Joe Borgstrom is the Director of Downtown and Community Services Division at the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. That’s a big title, but the short version is that Joe is a smart guy about small towns. Joe and I don’t always agree. That’s good, because our conversations always challenge each of us in our thinking. […]

Joe Borgstrom is the Director of Downtown and Community Services Division at the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. That’s a big title, but the short version is that Joe is a smart guy about small towns. Let me apologize for the rough audio in the first several minutes. We had to give up on all […]

Donna Maria Johnson makes a return visit to our podcast, to share her story. She connects independent businesses like soap makers, cosmetics makers, etc., with each other. Her Indie Biz Network offers benefits like access to product liability insurance, training, and mentoring. Donna Maria lives in a smallish city and grew up spending summers on […]

Economist and Author Michael Shuman knows a heck of a lot about why we have a local movement. He’s also the author of the books Small Mart Revolution and Local Dollars, Local Sense.  In this interview, he goes all economist on durable and nondurable goods right at the start, but hang on, because we move right […]