
It really is. To my fault. Like, I will finish
a book that I hate because I need to finish it.
Yes. Yes. There was a Mark Wahlberg film who,
you know, usually puts out something that you
can enjoy that was called Flight Risk. I was
just like, oh, do I even want to finish this
movie? You will finish that movie. You will go
crazy. I will finish it. Interesting. You’re
out there networking all the time. You’re connecting
people, attending events. Do you get to the point
where you can’t people anymore or do you thrive
on that? Do you thrive on the cocktail after
hours or whatever kind of thing? I am definitely
extrovert of extroverts. I love people. I love
being around people. I get my energy from people.
But I will tell you, there are some days where
I’ve had two or three events and I come home
and I just don’t talk to me. Yeah, I’m done.
Just don’t. And Lucas can tell those days. He
knows when I come home and I’m like, okay, I’m
finished. But usually I can tell if I’ve had
those days. When I get home, my car radio isn’t
on. Oh, because you’re going silent on the way
home. You need to just not, no more stimulation,
no more external whatever. And I’m not necessarily
a radio person all the time. Every once in a
while I turn on the radio or music, but I’m usually
listening to a podcast or listening to a book
or listening to something. If it’s silent in
my car, I’m like. Oh, I’ve had a day today. I
need to be quiet. Interesting. And then you know
it the next morning when you get in the car and
go, oh, that’s right. I was having a day yesterday.
How do you recharge your batteries then? Is it
just that extra, like, I need some silence? Or
do you have a thing that you go to that’s like
my, you know? I mean, the gym has always been
my thing. So that’s kind of the time that I get
to not talk to people for most of the point,
you know, for a while. The gym that I go to,
I don’t necessarily listen to headphones. So
I don’t have headphones in. I don’t like black.
people out but um i i do just go and like to
slam things around and if i’ve had an annoying
day you will be able to tell because there will
be a little bit more weight added and a little
bit really really push it yeah that’s the motivation
yeah to really push through that yeah i mean
i i can’t explain to people i was especially
women i always want to encourage them if you
don’t know what it’s like to put weight on your
shoulders and your brain has to stop because
the only thing you can think about is how heavy
it is You got to try it. See, but that’s a great
insight. That’s a great insight to understanding
what you need and also how to turn your brain
off. Yeah, it needs to relax. It goes a million
miles a minute. I’m always thinking about something.
I’m always running. And it’s just that hour,
hour and a half, sometimes two hours is the time
when my brain just stops. Interesting. And Jim,
you did have a competitive bodybuilding thing
going on for a while. Is there a lesson from
that competitive bodybuilding world that you
keep with you to this day? Oh, gosh, all of it.
Oh, all of it. All of it. I mean, competitive
bodybuilding is a special sport. You’ve got to
be a special kind of psycho. Yes. That’s what
I tell people. It’s not easy, right? But I have
so many foundational skills now that like, you
know, we were talking before we started recording
about how usually my breakfast and my lunch is
kind of the same thing. And then dinners is whatever
I want. But I know that I’m putting consistent
in and I get consistent out. I don’t have to
do a lot of like yo -yo dieting because it just
continues to be the same. It’s my lifestyle.
We eat pretty much the same way Lucas and I.
And so like it’s clean eating and it’s not that
we can’t go out and have a good time. We definitely
indulge every once in a while. But it makes things
more special, actually. So if I can’t go out
and have something every single night of the
week, then I enjoy it more. And then on the other
side of just bodybuilding, it’s a mental game,
right? Yeah, it is. The same thing that I said
the last time we were talking about, just don’t
quit. It’s really hard to beat somebody who won’t
stay down. It’s fair, yeah. You keep getting
up, you keep trying again. The entrepreneurial
journey, life, bodybuilding, it all kind of applies
of like, can I get up? Can I learn from this
lesson? Did I mess it up? Sure. But I’d rather
take the swing than watch a pitch go by. That
is – if we had a soundbite, if we had a clip
from this show, it would probably – there’s a
metaphor there that is just brilliant for entrepreneurship.
But also for kind of knowing who you are and
what you need, right? Here’s what I need to be
able to perform. Whether performing looks like
bodybuilding or whether performing looks like
I need to go out and connect this person to that
person so that they can do better and succeed
in their business. There’s brilliant metaphor
there. And if I had any kind of willpower at
all, I’d stop with that and have it be like the
last question. But I’m going to end on something
just super soft. The last TV series you binged.
Just actually finished one called Untamed. Untamed.
It’s random. Netflix series we just kind of randomly
picked one time. It’s set at Yosemite National
Park. Oh, okay. No, Yellowstone. Sorry. Absolutely
gorgeous as far as like the layout of it and
all the different things that are in it. It’s
got El Capitan and all this cool stuff. But it’s
like a murder mystery. And it was only like six
episodes. And then it actually ended. Oh, they
wrote the conclusion to the series. The conclusion
of the series. Not the, I’m going to leave this
window open just in case we get renewed. It was
really great. There was a nice little backstory,
lots of nature involved in it, and a little murder
mystery. Outstanding. Yeah. Okay, good. And is
this a highly recommend or is this a… Highly
recommend. I’m not much, I don’t watch a ton
of TV, I will tell you. So like I’m still, for
anybody who’s watched it, I’m still watching
Narcos. Oh, sure. It’s only been a few years,
right? That’s right. So we decided we were going
to start that, I don’t know, earlier this year
and we’re still watching it and we’re almost
done with the Mexico one. So that tells you how
often we watch TV. Yeah, well, hey, I get it.
Sometimes you have to go back and watch the old
stuff. Like I recently watched all of Lost back
to back to back. That was, you know, when you’re
watching it in real time, you lose most of the
thread because it’s been a season or it’s been
a year or it’s been a whatever. And I can’t keep
up. But yeah, watching it all together, you’re
like, oh, now I get it. That’s so much better.
There’s very few series I’ve actually watched
start to finish entirely, especially if they
don’t like have a relatively shorter. Peaky Blinders,
always one of our favorites. And I also all.
Absolutely love Money Heist. People who have
never watched that one, it’s all in Spanish,
so you have to read the subtitles, but it is
one of my favorite shows ever done. Read the
subtitles or learn Spanish. Or learn Spanish.
Whatever, I mean, you know, go. Go with what
you got to go. Exactly. Yeah, my brother watches
all food TV, all the Food Network stuff in Spanish
so that he can get his kitchen Spanish done.
That’s smart. It’s a bright thing to do. That
is smart. Great tips. Great everything. I’ll
take you out of the lightning round. We’ve learned
so much across the lightning round this time.
This is spectacular. Tell people where they can
find resources on the EDC, if they want to get
in touch with you. How do they do all of that?
Where would you like people to go? The economic
development website is just edckc .com. It’s
super. Super easy to find. It’s also going to
be launching a new website soon. So if you go
recently, it will be a little bit messy. Beginning
of August, it should be brand new. Thanks to
our marketing guy. He’s a wizard. And then for
me, if you guys want to get in contact with me,
just find me at jscott at edckc .com. That’s
it. Jenna Scott, business development officer
for the KCEDC. Thanks for being on the show today.
Thanks for having me. And that is our show. Thanks
to our friend Jenna Scott. And thank you for
listening to the Small Business Miracles podcast.
Remember to subscribe. Leave us a five -star
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