The Power of Connection
In our 2023 Predictions episode of Growing a Fruitful Brand, we predicted the importance of getting personal and taking your marketing to the next level by being authentic.
As Q1 of the year comes to a close, it's a good time to check in on your marketing efforts. Are you taking steps to get personal and genuinely connect with your audience? Are you having conversations and meeting face-to-face? Or are you relying solely on automated emails and impersonal strategies?
On episode 25 of Growing a Fruitful Brand, Ben caught up with Omaha connector-of-people, Jeff Slobotski from Millwork Commons to talk about the project and how to be authentic in your connections.
Slobotski is the co-founder of Silicon Prairie News in Omaha, a publication that helped grow a vibrant community of entrepreneurs and creatives across the Midwest and later helped fuel the now retired, annual Big Omaha conference. Now, as Business Development and Ecosystem Manager at Millwork Commons, Slobotski is providing opportunities for entrepreneurs and creatives alike to connect, collaborate, and thrive.
Check out the episode now where you listen to podcasts!
Catch up with Jeff Slobotski on twitter or instagram @slobotski or at millworkcommons.com
Ep. 25:
The Power of Connection
Automated Transcript
Ben Lueders:
Today, we're talking with Omaha legend, Jeff Slobotski, about the power of proximity, how face-to-face interactions, local events, and human connection are more important now than ever. Hey, welcome to Growing a Fruitful Brand where we discuss how to create and grow a brand that makes the world a better place for you, your customers, and your employees. I'm Ben Lueders, founder and art director of Fruitful Design and Strategy.
Jeff Slobotski is a connector. He was the co-founder of Silicon Prairie News, which grew a vibrant community of entrepreneurs and creatives here in the Midwest. That community turned into an amazing yearly event known as Big Omaha, an event that was such a big part of my own story and the story of many other Omahans.
Now, Jeff is the business and ecosystem development manager for this awesome project here in Omaha called Millwork Commons with Paul and Annette Smith, and he's going to share a bit about that today as well. I hope you're encouraged to really embrace good, old-fashioned, human interaction during my conversation with Jeff Slobotski.
In episode 13 of Growing a Fruitful Brand, Raj and I gave some predictions for 2023, and the big thing that we kind of came away with was that this year is going to be the year of personal, things getting personal, back to face-to-face interactions, local events, and meetups. As I was talking to my friend Jeff Slobotski yesterday, I realized, hey, who better to talk about personal connection, face-to-face meetings and events than the unofficial mayor of Omaha, Jeff Slobotski himself. Jeff Slobotski, welcome to Growing a Fruitful Brand.
Jeff Slobotski:
Thanks, Ben. Thanks for that intro, super kind intro and excited to be on the show and talk with you today, spend some time.
Ben Lueders:
Well, we go way back, full disclosure, I actually used to babysit Jeff's kids when there were fewer of them.
Jeff Slobotski:
Right. Fewer and younger.
Ben Lueders:
I had no kids. Now, we each have five kids, so pretty cool.
Jeff Slobotski:
They're going to babysit us soon.
Ben Lueders:
I mean, sooner than you might think.
Jeff Slobotski:
Right.
Ben Lueders:
When I first met you, however many years ago, gosh, I don't know, 13, 14, something like that...
Jeff Slobotski:
Yeah.
Ben Lueders:
... Silicone Prairie News was getting started, the Big Omaha Conference, these are things that Jeff helped to spearhead. Today, as we're talking about things, getting personal and talking about face-to-face interaction, I'd love for Jeff to tell a little bit of the history of some of these things that he helped to found that really became catalyst for a lot of cool things here in Omaha. To just start off, can you...
Jeff Slobotski:
Sure.
Ben Lueders:
... give everyone just a brief history of how in the world did Big Omaha come together and what was Big Omaha?
Jeff Slobotski:
You bet. Thanks, Ben. Excited to spend some time with you and reminisce to an extent, and maybe give some, I don't know, insight to where we're going, right?
Ben Lueders:
Yeah.
Jeff Slobotski:
As a community and future, but yeah, Big Omaha really originated out of the community that we started building through Silicon Prairie News and just give a little backstory, I was working for a tech company on the sales marketing side. This is probably late '90s, early 2000s, well, no, I'd say early 2000s, and was traveling around to these different larger cities, startup hubs, Boston, New York, Austin, San Francisco, cities in between.
I get back home to Omaha, and I'd realize that, hey, we had the same people here, entrepreneurs, investors, creatives in our own backyard, but no one was really telling their story. I started a blog just really on the side. It was called Midwest to Manhattan. It's a really-
Ben Lueders:
That's before my time. I don't remember that.
Jeff Slobotski:
It was short-lived, because the URL, it's like, how do you type that all out? Dot com, forward slash, all this stuff, but it was really, and I kind of took this approach. I'm like, "Well, who wants to read it?" It was first person narrative. It was like, "Who wants to read about me talking about where I was going," but kind of quickly shifted. I came up with this idea, Silicon Prairie.
Ben Lueders:
Did you come up with that name?
Jeff Slobotski:
It's like it, I didn't trademark it. We didn't trademark it necessarily, but it was this idea to say you had Silicon Valley in San Francisco, kind of west coast. You had Silicon Alley in New York, kind of people associated New York, and this startup community there was Silicon Alley, and it was this idea to say, hey, the Prairie, when folks think Omaha, they think Midwest. They think dust.
Ben Lueders:
Flyover, state, [inaudible 00:04:47].
Jeff Slobotski:
Yeah, fly over, no internet, no paved roads. I guess, maybe in some parts of this city it's still the same, but for the most part, we've got paved roads here.
Ben Lueders:
It's getting better.
Jeff Slobotski:
It's getting better. We've come a long way over the last 15 years.
Ben Lueders:
That's right.
Jeff Slobotski:
It was this idea to say, let's just kind of play on the ag kind of native background of where we're at, right?
Ben Lueders:
Yeah. You planted a flag then.
Jeff Slobotski:
Sure.
Ben Lueders:
I came into the mix when it was already Silicon Prairie News, and it was already called that. I thought it was so cool when I heard it, because it was at that time, I mean, there was a lot of cool tech startup stuff starting to happen. I mean, big thanks to you and the people around you and that community coming out of Silicon Prairie News. I said Valley, but it just was so cool that you guys kind of owned it a little bit too. It was like, "No, we are the Silicon Prairie and it's kind of funny." The little groundhog or Prairie dog or whatever is the mascot.
Jeff Slobotski:
We had the mascot, and again, it wasn't something a head of corn or a cow or something.
Ben Lueders:
Right.
Jeff Slobotski:
Cows came in later with Omaha.
Ben Lueders:
That's right.
Jeff Slobotski:
It started with the Prairie dog. Again, I think the biggest thing, when we would talk to friends or just folks outside the area, they were like, "You're trying to mimic Silicon Valley or Silicon Alley." That wasn't it either, right?
Ben Lueders:
No.
Jeff Slobotski:
It was kind of trying to say, "Hey, this is unique. The people, the skills, the companies that were here in our own backyard are unique to here, but it needed to have a naming and kind of branding." You know that better than anybody.
Ben Lueders:
Oh, yeah.
Jeff Slobotski:
You got to have a brand...
Ben Lueders:
I thought it was brilliant.
Jeff Slobotski:
... a naming on it.
Ben Lueders:
It was absolutely brilliant. Who helped with the design and branding and stuff at that time for Silicon Prairie News?
Jeff Slobotski:
Yeah. That's a great question. A lot of it was internal.
Ben Lueders:
Nice.
Jeff Slobotski:
Dusty and his team.
Ben Lueders:
That's right.
Jeff Slobotski:
We had kind of creatives...
Ben Lueders:
Bright Mix.
Jeff Slobotski:
Bright Mix. Exactly. Oxide Design did the branding for Big Omaha.
Ben Lueders:
Oh, man, so good, so good.
Jeff Slobotski:
Yeah.
Ben Lueders:
Do all those sites, are they still alive? Can you go, because I know that there was a while there where you could go and see some of that old branding because every year, Oxide would do this amazing event branding for Big Omaha.
Jeff Slobotski:
For sure.
Ben Lueders:
Now, we're getting into Big Omaha now. Big Omaha, this in-person conference kind of grows out of what was going on with the community in Silicon Prairie News.
Jeff Slobotski:
Right. Exactly.
Ben Lueders:
Tell about that. What year was that?
Jeff Slobotski:
Yeah, '09 was the first year. To your comments, Ben, it was this idea, we were holding some smaller gatherings and meetups when Silicon Prairie News was around. We called them Tweetups, right? Using Twitter and kind of that whole platform, but a lot of it was like, hey, you're a creative designer and you're doing cool work, tweeting back and forth, and it's say, "Let's get people together in a shared space, and not just reading information online or communicating [inaudible 00:07:39] online."
Ben Lueders:
I told you, he's all about this. He's all about this human connection, this guy.
Jeff Slobotski:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, but this is a different conversation, than if you and I were on Zoom, right?
Ben Lueders:
Right.
Jeff Slobotski:
Where you and I are just kind of tweeting back and forth, or whatever it is today, be real or...
Ben Lueders:
Whatever.
Jeff Slobotski:
... chattering in between.
Ben Lueders:
TikTok.
Jeff Slobotski:
TikTok. Exactly. Doing TikTok videos back and forth. It was this idea to say, "Hey, we started to see people that were coming out to events and just get-togethers, bar camp were some of the early the great events back in the day. That was exciting. That was infectious. It was motivating. There's so many other words I think that we could include around that time period. It was this idea to say, there's great power in connecting people, not only online, but offline as well, right?
Ben Lueders:
Right.
Jeff Slobotski:
You get two individuals talking to one another, brainstorming up an idea for a company or a new brand or whatever it might be, and they go off and do something great. I don't know. Looking back at it, I feel like it gave everybody a sense of identity...
Ben Lueders:
Yes.
Jeff Slobotski:
... a sense of belonging to something bigger, right?
Ben Lueders:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. You felt like you found your tribe, your community. There was many tribes within. You come to Big Omaha...
Jeff Slobotski:
Absolutely.
Ben Lueders:
... there are lots of different people, but for me, and Jeff knows this, but I kind of came on the scene in Omaha. I was working as a designer in my basement for a company overseas in Hawaii, actually, where I'm from, and I didn't know anybody. I had Twitter...
Jeff Slobotski:
Sure.
Ben Lueders:
... and early days of Facebook and all that stuff. There was all these people I was following, and Jeff being one of them. I saw this all kind of happening virtually. Then, I won this coloring contest to go to Big Omaha...
Jeff Slobotski:
It's amazing.
Ben Lueders:
... 2011, I believe. That's where I met everyone. That's where I got a job off of the attention that that gave me, and that kind of got me out of my basement, into the real world. It was so fun to meet all these people that I'd been watching from the distance...
Jeff Slobotski:
Sure.
Ben Lueders:
... and then just feel like instantaneously, I felt like I was a part of this community. I'm just some...
Jeff Slobotski:
That's awesome.
Ben Lueders:
... kid just showing up, having lunch with some of my idols at the time. That was a lot of fun. I think was Gary V., I think was there that year, wasn't he?
Jeff Slobotski:
Yeah, probably 11. Gary V. came a lot of the early years.
Ben Lueders:
Yeah. Marc Ecko.
Jeff Slobotski:
Yeah, Marc Ecko, but your comment's, Ben, I mean, that gets me excited, even just hearing that story. Again, fast forward to where we are today and what you've done and your team's done...
Ben Lueders:
Thank you.
Jeff Slobotski:
... not only in Omaha, but again, doing work around the country, around the globe, right?
Ben Lueders:
Mm-hmm.
Jeff Slobotski:
That's what motivates me, frankly, and that's what excites me kind of internally, right?
Ben Lueders:
Yeah.
Jeff Slobotski:
It's you or anyone else being a part feeling they can take the first step to get involved in a community, taking that first step. The initiatives on them too. We can't just say, snap your fingers and you've got an amazing design and identity firm like you do. There's work that is dependent upon the individual as well, but Big Omaha, gosh, looking back at it again, we had some really fun times. We had some really fun people come in.
Ben Lueders:
Oh yeah.
Jeff Slobotski:
The thing that I really enjoy was some of the individuals that came in, some of the speakers that came in, just their humility, their sense of curiosity to want to learn from others in the community, and the culture and the DNA...
Ben Lueders:
Sure.
Jeff Slobotski:
... of what the Midwest was about and what Omaha was about was really encouraging.
Ben Lueders:
When you first reached out to these people, were they like, "What the heck? Omaha? Do I want to come here?
Jeff Slobotski:
Pretty much, pretty much. A handful were like, gosh, I'm trying to think, some of the early guys. Miha Baldwin was another one. A lot of folks owe a lot to him and just the time that he spent with people and just his raw honesty about his life's journey, as well as an entrepreneur, as a human, as an individual. He remains a close friend today.
Ben Lueders:
Absolutely.
Jeff Slobotski:
A lot of the folks that came in, they're real people. They're humans just like us. Maybe they've sold another company or two more than we have, or started a bigger branding agency, whatever it might be, but at the end of the day, they have that sense of curiosity and wonder and creativity too.
Ben Lueders:
I thought a lot of vulnerability on the stage. These people, some of those speakers were just sharing right from their heart. It wasn't sugarcoated. It was the real nitty-gritty stuff that people need to know. We're all in this together starting something or doing whatever. There was some really great, some really good talks in those early days.
Jeff Slobotski:
Yeah. No, I absolutely agree. There was a lot of fun too. Marc Ecko, the 10 Commandments of a startup, 10 Commandments of an entrepreneur, and he had Biggie Smalls playing in the background as he is chopping down the top 10 tips for entrepreneurs, but then there was also, like you said, the raw honesty from others about this is hard stuff, starting company, and not just even starting a company, frankly, just living life.
I think it was a really special time. Some of the greatest memories I have are of guys, Marc Ecko, who you mentioned, or Gary or whoever. Marc Ecko, I grew up seeing the Ecko Unltd logo on my friend's t-shirts and then you blink, and he's in the back of KANEKO in Omaha, Nebraska, and it's like, "Wait, what's going on? Is this another dream?" After the talk, he didn't head for the green room, which we didn't have a green room.
Ben Lueders:
That's why he didn't head there.
Jeff Slobotski:
Right, exactly. That's why [inaudible 00:13:28], he wouldn't have been there.
Ben Lueders:
He would've been there the whole time.
Jeff Slobotski:
Yeah, maybe.
Ben Lueders:
Maybe.
Jeff Slobotski:
Right. Exactly. Hanging out in the back with the M&Ms and waiting for the private plane, but we didn't have either of those. He's sitting in the back of KANEKO just talking to people for hours and just motivating them and answering questions. To me, over the years as I've grown, I'm like, "I don't care about titles. I don't care about your accolades, what you've done that.
That's doesn't mean anything to me," but if you can spend time with another individual, regardless of who you are, your status, your stature in life, look them in the eyes, and listen to their story, truly listen, that, to me, is impressive. If you happen to be Marc Ecko or somebody else, but you treat people, anybody with that level of respect and humility and just curiosity, again, that's what I tell folks all the time, that's a win. That's a real person right there.
Ben Lueders:
I love that you keep coming to this idea of curiosity, because I do think that that is at the heart of this. I think a lot of times, people don't make time to go to the event or to have the conversation or...
Jeff Slobotski:
Sure.
Ben Lueders:
... whatever, and I think at the heart of it, sometimes it's just a lack of curiosity. We're busy.
Jeff Slobotski:
Yup.
Ben Lueders:
It's easy for us to be focused on ourselves and our own problems and what's going on. We all have a lot going on, but becoming curious about the other person, about other people and what other people are doing is crazy. The amount of good that can come to you from that posture too, I mean, just having that kind of hunger and interest, you'll find, for us, curiosity is a big part of Fruitful because if we're not curious, we're not solving people's problems.
Jeff Slobotski:
Right.
Ben Lueders:
That's what our whole posture has to be about being curious enough to, "Hey, where are you stuck with? How can I help you?"
Jeff Slobotski:
Sure.
Ben Lueders:
That's where collaboration really comes in too.
Jeff Slobotski:
Absolutely.
Ben Lueders:
I think of Big Omaha as just a cool, a lot of C words here, but collision and a lot of collaboration that came out of the interactions and stuff in those days. Do you have any other cool stories, Big Omaha stories before we move on to the present time?
Jeff Slobotski:
How much time do we have? Yeah. Present time. Got you.
Ben Lueders:
It's a three hour a three-hour conversation.
Jeff Slobotski:
Three-hour show. Right. No doubt. I don't know. It's so many countless one. I think some of the, one of the really fun ones that I enjoyed was Scott Harrison, who's the founder of Charity:Water, an amazing global nonprofit based, well, now based kind out of New York and Nashville, but they're building wells across the country and serving communities that don't have clean, healthy, pure drinking water.
Got connected with Scott through a mutual friend. He came in and spoke at Big Omaha, I don't know, 700, 800 people in KANEKO. You could hear a pin drop during his talk. At the end of it, just gets a standing ovation, which is awesome, which is amazing. People kind of raising their hand to be involved and get involved in Charity:Water, expand kind of their work. Then, gosh, I think it was three or four speakers that had also come in for Big Omaha that are talking to Scott afterwards that agreed to sign up to be key major donors.
Gary was one of them, Vaynerchuk, Jason Fried from 37signals and a couple other guys. Not only do you have the connection happening on a local, regional level, but you have the connection happening on more of a national, global level. Other successful entrepreneurs that are hearing Scott's story that are like, oh my gosh, I want to make an impact. I want to make a difference, too. Right? That was, some of those connection points were a lot of fun.
Ben Lueders:
That's super cool.
Jeff Slobotski:
Yeah, a lot of good times. A lot of good times through the years.
Ben Lueders:
Well, it's funny, as you're reminiscing down memory lane here, the funny thing for me, and maybe I was just living under a rock or something, but Big Omaha is where I found out about all this stuff. I remember I found out about Uber at Big Omaha. I found out about, I didn't know who Gary V was until Big Omaha. Now...
Jeff Slobotski:
Sure.
Ben Lueders:
... these guys were kind of rising. Now, Gary Vaynerchuk is huge.
Jeff Slobotski:
Exactly.
Ben Lueders:
It's like, yeah, but it was really fun to me because it was how I learned about a lot of things that were happening outside. Then, pretty soon, these things, Scott Harrison, Charity:Water and stuff, those are household names now, but at the time, that was how I found out about it. I might have been under a rock. I don't know.
Jeff Slobotski:
No. No. You weren't. You weren't. It was early. That was some of the things too, looking back at it, we wanted to find the rising stars if you were, the rising ideas, even because Charity:Water, but also guys like Neil Blumenthal from Warby Parker...
Ben Lueders:
Warby Parker, yeah.
Jeff Slobotski:
... and came in and talked about how Warby Parker was going to disrupt LensCrafters, and everyone in that room believed it, but also was like, "Well, is this really going to happen? Do they really have the wherewithal to do it?" Then now, it's like, where is it?
Ben Lueders:
My wife wears Warby Parker.
Jeff Slobotski:
Exactly.
Ben Lueders:
It's like, Warby Parker screen glasses.
Jeff Slobotski:
Yup.
Ben Lueders:
It's crazy, but that was where I first heard about Warby Parker. I was like, "This is like, wow. This is an amazing idea...
Jeff Slobotski:
Sure.
Ben Lueders:
... I sure hope this works out."
Jeff Slobotski:
Right. Exactly.
Ben Lueders:
It did. A lot of people have copied it too.
Jeff Slobotski:
Yes, since then. Yeah. I think it's that idea that when we listen to something, whether it's a podcast or a speaker, Big Omaha, or we meet somebody, they plant a seed or an idea or a concept in your head that, "Wow, I could do something big, bold, push the envelope too."
Ben Lueders:
Oh, yeah.
Jeff Slobotski:
How do I start? Where do I start? Then, you look around a room and you see, okay, hey, I'm not the only crazy one in here, right?
Ben Lueders:
Right.
Jeff Slobotski:
There's hundreds of others. That's where I think there that power comes from just being open to that curiosity.
Ben Lueders:
Well, and one of the things I just love about it that I loved about it was it's called Big Omaha, and you did bring in these big speakers, but in a lot of ways, it was a local event. It was a regional event. You know what I mean?
Jeff Slobotski:
Sure. Yeah.
Ben Lueders:
It wasn't like you had to go fly somewhere far away. Most of the people that came, I imagine, were people from Omaha, Nebraska Council, the area, the Prairie, more or less. I mean, is that safe to assume...
Jeff Slobotski:
Yeah.
Ben Lueders:
... most people that were coming were regional?
Jeff Slobotski:
In the start, but towards, I'd say kind of middle to end of the event or end of the years that we ran the event. I think one year, we had folks from 25 states.
Ben Lueders:
Wow.
Jeff Slobotski:
We started-
Ben Lueders:
Really starting to making a name for itself.
Jeff Slobotski:
It did. It did. Definitely a heavy contingent through the Midwest, but also we are getting a lot of friends and just other folks from New York and LA and San Francisco...
Ben Lueders:
That's cool.
Jeff Slobotski:
... that were coming in to be like, "Something's going on in the Midwest."
Ben Lueders:
What is this? That's cool?
Jeff Slobotski:
Yeah. Yeah.
Ben Lueders:
That's super cool. Well, I love the heart of it. It starts as this local thing...
Jeff Slobotski:
Right. Totally.
Ben Lueders:
... and even embraced the name...
Jeff Slobotski:
Yes.
Ben Lueders:
... Big Omaha and really, that's one of the things I've always loved about you. It's the same with the Prairie, same with Big Omaha, is just you really not being ashamed of the Midwest. You're kind embracing it.
Jeff Slobotski:
Sure.
Ben Lueders:
With Big Omaha, it's like the cow. It's okay. There's a bunch of cows. I hear a lot of people trying to, "We're not like this. We're not like this."
Jeff Slobotski:
Yes.
Ben Lueders:
You drive through all the rest of Nebraska and you just see cows and cornfields.
Jeff Slobotski:
Yeah. Sure.
Ben Lueders:
It's real, and it's fun to, this is what people think of you. Why not embrace it to some degree and have a Prairie dog as your mascot or whatever. It's kind of fun and it's something unique about us instead of something to be ashamed of, but I loved how it was this kind of local first thing. That was another thing that Raj and I talked about in that predictions episode was this idea of, especially as we're coming out of, I mean, COVID's been going on for four years or something like that, but we're coming out of this era where there was not as much face-to-face, shall we say, interaction and events, et cetera.
Since then, a lot of people's work looks a lot different. There's a lot more remote work, et cetera, a lot of people working from home, and a lot of people have cut back on their travel budgets and conference budgets that we see there's going to be a whole lot more just local events and local things happening. Jeff, you're the kind of guy who has your pulse on what's happening in town, and that's a lot of the job that you do now.
Jeff Slobotski:
Sure.
Ben Lueders:
I was just curious if you could just share what are some cool things for our Omaha listeners, what are some cool things that people could be a part of now, or anything that you're excited about from your vantage point?
Jeff Slobotski:
I'd say there's so much going on in this city coming out, like you said, of the pandemic over the last couple of years. It's interesting to see, I feel like the level of, or the energy level, if you will, is where it was around the time of Silicon Prairie News in the early years of Omaha, right?
Ben Lueders:
Yeah. I think you're right. Yeah.
Jeff Slobotski:
The new Gene Leahy Mall and Parks, I should say, that have been redone along the riverfront that's opening later this summer in a building in not just a building, but actually the Kiewit Luminarium is something that I'm just, I'm thrilled that is in our city.
Ben Lueders:
Talk about that for a minute. For those who maybe don't know, because my goodness, there's some crazy development happening here in Omaha. You're right, the Gene Leahy Mall, and it's stretching now towards the riverfront, and then, that's going to lead you right to this Kiewit...
Jeff Slobotski:
The Kiewit Luminarium.
Ben Lueders:
... Luminarium.
Jeff Slobotski:
Yeah, which is Science and Exploratorium, I'd say, kind of exploring the idea of science and creativity and just all things wonder, all things creativity. The individual, Silva Raker, who's running that, gosh, we're so lucky to have her in this city and her experience with the Exploratorium in San Francisco, and not only Silva, but gosh, she's just got a rockstar team that she's assembled there of humans from Omaha that have done great work.
Just the concept of the way that they want to open that space up and make it accessible to all Omahans across the community. It's not, "Hey, if you can afford the membership fee or the entrance fee at the door, then we're going to allow you in." Nope, that's the farthest thing down on the list for them. It's like, how do we get the most people from the community into this building in this space.
Ben Lueders:
That's so, so cool.
Jeff Slobotski:
It's the building, but less the building and more of the concept and the people behind it than I'm excited by. Millwork Commons, obviously, the development that working on right now with our team, just thrilled, that came online a handful of years ago, right before COVID.
Ben Lueders:
Yeah. Let's talk about this a little bit.
Jeff Slobotski:
Sure.
Ben Lueders:
This is what Jeff's doing now, and for those who are in Omaha, you know what Millwork Commons is. You've been hearing about it. There's a lot of cool stuff happening there, but if you just want to kind of talk a little bit about your role...
Jeff Slobotski:
Sure.
Ben Lueders:
... at Millwork Commons and kind of what's happening there. We met there yesterday. There's amazing Archetype Coffee has a location in there. There's Coneflower Creamery, the greatest ice cream in Omaha. It has a second location opening up there. This is going to be the place to be in the next two to five years. Tell us about your role there and what's happening in this area just north of where we're at right now.
Jeff Slobotski:
Right. No. I came on board about three years ago now, and really focusing on the business and ecosystem development. Those are just terms, names, working with Paul and Annette Smith, and the amazing team that we've got assembled with us there. Millwork really is this idea, I often say it's a physical manifestation of what we are doing with Silicon Prairie News in Big Omaha, in a sense, for me it is, right?
What I mean by that is, is it's a place that you can come and be inspired by other entrepreneurs, artists, creatives, that are in our city, whether that's over a coffee or over a meal, or at an event that happens in the space.
Ben Lueders:
It's not just an event. It's an actual place and space.
Jeff Slobotski:
Yes.
Ben Lueders:
It's really embodying that spirit.
Jeff Slobotski:
Yes. Yeah. All in, it's about 40, 45 acres of land of development. This doesn't happen overnight and it hasn't.
Ben Lueders:
Yeah. It's not just one building too. This is the mastercraft, and there's a lot of things around it and some more stuff that's coming up too, right?
Jeff Slobotski:
Absolutely. Yeah.
Ben Lueders:
More housing or development stuff happening.
Jeff Slobotski:
Right. Mastercraft is there is part of Millwork Commons and has been in operation, gosh, for the last dozens of years.
Ben Lueders:
Oh yeah. A big part of that Silicon Prairie stuff...
Jeff Slobotski:
[inaudible 00:26:14].
Ben Lueders:
Came a lot of cool stuff happening at that time. I mean, that's where John Henry was.
Jeff Slobotski:
Dave Nelson, John Henry.
Ben Lueders:
Dave Nelson.
Jeff Slobotski:
Megan Hunt from Camp Collective.
Ben Lueders:
Coworking. Yeah.
Jeff Slobotski:
Flywheel started out there, [inaudible 00:26:25] Mortar, [inaudible 00:26:27].
Ben Lueders:
We're like the ones that did it. We actually looked at a space in the Mastercraft and we ended up settling here, but-
Jeff Slobotski:
You were down there. You were down there. [inaudible 00:26:33].
Ben Lueders:
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I worked a day with John Henry and those guys. Yeah, it's super fun.
Jeff Slobotski:
Sure.
Ben Lueders:
Super great space.
Jeff Slobotski:
Mastercraft and then the Ashton Building, which is identifiable, got a great colored water tower at the top. If you get lost [inaudible 00:26:49].
Ben Lueders:
Hard to miss.
Jeff Slobotski:
Yeah. It's hard to miss. It's adjacent to Hot Shops. Hot Shops isn't in Millwork Commons proper, but great partners. They've got 90 plus artists from the community that have little kind of workspaces there and encourage folks to check that space out if you haven't seen Hot Shops before.
Ben Lueders:
That's a really cool, and that has been around for a long time. I remember touring Hot Shops as a student back in the day, and a lot of students in the Omaha area, they've been to Hot Shops where some people have taken pottery classes.
Jeff Slobotski:
Sure.
Ben Lueders:
There's a lot of things, activities you can do, but that is, yeah. If you know where Hot Shops is, this is just north of that, right?
Jeff Slobotski:
Just north, yeah, kind of north, east, north everything, direction right next door to it. As you mentioned, Ben, the Hello Apartment, they'll just opened up earlier this year or I should say earlier, mid last year. There's about 172 units in those apartments. We're building another apartment building just east of Hot Shops. That's actually broke ground already. Probably be right in about a year and a half, 2 years, 18 months, somewhere there. Another 170 plus apartments.
Ben Lueders:
Wow.
Jeff Slobotski:
Then, we're continuing to develop the buildings and the land around the existing infrastructure, but I think the biggest thing is too, is it's not only about the buildings themselves, but it's about the programming and the advancing activity that happen within Millwork Commons.
Ben Lueders:
Right. Tell us about that. What kind of things do you have going? What could people locally here in Omaha be more involved in with Millwork Commons?
Jeff Slobotski:
The easiest way to find out everything going on is subscribe to the newsletter on our socials, millworkcommons.com is the website. You can hop on the newsletter there.
Ben Lueders:
Awesome.
Jeff Slobotski:
Then, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Millwork Commons, because there is just, every week there's a handful of things, whether it's yoga on Thursday nights with a local yoga instructor, Lizzie, and that rotates throughout the year. 1 Million Cups, which is entrepreneurial startup focused every Wednesday morning, 8:00 a.m. Gosh, I think 50, 60 people from across the community are coming every Wednesday morning.
Ben Lueders:
Wow.
Jeff Slobotski:
There's a monthly event called Millwork Conversations where we sit down with kind of local change agents and leaders from the community doing great work and have a discussion with them.
Ben Lueders:
You often host that, right?
Jeff Slobotski:
I do. Yeah.
Ben Lueders:
Yeah.
Jeff Slobotski:
Host aside, great guests, and great friends.
Ben Lueders:
Yeah, it's in spite of Jeff, that is.
Jeff Slobotski:
Come down and just listen to the individuals. Again, I mentioned Silva from the Luminarium, she's new to town herself, or was at the time, but again, there was, I don't know, 70, 80 people that came down because they were like, "We need to know more about what's going up on the riverfront. We want to see it." A lot of it is how does Millwork partner with other great organizations across the community too?
Some of it's like, "Hey, Culxr House on North 24th is hosting this event for youth and focused on arts and music. We want to promote that. We want to send people to Culxr House as well, or Highlander for good work that's happening," or just get the word out in the community that we want to partner with other amazing nonprofits and organizations and the [inaudible 00:30:11].
Ben Lueders:
That's such a cool posture though, Jeff, because it's not just like, "Hey, everything cool is happening right here, and if you're not here." It's like, "No, there's all kinds of cool stuff popping up around."
Jeff Slobotski:
Sure.
Ben Lueders:
It's not just at Millwork. That's cool that you guys are willing to promote other cool things happening as well.
Jeff Slobotski:
Right. Right. The rising ships kind of mentality. If Millwork can play a role in that, then amazing and we want to. Minutes from the airport, and I'd say as a lifelong Omahan too, most of the development has been south of Cuming Street, right?
Ben Lueders:
Yeah.
Jeff Slobotski:
As you come in from the airport and you look, and see the ballpark and the convention center and all the great development, again south of Cuming, Creighton University, Kiewit headquarters, but there's amazing things happening north of Cuming Street, right?
Ben Lueders:
Oh yeah.
Jeff Slobotski:
It has been.
Ben Lueders:
Yeah.
Jeff Slobotski:
Again, how can we play a role within Millwork? How can we play a role as individuals in this city to talk about the great things that are happening across our community, right?
Ben Lueders:
Right.
Jeff Slobotski:
Not just in one area or one part of town, but to say, "Hey, did you know what's going on here? Hey, come with me to this event at this part of town." Just kind of continue to spread the word, I think is good.
Ben Lueders:
That's awesome. Jeff, one of the things I noticed yesterday, and I've noticed it before, even in the Big Omaha days, but when we were hanging out yesterday, you just have this way of just kind of acknowledging the presence of everyone you're passing on the sidewalk or in the coffee shop. I just notice you just kind of acknowledging and saying hello to people.
Now, maybe you just know everybody, but sometimes I suspect it's people that you maybe don't even know. You're just kind of, and I think that's an amazing, and maybe that ties into the curiosity, but I was just curious if you could give people some tips on how they can just be more present with people and just more inviting to those kinds of collision, because I see you as someone who's very well-connected and has really embraced these kind of just very human interactions. I think some, maybe might be a little more shy about that...
Jeff Slobotski:
Sure.
Ben Lueders:
... or maybe more afraid to do that. I don't know, do you have any just practical tips or things that you've kind of embraced to be just a more inviting and, yeah. Friendly guy.
Jeff Slobotski:
Thank you.
Ben Lueders:
How do we be more like you?
Jeff Slobotski:
Oh, goodness. No, that's not that.
Ben Lueders:
That's not really the question.
Jeff Slobotski:
That book comes out, never.
Ben Lueders:
Oh darn.
Jeff Slobotski:
No. Thanks, Ben. Gosh. You try to boil it down, if you will, to a handful of things. I think it's this sense of just not losing the curiosity for life and for people. It's been a bumpy last couple of years, for sure for all of us, right?
Ben Lueders:
Yeah.
Jeff Slobotski:
Not just for me. I've kind of turned internally and maybe get a little bit guarded or a little bit jaded just towards life and towards society in a sense, and say, "You know what? This is tough and I've got it figured out, and I've got family to take care of." Who needs to smile at somebody on the street, or who cares what so-and-so's doing, but I think all of us have that sense of curiosity and sense of wonder. I think it gets t tamped down, or whether that's through school or life or just experiences. We kind of just get burnt out, if you will.
I don't know. It's this idea to say everyone's got a story, but will we stop long enough to hear it and will we stop long enough to listen? We are go, go, go and I'm go, go, go all the time, and there's been a lot of reading and podcasts and things I've been listening to over the last handful of months too, that are this whole idea that just stop and be present because you're going to miss opportunities, right?
Ben Lueders:
Right.
Jeff Slobotski:
We look back and we talk about Big Omaha and Silicon Prairie News, but a lot of what made those experiences in that time period memorable for all of us, was the ability for us to stop and just be present in that space.
Ben Lueders:
Clear your schedule and just be present.
Jeff Slobotski:
Yeah.
Ben Lueders:
Yeah.
Jeff Slobotski:
Talk to somebody else. Hear what they're working on. Again, ask the speaker to come into Omaha, Nebraska. I mean, again, I say I didn't coin this line, but the answer's always no, unless you ask.
Ben Lueders:
That's good. Write that down kids.
Jeff Slobotski:
If you don't, if you're not, you say Marc Ecko, oh man, he's not coming into Omaha, Nebraska.
Ben Lueders:
[inaudible 00:34:42].
Jeff Slobotski:
Well, he's not, because you're not going to ask, right? It's this idea of molding all this together.
Ben Lueders:
I have the same thought with getting Jeff Slobotski on the podcast.
Jeff Slobotski:
Stop.
Ben Lueders:
It's like, there's no way he would ever, but I asked, and here he is. There you go.
Jeff Slobotski:
Ben, stop. You are funny.
Ben Lueders:
He's my Marc Ecko.
Jeff Slobotski:
You are funny. Yeah. Marc Ecko. This is the [inaudible 00:35:01].
Ben Lueders:
[inaudible 00:35:01] Slobotski.
Jeff Slobotski:
Yeah, exactly. Goodness. No. I think, I don't know. It's tough. I don't do it perfectly, but I think it's this idea to say, "Gosh, there's so many relationships. There's so many people around us in our lives." Again, there's going to be people that were like, "I do not click with you. Our views do not align."
Ben Lueders:
Oh yeah.
Jeff Slobotski:
You're upsetting to me, but you can still treat that person with a sense of dignity and humility. You don't need to hang out with them, get coffee, every week or every month, but you also don't need to, I don't know, throw them by the wayside and belittle them on social media, whatever it is. Life's too short for that.
Then, when you find great people and great work happening wherever that is, whether that's Omaha, whether that's Ohio, whether that's New York, it's this idea to say, "Hey, just change the narrative on your city, your community, other people in the community." All of us have the power to do that, right? It's literally a post online on social media, be like, "Hey, did you know about this great organization," or, "Hey, check out what Fruitful Design's doing. Man, amazingly creative work." It's not hard.
People don't need huge platforms or write books about this stuff. It's just this idea of how do you carry yourself on a daily basis. We're going to get it wrong. We're flawed. We're human, but this idea to say, "Hey, treat others with respect, just a level of dignity." Let's start there. Again, you can differ and you can say-
Ben Lueders:
You will differ.
Jeff Slobotski:
You will differ, or I don't totally understand that medium of art that you're working in, but I respect it because you're passionate about it, and I can see you're doing good work and pouring your heart into it. That's pretty cool.
Ben Lueders:
That's starting from a place of respect instead of trying to figure out what I don't like about it and try to amplify.
Jeff Slobotski:
Yeah.
Ben Lueders:
Amplify that. I like that what you said about that we all do kind of start with this level of curiosity, and that it kind of gets tamped out of us. It can...
Jeff Slobotski:
Sure. Sure.
Ben Lueders:
... over time, because it's so true. When I look at my own kids, they're so curious. Everything is a question. They're always interested in me and what I'm doing, and everyone around them. I think there's this child likeness that we kind of need to cultivate. It's probably there, but it's probably just kind of been forgotten or diminished with busyness, with stress, with all the political, socioeconomic turmoil that we've experienced since the last however many years.
I think, I agree with you, Jeff, that I think that curiosity will take you so far. You think of some of the most successful podcasters and authors and speakers, and these people are just insatiably curious, and it's like some of the most successful ones, they hardly say anything. They just ask questions of people. It's like crazy how we all get drawn into that. We're so drawn to those people and they're almost saying nothing. They're just asking and they're curious, and you get to learn with them.
Jeff Slobotski:
Yes. That's so well said. You're exactly right. It's that curiosity and great analogy too. It's some of the guy, like Rich Roll is a guy that I really love his podcast because he's always interviewing fantastically amazing people, but again, to your point, it's not him talking about his life's journey. It's asking those questions of whoever it is that he's, and then learning from them and weaving those stories together. Yeah, that's right.
Ben Lueders:
That's awesome. Well, hey, Jeff, is there any chance that Big Omaha could make a comeback?
Jeff Slobotski:
This is a million-dollar question.
Ben Lueders:
It's been gone, for, I mean, how long has it been, since 2016, '17?
Jeff Slobotski:
It's been gone for many, yeah, Maha ran Maha Discovery for a bit, and then, it was, gosh, it was probably 15, 16, somewhere right in there. It has been a minute. The question was, is there a possibility? Is that-
Ben Lueders:
Yeah, could this come back?
Jeff Slobotski:
[inaudible 00:39:09].
Ben Lueders:
What are you doing Jeff?
Jeff Slobotski:
Yes. What are we doing?
Ben Lueders:
What do I need to do to-
Jeff Slobotski:
To get this happen? Yeah.
Ben Lueders:
[inaudible 00:39:16].
Jeff Slobotski:
Get a thousand signatures on this, no, I'm kidding, I'm kidding.
Ben Lueders:
We may send out a petition. Anyway. I would love to see it come back. I mean, I think back on those days. Now, the cool thing is there's a lot of cool things happening though.
Jeff Slobotski:
Yes. Yes.
Ben Lueders:
It's not, like you said, the spirit of Big Omaha is alive and well in Omaha, and then places like Millwork Commons. I don't think we have to just sit at home and wish for the good old days.
Jeff Slobotski:
Right, exactly. Exactly. Well said.
Ben Lueders:
There are new and cool things.
Jeff Slobotski:
Yes.
Ben Lueders:
I do want to encourage people, if you're in the Omaha area, sign up for that, the Millwork Commons Newsletter...
Jeff Slobotski:
Newsletter and social.
Ben Lueders:
... and on social media, and things like the Luminarium, they'll be opening up next month, right?
Jeff Slobotski:
Next month, yeah.
Ben Lueders:
It's coming up really soon.
Jeff Slobotski:
Very soon.
Ben Lueders:
I was on the website yesterday with my kids, and they're getting excited.
Jeff Slobotski:
Yeah. It's awesome.
Ben Lueders:
We've been watching the construction happening and stuff.
Jeff Slobotski:
Yeah, no, I think, is there a possibility of Big Omaha coming back? Yes. I think-
Ben Lueders:
You heard it first here fellas.
Jeff Slobotski:
Well, I mean, it's not, absolutely not never like, man, but you said it really well, Ben, it's this idea to say, hey, Big Omaha is just a day, a couple day event. When we ran it, and it was fun, but I often said, and Dusty often said, this idea of what do you do with that energy? What do you do with the connections? What do you do with the ideas that come from Big Omaha? That's most important, the next 360 plus days.
I think there's a lot of amazing things that are starting to pull the community back together, meeting in person and learning from one another, and experiencing that energy in this city that if we were to pull something like that together again, it'll take a little time to build that community back together, but it could be fun. We'll see.
Ben Lueders:
Well, hey, we're waiting, but let me know if you need any help in any way.
Jeff Slobotski:
Absolutely. Absolutely. That's a definite, yeah.
Ben Lueders:
That's super exciting. Jeff, I'm so thankful for you being on this podcast.
Jeff Slobotski:
Thanks. Thanks.
Ben Lueders:
I'm also just thankful for you. Obviously, like I shared earlier, I'm a huge fan of the Silicon Prairie News and Big Omaha, and I owe so much to those things in my life. All of us in Omaha are better because of the work that you and many others around you did in those early days, and excited that you're still rocking it here in town. Thanks, Jeff.
Jeff Slobotski:
Thank you, Ben. I appreciate that. Thanks so much. Thank you. Super kind.
Ben Lueders:
Thanks for joining us today on Growing a Fruitful Brand. If you found today's show helpful, don't forget to subscribe and consider sharing it with someone who might also enjoy it. If you'd like to work with Fruitful on a branding website or messaging project of your own, you can always reach out on our website fruitful.design. Until next time, don't forget to grow something good.
