Latest / Conservation Stories / Investing in Our Communities with Taylor McAlpine

Transcript

Investing in Our Communities with Taylor McAlpine · Conservation Stories

• 0:13
  Speaker A: Hello, friends, and welcome back again to conservation stories. This is a story where we introduce you to folks that are doing all kinds of great things across the high plains of Texas and into eastern New Mexico. Today we have with us Taylor McAlpine. And Taylor is going to talk to us about a couple of things today. One is what he does in urban areas, which is local LBK. And the second thing is what he does in rural areas, which is economic development. Taylor, thanks for being here.
• 0:42
  Speaker B: Oh, happy to be on. Thanks so much for having me.
• 0:44
  Speaker A: You know, tell us about yourself and your history a little bit. Your family. Where did you grow up? Are you from here? From somewhere else? And why? Why you're in Lubbock?
• 0:52
  Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Happy to. So, born in Austin, but raised in Lubbock, Texas. Moved to Lubbock when I was four and so proud product of Lubbock ISD. Went through Hardwick, Mackenzie Coronado, and went on to be a Texas tech radarator. I always like to tell people my mascots were a Mustang raider. Mustang Raider. And so I don't know too many people who get to brag about that. And so, really enjoyed the programming through LISD. Got to do some fun programs called future problem solving. And I think that's a lot of what got me interested in problem solving, learning about international and national issues. Some of the things we talked about back then were nanotechnology, cybersecurity, space junk. And those are all things that now, as an adult, like those, they're in the headline still. And so we're still looking for ways to how do we address these things that are impacting us in our futures? And then after LSD went to tech, did the Rawls College of business marketing and management, dual major with a concentration on entrepreneurship. And so the way I saw it, marketing was the creative side of business. And so I wanted a way to have some fun, creative messaging, artistic side to be expressed there. And then later on, discovered about management. And I was like, hey, I think I have some leadership potential or capacity and so would like to develop those skill sets. And then luckily, through that management program, learned about entrepreneurship. The fact that business and startups and economics can all be put together into a curriculum and actually taught that, yes, there are skill sets and personalities that do really well with entrepreneurship and risk and different elements that go there, but a lot of it can be broken down into assessments and measured, and there's a science to it as well. Some of the things we got to go through were research and technology commercialization, and so working with real patents from the university system and putting together a business model and trying to find partners, and even got to pitch the business model to investors. And so got to do that through a couple different programs through college. And so real world application of how do we take an idea and get it into the marketplace.
• 3:07
  Speaker A: Wow. And that sounds a lot like what they do at the hub still.
• 3:10
  Speaker B: Yeah. So some of that early programming led into the Texas Tech commercialization program and was kind of some of the feeder program for what led to the outcome of the innovation hub, a dedicated facility for all that. And so it was really cool to see that came about after I graduated, but I was able to participate in something called the kinetic accelerator. It was the first iteration, but later evolved into just the Texas Tech accelerator, which actually got to run my personal business local, the k through. So it was kind of full circle for me of getting to it as practice rounds as a student and then actually getting to use it as a resource for my own business. It's been really cool to see how the startup and entrepreneurship and investing ecosystem has continued to grow and develop around Texas tech and in West Texas in general.
• 3:55
  Speaker A: That is really great. I'd love to see that. You know, that I know one of the things that, you know, we've discussed about the hub before, not here in the podcast, but that is something we should do. We should look at having the hub on the podcast, but how it's really kind of limited to the lubbock, you know, city of Lubbock, Lubbock, this area, you know, and, and how helpful it would be to be able to expand, you know, some of that work. So tell us a little bit about local LBK first, because I think we can really run this right into the real side of it because I'm really excited about both of these things and how we can expand that. So let's talk a little bit about your business and what that looked like kind of coming through the hub and I. And where you are now.
• 4:39
  Speaker B: Yeah. So just a quick backstory on local decay. It was started right after I graduated college, and it was rather naive of me at the time to think, how do I start a business, start an Instagram account and just started taking pictures of life as a local going around town, I tell people, taking pictures of my lunches and my lattes as an anonymous account. And people appreciated the content they liked, getting to learn what to order when you go different places, what different events are going on, checking out the local farmers market, imagining what downtown could be, everything in between, doing the first Friday art trail. And so, at the time, Lubbock and Loop had just gotten started and visited. Lubbock had been obviously running for a good number of years. And so I thought there was a gap in the middle of what is Lubbock like through the lens of local. And so, over time, the account grew 30 00, 50 00, 70 00 followers. And I, at that point, we were like, man, we have some real engagement. We have some real influence. How can we leverage that to benefit our local businesses? So we launched the Keepa local program. You would go around town shopping with a little plastic card, had our logo on it. And whenever you used it on our participating businesses, you would get a reward or a discount for supporting that business. And so it wasn't anything novel. There's plenty of examples like that across the nation, but it was the first one for Lubbock, at least, that I was familiar with. And so, with that, we had some great traction. Got up to about 60, 70 partners at one point. But unfortunately, the pandemic happened, and that changed the way we operated. And so after the pandemic, we shut down for a little while. I also had a baby, and so family life changed. And so that's when I applied for the Texas Tech accelerator program, at the encouragement of one of my friends. And we decided that, hey, instead of doing this royal loyalty or rewards program for local businesses, let's pivot. Our bread and butter has always been storytelling. Let's go out and tell the stories of these small businesses, what it's like living in Lubbock, and encouraging people to kind of make their, play their part and make impact. And so that's what we've continued to do. We pivoted into almost exclusively a media model. So we go out and create content encouraging people of how to live like local and experiencing and discovering everything that's available to them in their own backyard. Using a yemenite local first, or living like a local framework, how to support their economy, support local growers, support local makers, and then from there, following kind of the degrees of impact of, hey, it's not bad to eat a McDonald's or go to chick fil a, but, uh, one of them chick fil a or actually, both of them are likely locally owned. Um, there are people in your community that are doing good things, but realizing your dollars are diminishing slightly when you support different styles of business. And so your dollar is going to go further when you go to mountain hideaway than when you buy something at academy. And so just helping people have that understanding and awareness that, hey, whenever you go to Mount Hideaway, you're supporting Kyle and his family. And they've been doing it for 32 years. And they do so much when it comes to supporting people, creating great jobs. And then for me, a big thing they do is they support a nonprofit called Open Door. And so they provide sleeping bags for those who are experiencing homelessness. It's like, man, they're giving back. They're making an impact that's going to be different than how corporations would handle it. Measuring kind of some of the non tangibles when it comes to economics of, hey, supporting local means something else, too. There's relationships, there's people, there's looking out for each other.
• 8:03
  Speaker A: Right. And especially, you know, if it's somebody recognizing that they, you know, that. That circular economy, that that money is going to come back around, you know, to them in some way. Most, most often, yeah.
• 8:14
  Speaker B: And so when it comes to kind of the conversations of circular economies, Regina farming and things like that, I'm picturing that from just the dollar standpoint. And so how do we do that on an economic level? But we get to do it through the fun perspective of, oh, where should I eat today? Oh, what's a fun thing to do with the family on the weekend? And so by changing the narrative instead of talking economic principles, we get to say, hey, when you support this place or when you try this pizza, not only are you having fun and having good quality of life, but you're actually making something more resilient at the same time. So that's the core and mission of why we do it. But we get to do it from media of, hey, when you're out and around town having fun, check out these places. Have a good time and feel good about the fact you're making impact while you do it.
• 8:58
  Speaker A: So tell me how, if somebody wants to find out about this or participate, what does that look like?
• 9:06
  Speaker B: Oh, great question. So we have a couple different ways to engage with people. One is just simply our website. And we have a business directory of locally owned businesses. And so love supporting businesses by just letting people know, hey, these people are local and they do care. This is the local difference. And so if you're looking for a local option, check out our website. We have a weekly newsletter that goes out just telling you about things to try, buy and do and about the week coming up. And so that goes out every Thursday. So we'd love for people to sign up for that. You can do that on the website as well. And then following us on social media, we've got about 20,000 or 22,000 followers on Instagram. Also have other social media, TikTok, Facebook as well. And we're going to be working on some longer form for YouTube. So just would love for people to enjoy and follow, engage on social and learn more about some of your favorite brands, get insider tips, get invited to special events, and have a good time.
• 9:57
  Speaker A: I, like you mentioned a while ago, you know, when people buy local, that they're supporting the local economy. And it's true even on the rural side, you know, that there's really ways that you're supporting farmers. Like when you buy cotton, when you go to Walmart, you can see this brand, the Walmart brand, it says better cotton. And there's a lot of farmers here in Lubbock that their cotton is going right there to that brand. And they are part of that better Cotton initiative. And one of them is lacy Vardaman. So you can, you know, when you buy your cotton from there, you buy your cotton clothes with that better cotton signal on it. You know, it's. It's likely you could be getting hot cotton from, you know, a better cotton farmer from this area because we supplied, we supply a good portion of, well, we supply nearly all of us cotton, and then we're big supplier of the whole global supply chain, so, which is why a lot of brands and retailers have been interested in, you know, the restoration of the ply lakes here because they see this region as at risk. And this is one of their, you know, places where that they know they're gonna get what they're, what we say they're getting. You know, if we tell them it's organic, it's organic, you know, so, yeah, so it's interesting, you know, because we are such a, such a global economy on the cotton side. But it is interesting to think that some of it, it does come home.
• 11:30
  Speaker B: Yeah. A lot of people were bummed when we lost the denim factory a couple years ago of, man, that felt like one of the only places where locally, our local industry was actually going and staying here. But it's good to know that. What was the name of that initiative?
• 11:46
  Speaker A: It's called better cotton. So you'll see it better cotton when you look up there. I think it's mostly on there, maybe time and true brand, but you'll see the little sign that says better cotton. And, you know, it's just farmers that are committed to, you know, different types of what we might call regenerative practices. That's kind of a new term in, you know, in agriculture. But, you know, folks that are like lacy looking at ways to be, you know, sustainable on their farms, and, you know, that means to us, that means they're economically sustainable, because if we ask them to do things that aren't economically sustainable, then we lose them and we can't, we can't lose, you know, our ag economy. So it's interesting to think, you know, that those small growers are important, but, boy, those large growers have a big impact as well. And, you know, I know that you see that in these small communities. So when you are out on your rural endeavors, you're seeing, you know, what's going on in these smaller communities, which is, you know, really they're just bleeding. So many of them. They're hemorrhaging.
• 12:49
  Speaker B: The narrative of Lubbock is really different than some of the other small towns I go to. And so I feel really blessed, the fact that I get to call Lubbock home and go home there every night, because it's a growing city, there's new homes going up every day. And most of the communities, they haven't built a new home in a couple years. And so their populations aren't changing. Their housing stock is depleting and degradating. And then from there, a lot of them are on the lower socioeconomic side. And so from there, how do you create opportunity? Rural entrepreneurship is extremely important, and that's why we get to do the work. We do what our tagline for leading edge is called, growing communities one small business at a time. And it's just the idea of how can we help these communities have another fighting chance of remaining viable and so keeping people there, keeping dollars there, having economic activity happen. And so from there, that trickles down into, oh, now my family is safer, and I can now plan for the next generation. And now we have hope, we have a purpose. We can actually have some life fulfillment and quality of life. All those things compound over time.
• 13:48
  Speaker A: Right? So tell us a little about what leading edge is and kind of what you do.
• 13:56
  Speaker B: Leading edge is a company that started about 1314 years ago up in the panhandle. Originally, it was kind of a program run by something called the Entrepreneurial Alliance, West Texas A and M. I think Amarillo, EdC and handful of other organizations were a part of this. And one of the programs they ran was a facilitator program. And so that was a free to the user service that was boots on the ground, getting to do things face to face, helping business owners and entrepreneurs have the resources they are looking for. When they need them to address the everyday challenges and hurdles that come with running and growing an operation. And so with that, that was our most successful thing. Entrepreneurial alliance ended up shutting down. But Maddie and Spencer, the two facilitators at the time, decided to keep that program running. And that was the birth of leading edge. And so we cover a territory very similar to the high ground of Texas, if you're familiar with that organization. And so all the way from Perryton down to Big Spring, generally, if you're in a community of over 5000 or so, we probably have a presence there. I serve about seven different communities. So I go from Tulia to Big Spring and have a different schedule, either going once, twice or four times a month. But once you're signed up as a client, we can support you at any time thanks to technology these days. And so if as long as it's during regular business hours, I'm just a phone or phone call or text away and then from there, knowing a lot of business owners are busy, we get to work on things asynchronously. And so they might send me a picture of a worksheet that I have them do and I get to build through your business performa for them and behind the scenes, helping them get to see the numbers, look at different considerations from there. We don't tell them, hey, you should do this business. Shouldn't we get to help them understand and interpret the numbers of, hey, how viable does this look? Is this going to put me in a better situation? What a bank back this? Do I have the resources I need to get this off the ground or, hey, this is my dream vision and I'd love to have a manufacturing facility with 30 employees and all this insurance and provide great coverage, but you're a one man person and you're starting with a welder. And so what are the things you need to do to grow to that point or what's your next step? And so helping people build roadmaps and growth plans with your current resources. And so because a lot of these people, they have dreams and visions of impacting their community and giving back and making their place better because they're proud of it, but from there they may not have all those resources available immediately to make it happen. And so we say kind of the lean startup method of well, let's figure it out, let's work with what we've got. And so that usually rings pretty true for people in west Texas of we're used to working hard and figuring out and from there, the place I get to come in is usually a little more collaborative. Well, let me come alongside you. Let's do it together. You don't have to do it on your own. You don't have to go into a blind. I get to help you learn from all of my other clients that I've been serving over these years. And then from there, you're not just getting access to me, you're getting access to the other owners of leading edge and the other facilitators and any of our industry connections. And so we get to say, oh, hey, you want to start a brewery in a rural community? Well, we've helped two other communities work on business plans for that. Let's learn from what they've done. And so hopefully helping de risk a potential enterprise by just sharing experience and knowledge and letting relationships grow from there.
• 17:21
  Speaker C: Are you passionate about conservation and climate smart agriculture? Join the Working Lands Climate Corps with the Sandhill Area Research association. We're looking for dedicated individuals to engage in hands on conservation projects and to educate local communities. As a full time member, you'll receive a living allowance, health care and child care coverage as needed. Apply now at Sarah dash conservation.com. gain valuable skills, make a difference, and help build a sustainable future.
• 17:55
  Speaker A: Kate, you probably can't maybe name some names, but can you tell us you've done a couple breweries. What are some other things that you've helped with?
• 18:04
  Speaker B: Oh, yeah. So that one is tricky. We do promise confidentiality to our clients, but we've gotten to work on some really cool projects. One of mine and mules, you actually just opened up. So if you're in that area, they just opened a play facility for people with young kids. And so imagine something like the play street museum or what's another one? Kind of the science spectrum in their kids area, creating the concept of does this work in a rural community? And something I'm really excited about is if it works in Muleshu, how many other small towns can you take that to now? Because there's young families in all these places, and if you can make the economics work in a small town, you can probably replicate that a lot of places now.
• 18:41
  Speaker A: Wow, that is. Yeah, I am. My kids were young when we lived in the muleshoe area, and I'm thinking that would have been really nice.
• 18:49
  Speaker B: Yeah. And for them, it was born out of their own self need. I'm like, man, our kids are bored. So what do we do in the summer? Where do we get a host? Birthday parties? And so they just happen to be the ones that move forward on. Act on their opportunity.
• 19:01
  Speaker A: Wow, that is really, that's a really, that's fun. So if you live in the old shoe area, you definitely need to check that out.
• 19:06
  Speaker B: But, so the industries we work with, I've got construction companies, I've got metal fabrication shops, I've got automotive shops. I have some farmers that have done ag equipment. I have bakers, I have coffee shops. And so I get to learn about all these different industries and business models. And then from there, just try to boil it down to the basics of business and say, effectively, we're all selling widgets, and widgets cost something, and can we sell enough widgets to make it happen? And so, and then from there, there's nuance that obviously applies for everyone's business model, but getting to help them take it down to the basics and just look at the core of the business model and say, hey, do we think we can make these assumptions and execute the plan to make it a reality?
• 19:50
  Speaker A: That's really exciting. And I know these towns that you go into, is it hard for you to find these folks? How do they know if you're there?
• 20:02
  Speaker B: And so, usually the way it's set up is the EDCs are primarily responsible for the promotion of our services because we're contractors for them, EDCs being economic development corporations. From there, most of it is word of mouth. And so once we work with a client, they have a positive experience, and they want to let their friends and family know, like, hey, if you have a business idea or a dream or you already own a business, give Taylor a call. He probably has a resource or can help you get to that next step of what you're trying to do from there. Often we're really collaborative with chambers, and so them being kind of the center point of business activity and relationships, client referrals, EDC promotion, word of mouth, and then chambers are usually the way it goes out. And then every once in a while, we'll get invited to do an interview with a newspaper, maybe a radio station.
• 20:44
  Speaker A: Yeah. So I think a lot of people that live in small communities, a lot of them don't even know about the economic development system. I mean, I know that until the last few years, I really wasn't aware. And I know that in the Lubbock region, there's been a lot of changes. They're not combined with tech. And I've seen lots of great things that have come out of Amarillo over the years. And part of, you know, Amarillo, I remember a couple of years ago listening to their, their mayor, I don't think she's currently the mayor, but she said, you know, something that's different about Amarillo is we see ourselves more as a region than we do as a city. And I think that's something that I wish Lubbock would embrace that idea because we are, we call ourselves the hub city, but I don't know how, you know, aware, if we're as aware of the responsibility that we have towards these rural communities that depend on us and we depend on them. We depend on them coming in, you know, into Lubbock and we depend on these farmers that are living out there when they don't make money. Let me tell you, it impacts, it impacts the city of Lubbock very deeply. You know, when farmers haven't made money, like Lacy says, now farmers make money about every ten to twelve years. It really impacts things like how often can we buy the equipment we need and how often can we replace our vehicles and things, those big ticket items that really do impact the lubbock economy.
• 22:19
  Speaker B: Oh, yeah, I remember before I even got into where I am with local decay and getting to do the work I do with leading edge, I was asking the question of, is it better for small town West Texas to exist or should it just effectively train and splat and move into Lubbock or emeril or middle and nut? And so with that, I think now it's become more and more obvious. No, these major cities in the region, they need those small towns to still exist. They want them to be vibrant and healthy. That was just from an economic perspective. Then there's the relational and social and cultural implications that go from there. But yeah, it's uber important to continue supporting and promoting those small towns because with them, I don't think the region would be as healthy.
• 22:59
  Speaker A: The EDC, like what you were talking about, higher ground of Texas, you know, there's just a lot of things like that that are going on that have some opportunities for, you know, small businesses. They're there. That's what they're there to do. You know, and, you know, oftentimes there's, there's just roadblocks that are there and, you know, getting someone like you to help figure out, you know, sometimes when things are coming down from the government, it sounds better than it actually is in reality, you know, and so to be able to hear this is the way that we were able to connect and be that, that connector for this small business to this pool of funding or this, you know, these loans, low interest loans or things like that that come through the federal government to these economic development entities, you know, a lot of people don't know how to do that. And I mean I know I've had some experience and you know, have and I'm pretty stubborn. I'm actually really stubborn. But you know I, after a while I'm like it's not, is it worth it? I don't think it's worth it, you know, and so meaning, and it's not just with those federal programs, but in general, federal programs just can be, it feels like a point for, you know, a politician to say oh look, we've done, we've invested this money, but when it comes down to the reality of getting that money and getting it working the way it should, it seems like there's just, that is difficult to do that. That's, that's difficult for just a normal citizen to do. And it feels like to me if what I'm understanding you say like this is kind of where you guys come in to say we can help you navigate this, this system and even we can help you get ready to navigate that system. These are the things that you need.
• 24:54
  Speaker B: Yeah. So outside of just kind of the coaching aspect of what we get to do of hey, do you want to do this? Is it the right time? Do you have the right resources? We get to help with the business planning and the pro forma development. But then from there developing that roadmap like I said of, hey, did you know that there are resources through SPAG, the South Plains association of Government and our economic development side and the loans that they offer. And so from there that's federal funding coming in and subsidizing these local banks to put out funding to small businesses to help keep that activity going. And man, half the people in government don't even know some of those resources exist. So the fact that we get to help plug people into these things that are out there that they probably have never heard of is hey, we've learned the ecosystem, we've made the connections. We're doing this to help create a more connected, I think, environmentally and so ecosystem. It just so happens to be a different type of system.
• 25:41
  Speaker A: Yeah, that's, I mean I'd really love that because I see, you know, so many opportunities just, you know, and just recently in my experience working with a grant, you know, and knowing what the need is and seeing this grant available, but then the hoops that you have to jump through and then having to decide, hmm, okay, how much impact is this? How much help is this really going to be? And is it going to be worth investing our time and energy in? And, you know, you have to weigh those things, you know, and I just think it's great that you are there to help, to help do that in this part of these federal programs. I think it's really great, you know, and just that hands on, you know, somebody there to hold your hand. So how much does it cost?
• 26:33
  Speaker B: Oh, so that's the wonderful part. Because of the support of the EDCs and these communities, it's actually free to the user. And so there's no barrier at that point from us being able to work with someone who's starting or doing business in that community.
• 26:46
  Speaker A: That's fabulous. I love that. I love it. So tell me how many communities you go to again.
• 26:52
  Speaker B: So I go to seven. Let me think of them. I try to go north to south. So I have Tulia, I have Milshu, I have Wolfers, I have, after that, Slayton. I have level land, big Spring and Denver City.
• 27:07
  Speaker A: Well, there's a lot of, there's a lot more little cities around. All these, I mean, I'm automatically thinking like, in my head, so how did those cities like those little communities, how do they get your services? What do they need to do to get in contact with you?
• 27:24
  Speaker B: So one way would just be reaching out to me. Taylor at leading edge so leadingedg.com and would love to start a conversation there to see if their EDC would be willing to help support this activity in their community. We get to do work that is usually beyond the scope of what an economic development director does on their day to day, they're usually managing big projects and incentives and marketing their community. And so the fact that we come in and spend face to face time with local business owners to make sure that their daily operations are good, their goal setting is good, their financing and resources are in the right places. That's very much different work. And so that's the work that we get to do. And so from there, our contracts are simple. And so if they would like to have us there, we'd love to. And then from there, sometimes in these different communities, they're willing to have that regional outlook. And so a lot of them, as long as you're in the county of the same territory that they're in, they're willing to have us be able to provide that service as well. And so just about everyone we serve is part of that higher ground. And so they see the bigger picture of, hey, it is about this West Texas region. Any business in this area is going to be do better for all of us. And so there's that regional identity that plays in there. So if you're not in a city that I mentioned that served, reach out to me. Would love to see what options we have. And then from there, either get your EDC involved or see if there's other ways that we can support you or point to other resources that are available out there.
• 28:51
  Speaker A: I love it. I do. I love it. Being a small business owner, which my husband and I are, it is a lot of work and any help that you can get getting it going and getting it set up and established is vital. It's vital you're doing vital work. And I really appreciate it.
• 29:12
  Speaker B: Oh, yeah. And we're just trying to save people headaches of, man. If you can set it up and set it up right, man, that saves you so much time and resource in.
• 29:19
  Speaker A: The end, it sure does. Well, Taylor, thank you so much for being our guest today. And thank you for what you're doing on the urban side and the rural side, which is really part of, you know, a shared value that we have with you, that both of these, both of these ecosystems are important and they work together and appreciate what you're doing. And we look forward to maybe having you on again sometime.
• 29:42
  Speaker B: We'd love that. And appreciate the work you all do. It's all central to making west Texas and really our world just a better place.
• 29:49
  Speaker A: Yes. Well, tell, would you tell. Tell our friends one more time how to connect with you.
• 29:54
  Speaker B: Yeah. So depending on which hat I'm wearing. So locallbk, you can email me at taylor ocalbk or locallbk.com if you want to sign up for a newsletter, see what we're doing there. All of our social media is linked on the website. And then tayloreadingedg.com is my email for anything for the economic development side. And leadingedg.com is a website so you can see the communities we serve and then from there share that as a resource for your friends and families that would live in the territories we serve.
• 30:23
  Speaker A: Great. And we'll share all this in the, in the show notes. So people will be able to just kind of scroll down and go right to there. We just have it all linked there so it's easy for people to find you. And we'll also share some stuff maybe on our social media about what you're doing and try to spread the word because I really think it's super valuable.
• 30:40
  Speaker B: Love it. Thank you so much. Loved having the conversation with you.
• 30:42
  Speaker A: Thanks, Taylor. And thanks, friends. For joining us again on conservation stories. We look forward to you joining us next time. Bye.