00:00:00 Dalida Bollig
We have seven programs that each, you know, collaboratively coming together creates that system that helps the entrepreneur from incentives to loans to collaborations with the banks to space that are to be leased at a very affordable rate but with intensive coaching consulting that is free of charge so that the business can get that first help that pivoting the model, the the testing and then a makerspace that is aimed.
00:00:35 Dalida Bollig
It’s a public Innovation Center aimed for everyone, but may mainly or specifically for entrepreneurs and small businesses to innovate and to create the prototypes that leads to the density of innovation or the density of ideas that can also create small businesses.
00:00:53 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Welcome to the Kooler Lifestyle Podcast.
00:00:55 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I’m your host, Matt Kuehlhorn, and I’m excited to have you join me as I interview community members and business leaders from the communities in which I live, work and serve through my business, Kooler Garage Doors.
00:01:06 Matthew Kuehlhorn
We’re going to bring you highlights on characters in our communities.
00:01:10 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Why?
00:01:11 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Because community matters, and I want to know more about who is behind our business and leadership in order to understand and support the community fabric that our relationships make up.
00:01:21 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And collectively, we can build stronger communities that support our lifestyles, our youth and our health.
00:01:32 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Kooler Lifestyle Podcast.
00:01:35 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I’m your host, Matt Kuehlhorn.
00:01:37 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Today I’m sitting down with Dilita Bollig.
00:01:39 Matthew Kuehlhorn
She is the CEO for the Business Incubator Center in Grand Junction.
00:01:43 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Dalita, thank you so much for joining.
00:01:46 Dalida Bollig
Thank you, Matt.
00:01:47 Dalida Bollig
Thank you for having me.
00:01:48 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And you’re beaming in from the incubator center right now.
00:01:52 Dalida Bollig
Your office, yes, I’m right here at the incubator center.
00:01:56 Dalida Bollig
This is in Grand Junction in Orchard Mesa.
00:01:58 Dalida Bollig
Yes, it’s a very industrial setting and surrounded by 63 businesses.
00:02:05 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yeah, I love that in.
00:02:08 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Before we hit record, you were talking a little bit about some of the context to you mentioned Riverside Tech and the incubator.
00:02:17 Dalida Bollig
Explain that for the listeners, just so we have that clarity, yes.
00:02:20 Dalida Bollig
So RTC, which is Revenue Technology Corporation is the other organization that it’s also a nonprofit that I’m hitting.
00:02:30 Dalida Bollig
It is led by separate board than this incubation center is the owner of the property.
00:02:36 Dalida Bollig
The property was gifted by the Army Corps of Engineers to the city and the county.
00:02:40 Dalida Bollig
They helped set up RTC to maintain the property for the benefit of economic development.
00:02:47 Dalida Bollig
So we have two leases, the Department of Energy and the business incubator center from the RTC site, so operations Vic, property RTC.
00:02:58 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Gotcha.
00:02:59 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Cool.
00:03:00 Matthew Kuehlhorn
How long have you had your role there, Delita?
00:03:01 Dalida Bollig
Since last July, so almost a year.
00:03:04 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Right on.
00:03:05 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Awesome.
00:03:06 Matthew Kuehlhorn
All right, let’s build a little context to the game.
00:03:08 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Where did you grow up?
00:03:10 Dalida Bollig
I’m from Sweden, hence the accent.
00:03:13 Dalida Bollig
Yes, and I’ve been in the US 10 years of trying to lose the accent.
00:03:16 Dalida Bollig
It’s very tough.
00:03:18 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Why would you try to lose that?
00:03:20 Dalida Bollig
Well, because you know people keep asking where are you from?
00:03:22 Dalida Bollig
It’s all like, well I’ve been here 10 years I I’m from here but but I’m from Sweden.
00:03:28 Dalida Bollig
I grew up in Sweden and invested was which is about 45 minutes from Stockholm, it’s smaller city.
00:03:37 Dalida Bollig
I grew up on an island in the inland archipelago, so even smaller than the city.
00:03:44 Dalida Bollig
Going to the city was a treat.
00:03:46 Dalida Bollig
So really the city of Vested was is the city where robotics shines.
00:03:53 Dalida Bollig
In Sweden we have a BB, the huge international robotics company founded in Sweden, running operations in Sweden, where a lot of the innovation happens.
00:04:05 Dalida Bollig
A lot of this Kanye, the innovative technologies for transportation happens in that city.
00:04:13 Dalida Bollig
It’s a very industrial, it’s a very business techie city.
00:04:17 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yeah, where did the journey start sparking your interest in business?
00:04:23 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Cuz I know we’re going to geek out on this a little bit, but can you can you take me from and I I can’t even try to say the pronunciation of your hometown, but.
00:04:35 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Give us a bit of a summary and how did this unfold for you to get to where we are today?
00:04:40 Dalida Bollig
So my family comes from a very entrepreneurial background.
00:04:44 Dalida Bollig
My dad’s family has been into trade and has been tradesmen in Europe for so great several centuries.
00:04:54 Dalida Bollig
So since the early 1500s, they were running trade routes between Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
00:05:06 Dalida Bollig
Brought a lot of tea, spices, different textiles to Europe, created markets, ports, collaborated with royal families and creating the East India Company.
00:05:19 Dalida Bollig
So there’s a lot of entrepreneurship there and that kind of is something that is very normal growing up.
00:05:29 Dalida Bollig
Everyone has their business or know someone starting a business, very interested in that.
00:05:35 Dalida Bollig
I wanted to go the bureaucratic way, wanted to work for the Swedish government, started as studied political sciences, international relations, have multiple programs and just went ahead and worked for the local government.
00:05:50 Dalida Bollig
So started with the very basic city level and then started working from there up on to county, what you know, district and then region.
00:06:01 Dalida Bollig
And then was picked up for missions for Sweden and then also for the high government.
00:06:07 Dalida Bollig
So brought my work life in Sweden.
00:06:10 Dalida Bollig
I worked primarily in government.
00:06:14 Dalida Bollig
When I started working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs it was very much to promote business Sweden and businesses and entrepreneurship and innovation that’s coming out from Sweden to the five regions in the world, but also encourage other businesses to set up and and start up in Sweden.
00:06:31 Dalida Bollig
So it was, you know, the cherry on the pie.
00:06:34 Dalida Bollig
Whenever we didn’t have to do policy we were right there talking to businesses and expansion and all of the the fun things that comes with you know new countries new policies and and how do we get the Swedish model out in the world and and make sure that everyone can see things sustainably like we do in Sweden which is fairly different from the rest of Europe.
00:06:56 Dalida Bollig
So so yeah.
00:06:57 Dalida Bollig
Then fell in love, moved to the US, started my own business, simultaneously continued working for the Swedish government, was picked up for some missions for the Air Force, and this job came up and I applied.
00:07:10 Dalida Bollig
And here I am.
00:07:11 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Gotcha.
00:07:13 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Wild.
00:07:14 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Cool.
00:07:15 Dalida Bollig
Yeah, pretty wild.
00:07:18 Dalida Bollig
Thank you,
00:07:18 Luke Hylton
Hev everybody.
00:07:18 Luke Hylton
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00:07:19 Luke Hylton
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00:07:20 Luke Hylton
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00:07:56 Matthew Kuehlhorn
That’s amazing.
00:07:58 Dalida Bollig
OK, so the Grand Junction wasn’t necessarily on the map of like, I wanna get there, but they actually.
00:08:06 Matthew Kuehlhorn
It was.
00:08:06 Dalida Bollig
It was because my husband is from the West of Slope.
00:08:09 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yes.
00:08:10 Dalida Bollig
So we’ve been visiting Junction three to four times every year throughout the 10 years that have been in the US And while he was in the military, every time the military gives us time off, we would be here visiting his grandparents, cousins, uncles, aunts, family.
00:08:26 Dalida Bollig
It’s, you know, this place is home and it’s always felt like home.
00:08:32 Dalida Bollig
We’ve been wanting to move back the pandemic kind of put things into perspective for us.
00:08:36 Dalida Bollig
We we’ve been looking at different places, whether we want to continue being and more the South, let’s see southeast of the US Then we decided, you know what with the pandemic doing what it did to the world, we wanted to be closer to family.
00:08:56 Dalida Bollig
So we were in in talks.
00:08:58 Dalida Bollig
Do we get close to my family, move back to Sweden?
00:09:01 Dalida Bollig
Do we move to the West S slope?
00:09:04 Dalida Bollig
When this opportunity came up, it just made sense to be here.
00:09:08 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yeah, that’s beautiful.
00:09:09 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Seems like a great fit.
00:09:10 Matthew Kuehlhorn
What a yeah.
00:09:13 Matthew Kuehlhorn
See.
00:09:13 Matthew Kuehlhorn
OK, let’s talk about business because you know, where I was going in my mind was like, man, like your background and your experience, like it’s just right for this role at this time.
00:09:25 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Like let’s talk about the business environment in Grand Junction and from your perspective.
00:09:32 Matthew Kuehlhorn
What are you seeing?
00:09:33 Matthew Kuehlhorn
What are some of the current challenges, opportunities that are in front of us?
00:09:38 Dalida Bollig
Yes, so.
00:09:40 Dalida Bollig
So our area is rural, but not yes.
00:09:44 Dalida Bollig
And that always comes with a lot of pros, but also some cons.
00:09:48 Dalida Bollig
We are right there in the middle between Salt Lake and Denver.
00:09:51 Dalida Bollig
So we have a lot going for us, but that also means that we need to be normal about the ways that we help small businesses grow sustainably so that the jobs that are created are viable.
00:10:03 Dalida Bollig
We want to move away from the boom and bust in our industries.
00:10:07 Dalida Bollig
These are the things that have historically hurt our region the most and hurt the businesses here the most.
00:10:13 Dalida Bollig
And usually when that happens, you know the bigger companies just pick up and move or the corporate offices decide to shut down a large plant.
00:10:22 Dalida Bollig
The small businesses and the ecosystem that his vendorship and your mom and pop shops and the networks around it, your your food service, the services, these are the small businesses that hurt the most because they stay here and they try to pick up where that big plant.
00:10:39 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Left, yes.
00:10:40 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And you’re kind of referencing and then certainly you’ve done the historical work because the mining, the extraction right and.
00:10:49 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Gas oil is big for for Grand Junction but we’ve seen it all along the West where it is real boom and bust and we see the housing go with the permit like it’s just takes everything.
00:11:02 Dalida Bollig
Yep.
00:11:03 Dalida Bollig
And and that is why BIG started up the business incubator center 37 years ago, decided that this this organization is needed as an economic development organization help diversify the economy and help our population route to help our small businesses grow viably and sustainably.
00:11:25 Dalida Bollig
By diversifying the economy, we also help create this ecosystem and have a stability for businesses and jobs that helps our community grow and also age here because we want to have enough opportunities for youth to stay.
00:11:42 Dalida Bollig
That can only happen if you have that vibrant ecosystem of small businesses, the innovative, the chances to open up something and and see results.
00:11:53 Dalida Bollig
And so we see our organization at the heart of that work where we link arms with other organizations that do similar economic development aspects of of economic development and then also state, city, county entities and try to help our population thrive by, you know small businesses need in the first five years the most help.
00:12:21 Dalida Bollig
It’s a very fragile time for most small businesses.
00:12:24 Dalida Bollig
You’re you’re sending out a lot of them bootstrap, but some of them use everything they have, you know all of their savings in order to see the hurdles and be ahead of the hurdles.
00:12:36 Dalida Bollig
You need that organization that has that know how.
00:12:40 Dalida Bollig
So we pride ourselves in being part of the community.
00:12:43 Dalida Bollig
We have people from the community, important members of the community volunteering their time here, subject matter experts that come here and guide the entrepreneurs in every step of the way.
00:12:54 Dalida Bollig
And we do that free of charge, which is amazing and that’s thanks to the way that we have built our organization and the sustainability in our operations.
00:13:04 Matthew Kuehlhorn
So who is?
00:13:05 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Who is the focus?
00:13:06 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Is it for new businesses and that startup.
00:13:11 Dalida Bollig
So yes, it is both the new business or the business that is seeing a transformational change, so say changing ownership or exit needing to exit or a business that has been around for some time but now it’s facing a hurdle and needs to either expand or go through, you know, a pivoting moment of that business.
00:13:33 Dalida Bollig
We have seven programs that each, you know, collaboratively coming together creates that system that helps the entrepreneur from incentives to loans to collaborations with the banks to space that are to be leased at a very affordable rate but with intensive coaching consulting that is free of charge so that the business can get that first help that pivoting the model, the the testing and then a makerspace that is aimed.
00:14:08 Dalida Bollig
It’s a public Innovation Center aimed for everyone but may mainly or specifically for entrepreneurs and small businesses to innovate and to create the prototypes that leads to the density of innovation or the density of ideas that can also create small businesses.
00:14:26 Dalida Bollig
And so incentives, loans, space, commercial kitchen and then coworking space, lease spaces and then the Small Business Administration Center, which is a state program that is in partnership with the business Incubator center, offers classes, workshops, subject matter expertise through consulting with small businesses.
00:14:52 Dalida Bollig
It’s very common for us to see a small business come through and go through each and every program and receive all the help they need.
00:15:00 Dalida Bollig
And sometimes they realize, OK, my idea is not ready yet and they start that pivoting model or it is a great idea and we are right there to help encourage them push it out to our community.
00:15:13 Dalida Bollig
So different businesses see different things.
00:15:17 Dalida Bollig
We see businesses in all their life cycle.
00:15:20 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yeah, I love that.
00:15:23 Matthew Kuehlhorn
What do you see so?
00:15:25 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I love, I love change and I and I could hardly stay in there and change too long.
00:15:32 Matthew Kuehlhorn
But the certainly the the population is changing right now.
00:15:37 Matthew Kuehlhorn
We’re seeing Front Range bigger town folks moving into the Western slope of Colorado.
00:15:45 Matthew Kuehlhorn
COVID changed almost everything and we have technology and big plays.
00:15:52 Matthew Kuehlhorn
How is this impacting?
00:15:54 Dalida Bollig
The way businesses, I mean is it impacting how businesses start up and run And absolutely.
00:16:00 Dalida Bollig
I mean you have small businesses now having the resources and the ways to work more efficiently by using new technologies.
00:16:09 Dalida Bollig
We have, we host at the Baker space, the high 5 robotics.
00:16:13 Dalida Bollig
We are now seeing that they went from one team to four teams where you have children wanting to get into that innovative atmosphere of creating and automation is something that can be seen both positively and negatively for small businesses.
00:16:31 Dalida Bollig
It’s, you know, it’s inevitable certain areas probably faster than others, but we can all benefit from certain aspects of innovation and automation.
00:16:41 Dalida Bollig
I think as long as we do it as viably and as sustainably as possible.
00:16:46 Dalida Bollig
Where we are making sure that we are not encouraging another type of boom and bust for our region.
00:16:51 Dalida Bollig
Where diversification is the aim and the goal.
00:16:54 Dalida Bollig
So that we have a healthy atmosphere of everything.
00:16:58 Dalida Bollig
Where we have that change and that innovative and that, you know, robotics and the techie and the automation and then also the services and the industries that need to exist in or you know, your plumbers, your carpenters, your landscapers that still will be needed.
00:17:13 Dalida Bollig
I don’t see any robots anytime soon kind of going out and and painting, but maybe in the future.
00:17:19 Dalida Bollig
And why couldn’t that, you know, very successful Carpenter or painter in our region come up with that innovative idea and come and test it out here at the incubator and then find a method that can become, you know, as an example for a nationwide business.
00:17:35 Dalida Bollig
There’s a lot of opportunity in change and we are here to help make sure that it is as sustainable as possible.
00:17:43 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yes, yes.
00:17:44 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I agree that there’s a lot of opportunity in change.
00:17:47 Dalida Bollig
It can be scary for some, yes.
00:17:50 Dalida Bollig
And we are also here to to help others understand that change is inevitable and that opportunities, you know, are good for our region and specifically for our areas.
00:18:01 Dalida Bollig
We pride ourselves in being agrarian and makes a county 40% of our industry is, you know, ranching farming.
00:18:11 Dalida Bollig
And so yes, we do have the manufacturing, but maybe if we walk hand in hand with innovation, that can also transfer to new young generations that want to do these jobs in maybe more innovative ways.
00:18:25 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yes, yes, love that.
00:18:28 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Other resources for the businesses that have been around for decades, Maybe there’s a mature business owner that’s ready to exit but hasn’t really thought about it, like is that?
00:18:42 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Available.
00:18:42 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Can they get some assistance and start mapping out?
00:18:45 Matthew Kuehlhorn
How do we do this?
00:18:46 Dalida Bollig
And yes, so we would be able to help with consulting and coaching in creation of an exit plan or if they need a review of their financials or a deeper dive with them where they learn how to do their cash flow projections or how to build their model for an exit model, we can help them with that.
00:19:08 Dalida Bollig
However, our spaces are leased spaces for businesses is aimed for businesses that are either startups and new or a business that is pivoting their model or a, a, a change.
00:19:20 Dalida Bollig
So if that person sold the business and there’s a new owner to that business, they’re welcome to the space.
00:19:27 Dalida Bollig
However, if they are just building an exit plan, they’re welcome to the coaching consulting, to the incentive part of things, to creating prototypes, to accessing the loan fund, but not necessarily space that is aimed for startups.
00:19:41 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yeah, beautiful when you’re looking at business.
00:19:46 Matthew Kuehlhorn
So it’d be a little bit of a loaded question, Delita.
00:19:50 Matthew Kuehlhorn
When you’re looking at businesses and you see those successful startups, do you see them?
00:19:59 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Do you see them in the personality traits of the individual that walks in, or is it?
00:20:05 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Only recognizable years as they go along.
00:20:08 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And what might those be?
00:20:10 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Does that make sense?
00:20:11 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Loaded.
00:20:13 Dalida Bollig
Well, I mean, you’re a small business owner.
00:20:16 Dalida Bollig
Every small business carries the personality of its owner to a degree.
00:20:22 Dalida Bollig
Most small businesses evolve and grow.
00:20:26 Dalida Bollig
What you start up with may not be the end product or the.
00:20:31 Dalida Bollig
You know, what your market starts up with may not be the market that your business actually grows into.
00:20:38 Dalida Bollig
So there’s a lot of opportunity to to see a business as an evolving model.
00:20:44 Dalida Bollig
It doesn’t really help for an entrepreneur to just be.
00:20:48 Dalida Bollig
This is the only model that works.
00:20:50 Dalida Bollig
And most entrepreneurs are used to that.
00:20:52 Dalida Bollig
They are.
00:20:53 Dalida Bollig
They are very pragmatic.
00:20:56 Dalida Bollig
They take change into open arms and want to see some sort of.
00:21:01 Dalida Bollig
Evolving.
00:21:02 Dalida Bollig
That’s the cool thing about entrepreneurs.
00:21:05 Dalida Bollig
It’s a it’s a type of personality that can do it.
00:21:08 Dalida Bollig
They can go out and say, you know, it’s not being done before, but I’m going to give it my best shot and try And you know, maybe I’ll sail, a lot of them do sail, but then with failure comes other opportunities and successes.
00:21:20 Dalida Bollig
And so being able to adapt to that takes a certain type of personality.
00:21:27 Dalida Bollig
Did I answer your question?
00:21:29 Matthew Kuehlhorn
No, I agree with that.
00:21:30 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And what I’m hearing is, yeah, there’s a certain personality trait for somebody to be able to take on the risks and keep going day by day, right?
00:21:39 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And yes.
00:21:40 Dalida Bollig
We do tell a lot of people, believe it or not, that they are not ready, that their ideas are not viable, or we guide them or try to make them see if they have, say, a very, very crazy idea that hey.
00:21:58 Dalida Bollig
This is very innovative.
00:21:59 Dalida Bollig
Maybe there isn’t a market for it yet.
00:22:01 Dalida Bollig
It’s going to be an uphill battle.
00:22:02 Dalida Bollig
You’re going to have to create the market.
00:22:05 Dalida Bollig
So we are, we’re not here to just tell everyone, hey absolutely, let’s bring go risk everything.
00:22:11 Dalida Bollig
We’re here to make sure that the the risks that are taken are taken in a in a way that brings back the most profit possible for the business owner, but also for our region, the most jobs possible.
00:22:25 Dalida Bollig
And those jobs need to be sustainable so that we can retain and the creation of jobs can stay in place and then that the dollar formation that we’re helping the small business creates to our community is something that can last.
00:22:37 Dalida Bollig
So that is our mission with an economic development, job creation and retention and doubt formation, but also with small businesses that we can help innovative ideas, say if a company comes in here and they have a software and I’m not necessarily a software engineer, so I’m not I don’t understand.
00:22:55 Dalida Bollig
The innovation behind it and if they are able to explain it in a way to everyone and convince the buyer, we are here to help them.
00:23:07 Dalida Bollig
But even if we don’t understand the system, if we believe that, hey, we can get you that subject matter expert that can help you and guide you.
00:23:16 Dalida Bollig
And if if that is a viable idea, we’ll we’ll push you forward.
00:23:20 Dalida Bollig
If it’s not, let’s take it back to the shop and work on that idea.
00:23:24 Dalida Bollig
And make sure that whatever you risk you’re putting in, it is actually sustainable.
00:23:29 Dalida Bollig
So that is, it’s a process and it’s you can see the results of businesses that we’ve helped in our community.
00:23:37 Dalida Bollig
You know right now we’ve helped them 1015 years ago every year when we announced our annual report.
00:23:44 Dalida Bollig
We’re so proud of our results of the contribution that we contribute to our community.
00:23:49 Dalida Bollig
We know that the businesses that we help start up now.
00:23:52 Dalida Bollig
We will see the most impact within the next decade.
00:23:56 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yes, I love that and I love the perspective because it is about the greater community.
00:24:02 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Like there is, you know, for me where this whole venture is, the mission is a strengthened community and we can do that and make a a profit.
00:24:14 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And there’s that responsibility of paying well, having the, you know, the lifestyle, taking care of multiple people that just ripples into the families, that ripples into the community, and it goes forever.
00:24:27 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yes, exactly.
00:24:28 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I love that.
00:24:29 Dalida Bollig
I think, I think you hit it right on the spot.
00:24:31 Dalida Bollig
A lot of people think that it is just a business and that it is a model that cash flow and whatnot.
00:24:39 Dalida Bollig
In reality, it is building communities.
00:24:41 Dalida Bollig
We are helping create an ecosystem where people can stay here.
00:24:45 Dalida Bollig
These are families that then contribute to other small businesses.
00:24:50 Dalida Bollig
They have their kids go to schools here, they purchase things, they they shop around.
00:24:54 Dalida Bollig
They support our community in ways that are, you know, beyond imagination.
00:25:00 Dalida Bollig
The amount of volunteering that happens, the amount of contribution that each family that stays here and opens their business contributes to the community is you know, you can’t just calculate that and just.
00:25:12 Dalida Bollig
The process of hey, we help this business become valuable and then that’s that.
00:25:17 Dalida Bollig
We pride ourselves in being community players and luckily we have a great city and great leaders within the city and the county and the state that wants to see small businesses thrive.
00:25:29 Dalida Bollig
Your mom and pop shop and I think the pandemic put a lot of things into perspective for a lot of us, where we realize that this is the ecosystem that is the most fragile and needs the most support.
00:25:41 Dalida Bollig
But we are also here if we lose that our communities fall apart.
00:25:46 Dalida Bollig
So we are, we are very much aware of of that and it is, it is something that we carry for seriously that we need to make sure that our communities are are there, they have the tools and the resources they need so that they continue thriving and that means thriving.
00:26:05 Dalida Bollig
This year, next year, five years from now and 10 years from now, and then constantly evolving into what needs to happen, Yeah, so change is inevitable.
00:26:14 Dalida Bollig
That’s absolutely correct.
00:26:16 Dalida Bollig
But also, pivoting models is essential.
00:26:20 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yeah, I agree with that.
00:26:22 Matthew Kuehlhorn
What are we excited for?
00:26:24 Matthew Kuehlhorn
What do you see coming down the pipe?
00:26:25 Matthew Kuehlhorn
That’s.
00:26:27 Dalida Bollig
Right now, I’m really excited about the track that we started here.
00:26:30 Dalida Bollig
In collaboration with Mesa County Behavioral Health, we have started a support track for nonprofits because we believe nonprofits create an impact on our community just as much as small businesses.
00:26:43 Dalida Bollig
Yes, I do.
00:26:44 Dalida Bollig
A lot of times nonprofits, smaller ones have difficulty in, in growing their models and looking at their models as a business model.
00:26:53 Dalida Bollig
So they have.
00:26:54 Dalida Bollig
Very few teams.
00:26:55 Dalida Bollig
They were too many hats.
00:26:56 Dalida Bollig
They try to do it all and they live through what we call cycle starvation, grant cycle starvation.
00:27:03 Dalida Bollig
We started this track here.
00:27:05 Dalida Bollig
It’s a it’s an 8 week one.
00:27:08 Dalida Bollig
It’s an 8 week workshop.
00:27:10 Dalida Bollig
Model classes where we help nonprofits, smaller ones within resource agencies, know how to build a business plan know how to project.
00:27:20 Dalida Bollig
Their profits or cash flow know how to invest in their model and hire people for the right positions and not live through cycles of grants but actually build up for a growth plan and and credentialing and how to use the resources available to them within the the state and the and the federal government and and with that we are hoping that our it continues into one O 1.
00:27:45 Dalida Bollig
We’re hoping that we build a system that is solid for our nonprofits, just like the system we built for our small businesses, so that we have a holistic idea of how to help everyone in our community, be it through a nonprofit or for profit.
00:28:02 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yes, what I really love about that delete and I come from 20 years in the nonprofit sector is now that I’m in for profit.
00:28:11 Matthew Kuehlhorn
You know, I see both models and there’s a lot of similarities.
00:28:16 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And yet we can think about them and often times they get ran like they’re not.
00:28:24 Matthew Kuehlhorn
It’s a business at the end of the day, some different nuts and bolts that go into every business and nonprofits do.
00:28:33 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Again, we talked about these ripples and men, they create like massive ripples.
00:28:39 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And so I love the support of them.
00:28:41 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I think that there’s a lot of opportunity there.
00:28:44 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And yeah, I just wanted to mention that because I think that there can be a construct like it’s nonprofit, it’s all full of heart, let’s just go serve.
00:28:53 Matthew Kuehlhorn
And yet it’s a business like, let’s drive the business along.
00:28:57 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Just because it’s stated nonprofit doesn’t mean it can’t profit like.
00:29:01 Dalida Bollig
Yeah.
00:29:03 Dalida Bollig
So that’s absolutely right.
00:29:05 Dalida Bollig
And and the aim with this model is to build capacity, is to help our community.
00:29:12 Dalida Bollig
By creating more opportunities for job creation within the nonprofit sector, but also the forprofit sector, by building capacity and helping the nonprofits grow, we are actually increasing opportunities in our community so that people can choose which track they want to go into, but also not lose opportunities and and feel like I’m only.
00:29:35 Dalida Bollig
You know, there for the mission, but I can’t really make a living.
00:29:38 Dalida Bollig
We want people to to make a living.
00:29:40 Dalida Bollig
We want them to be able to root and and want to be here and and be if they work for a nonprofit or for a for profit.
00:29:47 Dalida Bollig
So we don’t want the the you know pendulum to be skewed towards the for profits.
00:29:51 Dalida Bollig
Although we want everyone to see their business as a business model, be it impact organizations or, you know, impact organizations businesswise.
00:30:11 Dalida Bollig
So we are a team of experts here.
00:30:14 Dalida Bollig
We can reach out to us at DJ incubator.org or call us.
00:30:19 Dalida Bollig
We are here five days a week.
00:30:21 Dalida Bollig
We have a large interprogrammatic giving workshops classes.
00:30:27 Dalida Bollig
We do our coaching consulting as free.
00:30:29 Dalida Bollig
Most of the classes we do have grants.
00:30:32 Dalida Bollig
If someone needs to go through a workshop and they cannot afford, we do have grants to cover certain costs, so don’t be shy.
00:30:40 Dalida Bollig
We are here.
00:30:41 Dalida Bollig
Our mission is to help our community and build economic development for our community.
00:30:46 Dalida Bollig
So don’t be shy.
00:30:47 Matthew Kuehlhorn
We’re here to help.
00:30:49 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Would that be like, if somebody has a really crazy idea?
00:30:52 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Not like.
00:30:52 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I want to encourage those folks to come talk to you.
00:30:54 Matthew Kuehlhorn
At least a reality check.
00:30:56 Matthew Kuehlhorn
If not, like the cheerleading, right?
00:30:59 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Like.
00:31:00 Dalida Bollig
Yes.
00:31:01 Dalida Bollig
So we here at all right now, we have 63 businesses on premise on campus.
00:31:06 Dalida Bollig
We have 49 acres of property and 63 businesses.
00:31:10 Dalida Bollig
We have a manufacturing building, we have a services building, we have a technology building and a trainings building and we have a commercial kitchen.
00:31:19 Dalida Bollig
A lot of our programs are in partnership with the city, the state, the, the county.
00:31:24 Dalida Bollig
So we’re really lucky to have this robust support system around our entrepreneurs.
00:31:30 Dalida Bollig
But we also help entrepreneurs that are out in our community not necessarily needing this space.
00:31:35 Dalida Bollig
So a lot of times I would say it’s 5050 with people coming to us and they already have a brick and mortar and they want to expand or they want to pivot or they want to to you know, they need some funding, they need some some help within certain things.
00:31:51 Dalida Bollig
A lot of times we meet with them, we help them.
00:31:53 Dalida Bollig
These are the the, the players in our community that usually give back.
00:31:58 Dalida Bollig
To our community because they remain and they are constant out there trying to help our community grow.
00:32:04 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Yeah, I love it.
00:32:05 Matthew Kuehlhorn
Well, I really appreciate your team and what you offer.
00:32:11 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I love the collaboration that I’ve seen with the GJ Chamber and Candace and GJP with the Economic Partnership and Curtis and I think that that is incredibly powerful.
00:32:23 Matthew Kuehlhorn
So kudos to you and and all of the players in there.
00:32:27 Matthew Kuehlhorn
We will include your website link in our show notes Salida and man, if you’re listening and you know, have an idea or have that stir in the belly or the heart, like go check in on the resources that big.
00:32:43 Matthew Kuehlhorn
I think there’s a lot there and it’s an amazing community asset.
00:32:48 Matthew Kuehlhorn
So thank you so much.
00:32:50 Dalida Bollig
Thank you.
00:32:50 Matthew Kuehlhorn
At ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for listening to the Kooler Lifestyle Podcast.
00:32:55 Matthew Kuehlhorn
We count on your subscriptions, your likes, your shares and I encourage you to do that.
00:33:00 Matthew Kuehlhorn
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00:33:04 Matthew Kuehlhorn
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