Hometown Hustle Podcast

Brendan Larson of Wheelhouse Coffee was my very first Hometown Hustle guest back in 2021 when Wheelhouse was a Sprinter van at Weekend Beer Company. Five years later he's back, and Wheelhouse just landed their dream spot in Grants Pass.

We talk about how he won it, what Dutch Bros taught him about service, easing the tension in every interaction, the details customers feel without noticing, and why taking action is the only way to know if an idea is right.

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WHEELHOUSECOFFEE

Website:https://wheelhouse.coffee/

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/whlhouse/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/whlhousecoffee

Email:

[email protected]

ABOUT HOMETOWN HUSTLE

I'm Daniel Bifano, and Hometown Hustle is where I sit down with the people making a positive impact on the Rogue Valley: business owners, community leaders, andneighbors with a story worth hearing. Real conversations about how they got here, what it took, and what keeps them going.

FOLLOW THE SHOW

Website:https://hometownhustlepodcast.com

YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@hometownhustlepc

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Thanks for watching!

Michael O'Coyne of REMAX Integrity helped start Main Street Grants Pass, brought back the downtown car cruise, and is now running for Grants Pass City Council.

Mike and I started this podcast together years ago, and he's back to talk about how one volunteer committee seat turned into a downtown nonprofit, a mini golf fundraiser that raised over $62,000 for the Children's Museum, and a cruise with 471 registered cars.

We also talk about why he's choosing to run for a council seat and why he thinks Grants Pass is better than its reputation.

Follow Mike's campaign at michaelocoyne.vote

Jared Rydell owns Tops and Tees, the Grants Pass screen printing and embroidery shop his family started back in the eighties. When he took it over, his dad gave him a few days of training and went back across the street to run his other business.

I sat down with Jared to talk about his years on the Dutch Bros opening team, the changes he made as the owner's kid, the hardest part of running a print shop, and the one small edit that took a video to about 3 million views.

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Tops and Tees: topsandtees.com

Susan Fischer-Maki is running for Oregon House District 3, and she'll tell you up front she wasn't that into politics from the get go.

Susan talks with Daniel Bifano about why she believesstories are data, the doors she's been knocking on across the district, and what she means when she says she's going to Salem as House District 3's representative, not as a Democrat.

Daniel brings his years on patrol into the conversation, and the two dig into public safety, why it's important to have good conversations, and what it takes to represent a whole community.

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Learn more about Susan at susanforjosephine.com

Mary Parsagian has been selling real estate in Southern Oregon since 2013, and the compliment she hears most is that she's a hard worker. She has decided that is not the legacy she wants.

In this episode she talks with Daniel about the drive that got her here, the season she is in now, and the parts of the job most clients never see: what a real market evaluation looks like, why the sale is won at the first appointment, and whythe flashiest marketing in real estate is rarely the marketing that sells the house.

Find Mary at www.theparsagiangroup.com or on Instagram at @mparsagianbroker.

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Emmanuel Flores spent five years as a Josephine County deputy and gave the badge back to build Code 4 Taphouse.

He grew up in his family's restaurants — sleeping in a booth as a kid, in the dish pit at 11, managing at 20. Then in 2020 he chased a dream he'd nearly given up on and pinned on abadge, running patrol at night and restaurants by day. When Code 4 came along, he had to choose.

He and Daniel talk about year one of a new business, the culture it takes to get a team on the same page, the night two stolen vehicles ended with a broken hand, and the decision to hang up the badge.Subscribe wherever you listen.

Find Code 4 Taphouse at code4taphouse.com

As we were wrapping up this recording, Sergeant Aaron Grissom got paged out to a crash involving two juvenile street racers.

Nothing about this conversation is hypothetical.

Aaron is a patrol sergeant with the Jackson County Sheriff's Office, a SWAT team leader, traffic team sergeant, STAR Team Sergeant and regional Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) coordinator.

In this episode, he sits down with me to talk about what law enforcement is actually seeing on Southern Oregon roads — impaired and drug-impaired driving, distracted driving, aggressive driving, and fatal crashes.

We get into how a DUI investigation really works, the drug trends turning up on Jackson and Josephine County stops, the training behind traffic enforcement, and why Aaron will tell you that traffic work is ultimately about saving lives.

If you've ever wondered what a patrol sergeant sees on a Friday night in the Rogue Valley, start here.

Three years ago, I walked away from a successful real estate career to become a police officer. Today, I'm sharing why I made that decision... and why I ultimately decided to come back. This isn't just a conversation about law enforcement or real estate. It's about purpose, family, burnout, entrepreneurship, leadership, and redefining what success actually looks like.

In this episode of the *Hometown Hustle Podcast**, my good friend and mentor **Dan Doyle* and I sit down to talk honestly about what I learned during three years with the Jackson County Sheriff's Office, what policing taught me about business, why I believe family has to come before work, and how those lessons are changing the way I approach life and real estate moving forward.

Whether you're in law enforcement, own a business, are thinking about changing careers, or simply trying to build a better life for your family, I hope something in this conversation resonates with you.

If you enjoy conversations about leadership, entrepreneurship, personal growth, law enforcement, real estate, and building a meaningful life, I'd love to have you subscribe and join us for future episodes.