The LoCo Experience

In this episode you’ll get a glimpse behind-the-scenes of LoCo Headquarters in my conversation with LoCo Experience Producer Alma Ferrer and our new Marketing Manager Alisha Jeffers. We give focus especially to Alisha, her arts background and travels that eventually led her to LoCo. She talks a little about her introductory project with us to revamp our logo, and suggests reading her guest blog post for the complete narrative with pictures here.

We also take some time to review and share highlights from the top 10 podcast episodes of 2022… listen in to see if your favorite made the list!

This was a dynamic episode with lots of laughs and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by:  Purpose Driven Wealth Thrivent: Learn more

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Althea Hrdlichka is the Founder and Owner and Midwife at Tender Gifts Midwifery and Birth Center in Fort Collins.  After years of supporting Northern Colorado moms through at-home births, Althea took a leap of faith and opened her birth center in the fall of 2020, navigating an abundance of regulations - covid and otherwise - and finding strong market demand for their services from the beginning.  

I first met Althea several years ago, when she sought support through the Larimer SBDC for a business plan and SBA loan package to open her birth center.  From our first meeting, I could see she was passionate about her craft, focused on healthy moms and babies, and willing to put in the work to see her dream to fruition.   

This episode covers a lot of ground.  A key element is an introspection on the journey in transitioning from a solo operator, with minimal overhead and few managerial responsibilities - to a 20+ person enterprise, with high overhead and much more complexity - during a pandemic!  Another is Althea’s journey to becoming a midwife, inching closer and closer as she delivered each of her children - until her young son told her she should be a midwife!  Althea has a powerful why, a servants’ heart, and a wonderful story to share, and I hope you’ll tune in.  

Episode Sponsor: InMotion, providing next-day delivery for local businesses. Contact InMotion at [email protected]

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by:  Purpose Driven Wealth Thrivent: Learn more

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Hope Hartman is the Executive Director of the Larimer County Small Business Development Center, located on the Front Range Community College campus in Fort Collins. The Larimer SBDC provides education and connection to entrepreneurs across Larimer County.  In this episode, we explore the role of the SBDC in the business ecosystem, Hope’s “why” in pursuing the role, and the meandering journey of an impactful career that positioned her for success in this role.

Hope’s first love was theater, and we explore how her understanding of parts and roles and characters helped her later in her career. We follow her path of becoming a teacher, her career shift to the University of Washington’s Center for Commercialization, becoming a key leader and shareholder of a software company in the technology transfer industry and finding love and a new home in Northern Colorado. Prior to joining the SBDC, Hope was operating a non-profit organization called Girls in the Spotlight. 

Hope is a quick-thinking, highly relational, and inspiring business leader, and I hope you’ll take the time to get to know her with me in this episode.

Check out the Larimer SBDC

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by:  Purpose Driven Wealth Thrivent: Learn more

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Aaron Everitt is a regular guest of the LoCo Experience, with this being his fourth appearance. He’s well-connected in Fort Collins as a real estate broker for Resident Realty, operating a delivery service provider organization, and now adding a local commercial delivery service to the mix called InMotion. We’re happy to announce that InMotion is our first official outside sponsor of the the LoCo Experience.

This episode will kick off our once-quarterly real estate update with Aaron. He’ll share insight to things like local interest rates, inventories, seller motivations, financing options and market opportunities. 

In this particular conversation, we also spend some time discussing politics and current events, and Aaron lets us in on the story of his latest venture in partnership with his friend for a new online business. 

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by:  Purpose Driven Wealth Thrivent: Learn more

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Bonus episode from the blog: Sharing gratitude for new additions to LoCo and new offerings just around the corner, the serendipitous path that led to this plate full of blessings, and exploring the meaning of the word fateful and the greater perspective it offers.

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by:  Purpose Driven Wealth Thrivent: Learn more

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Mandy Mullen is the Founder and Owner of the Run Windsor Race Series. She also founded and serves as  Executive Director of Windsor Gives, a non-profit extension providing fitness opportunities and education throughout the community. Mandy is a mom on a mission to be healthy and to encourage physical and mental fitness in youth and across entire communities.  

In this episode, we talk about the beginnings and evolution of Run Windsor, a costly and ultimately failed effort to develop a gym and fitness center - victim of the pandemic - and Mandy’s dreams of encouraging the union of fitness and community in towns and cities everywhere.  Mandy is smart, kind, transparent, and a whole lot of fun to have conversation with.  

And, for the runners and aspiring runners, Mandy shares descriptions of ultra-marathon races, including the Leadville 100 - which she recently completed.  800 runners registered, 700 started, and 300 finished - she's a beast!  (and she was still missing most of her toenails during our interview)

Finally, a correction - in our conversation Mandy shares the story of running her first 50 mile race as a 24-hour sub, when her business partner's wife had a baby early and her husband wanted a travel and running partner for the event.  In the lead-up she said that she had run 900 miles in the month of January, which would have made a 50-miler no big deal - that was an unintentional exaggeration - she actually ran 400 miles that January, before running the 50-miler on January 31.  Of course she crushed it, sprinting to the finish and feeling fine. 

Check out Run Windsor 

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by:  Purpose Driven Wealth Thrivent: Learn more

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Bob Flynn is the co-founder of Green Ride Colorado, which sold in 2018 to become Groome Transportation here in Northern Colorado. Groome specializes in airport-to-city shuttling between Northern Colorado and Denver.

Bob talks about the process, ethos and hard work behind building a transportation business that is environmentally friendly. The momentum that Green Ride created continues with Groome today, and Bob has retired to live a simple life sailing and wandering Canada and the US in his camper van.

Toward the end of this episode, you’ll find challenging debate over recent issues as Curt and Bob demonstrate the art of civil discourse and the right to disagree.

Check out Groome Transportation

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by:  Purpose Driven Wealth Thrivent: Learn more

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Ty Fulcher is the owner of four of the finest eating and drinking establishments in Old Town Fort Collins: Social, Union, the Melting Pot and Rodizio Grill. Ty came to Fort Collins in 2002 from Washington State and trained as a sommelier in Italy soon after. Upon his return, he applied what he learned at the Melting Pot and moved up to management. Ty soon expanded into the world of craft cocktails, entering and winning bartending competitions. He became inspired to further his passion for fine beverages by launching the underground bar, Social.

Listen in on Ty’s journey from a young child pretending to run a restaurant out of his family kitchen to becoming one of the best known restaurateurs in town, with many delicious stops along the way!

Check out Ty’s Restaurants:
Melting Pot
Social
Union Bar & Soda Fountain
Rodizio Grill

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The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by:  Purpose Driven Wealth Thrivent: Learn more

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Margo is the Western Region President at Banner Health and has her PhD in Organizational Development from CSU. Margo shares her inspiring journey from frontline nursing into management, developing a passion for education and training that continued throughout her later executive career. 

Margo pulls back the curtain on our healthcare system in this episode. She shares the challenges of the industry in general and specifically the efforts her organization made to keep their teams connected and energized during the grueling seasons of the Covid Pandemic.

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The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by:  Purpose Driven Wealth Thrivent: Learn more

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Richard Fagerlin is the founder and president of Peak Solutions Group and author of the book Trustology.  Richard is known across Northern Colorado - and the nation - for his keynote presentations and his team’s effective engagement in three key areas of management consulting:

Customized internal leadership development

Authentic and durable strategic planning

Executive coaching + organizational engagement

Richard shares abundantly of his expertise in building teams of trust. He’s got the gifts of leadership and discernment in abundance, and is a natural leader and thoughtful speaker. Enjoy this in-depth conversation with Richard Fagerlin.

Check out Peak Solutions Group 

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by:  Purpose Driven Wealth Thrivent: Learn more

💡Learn about LoCo Think Tank

 Follow us to see what we're up to:

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain