115. How Remote Work Can Change the Face of Small Towns with Danielle Teigen

Our guest on today's episode is Danielle Teigen. Danielle is joining us today to tell us a really cool story of an unexpected return to a very small town. Danielle is from the town of Turton, South Dakota, or Turton, South Dakota, depending on how you want to put your emphasis. And she joins us to talk about how that happened, um, and really it's, it's through remote work being an opportunity, and also then her spouse and like how he ended up finding employment back. It's, it's a very, very cool story. There's a lot of takeaways for those of us that care about the future of our small towns, things that we can be thinking about differently in terms of who might be the next residents. And I would say at this point, if it seems unexpected or like it's not the expected or obvious choice, it's probably definitely something to take a look at. So enjoy this chat with my sweet friend Danielle Tegan. Hey Danielle, welcome to the Growing Small Town Show.

Well, thank you.

I'm so happy to have you.

I'm happy to be here.

Why don't you tell, uh, start out, we can talk a little bit about where you live, like the size of town that you live in, and then the whole remote employment aspect for sure we want to get into.

Sure.

But tell us a bit about your cute little town in South Dakota.

I live in a very cute, very small town in the northeastern corner of South Dakota. The name of it is Turton, and it's actually where I grew up. So I was raised here, but then I had moved away. I went to college at NDSU and then stayed in Fargo, and now I'm back. We moved back almost 3 years ago, which seems crazy.

You're pretty, pretty new returner. Yeah, but it was such— I did— I actually didn't know that it was so recent.

Yeah, well, it's funny how it feels like it's been longer than 3 years, but then it also feels like we just got here, you know. A year ago. So yeah, it's a town of only about 55 people, so it is very small. We have a bank here.

I didn't know it was even that small. I knew it was small. Yeah, I love it. Oh, this is great.

Yeah, so it's tiny. So my kids go to school in another small town 11 miles away, which is about 150 people. So it is a very small, small area. We are very rural, you know. Everybody, I think, except for us and a few people, they're farmers, so they're farm families. And that's that's what it's always been. And that's kind of what we liked about it too, is that we were really— we liked the idea of raising kids in a really small town.

I love this so much. So let's talk a little bit about professionally.

Yeah.

What you do. And also, and it's so fun because you and I connected through a conference that you organized in Fargo and that I got to speak at. Was super fun. It's great conference. Um, so you and I don't know each other that well, so a lot of these things I'm getting to ask you, like, Truly, I just like so fascinated. So talk a little bit about your profession, like your career, and then if that and being able to do it from Terton, if that was the catalyst. And then of course, like what your spouse does too, you know, just kind of round that out for us if you would.

Yeah. So my professional background is I have degrees in journalism and management communication, and after college I managed a couple of different local magazines. I worked for an engineering company doing PR and marketing for them. I worked for the chamber in Fargo for a a while doing marketing and communications for them. And I came to Forum Communications back in 2015, and I actually started there as a digital content producer, basically writing blogging content for a blogging platform that they had. If you remember Area Voices, definitely.

Yes, I think, yeah, I did.

Yes. And so I was managing that platform and we were trying to create content for that, so we all wrote and things like that too. Well, Eventually, the features editor position opened up and I was hired for that. And shortly, a couple years after that, then I actually became deputy editor of the forum of the newspaper. So I worked in the newsroom then with our, our news reporting team. And then we decided as a family, so as my father is aging, he is the one currently running the bank and it's the bank that my family owns. And he's aging and would like to eventually retire, but he didn't have a plan necessarily for how that retirement would happen if he wanted to keep the bank within our family. And so he actually, he approached my husband who was at the time, he had been, I don't think he was still at Eide Bailly, but he worked for Eide Bailly for almost 10 years doing bank valuations. So he was actually, my husband was actually speaking at conferences that my dad was attending and my husband was talking about, succession planning, the importance of having these plans in place. What do you do if you're buying or selling a bank and things like that? So my dad approached my husband about whether he'd ever be interested in moving back to Turton and running the bank for him so that he could retire. And my husband grew up in a small town. He grew up in Rugby, North Dakota, the geographical center of North America.

Yes, they have their fame for sure.

Yes. And he grew up on a farm, and so he's very familiar with, you know, the agricultural landscape that would make up the majority of the clientele at the bank. So he approached my husband, and then we talked about it as a family, and we decided that might be an option for us. Well, this was all happening unbeknownst to us, then a global pandemic was going to be happening in the near future. And so we had actually thought about whether I would have to quit my job at Forum Communications, because at the time that this was all kind of taking shape, Foreign Communications really didn't have a lot of remote employees. There were a few exceptional cases, right? You know, it's like, you know, our Capitol correspondents who maybe had to, you know, work in St. Paul, but we don't have an office in St. Paul, but they obviously need to be there for, you know, legislative news and things like that. And so I actually thought I was going to have to quit my job because I just didn't think that that would be something they would go for. Well, it turns out then The one good thing because of this global pandemic is that everyone realized you can actually be a remote worker and still get things done and you don't have to be physically in an office. And so when I told my— or when I talked to my boss at the time about the plan and the move to South Dakota, I said I would really like to stay with the company. Obviously, being deputy editor wasn't really going to be possible because in that role you have to— you do really need to be in Fargo-Moorhead community, obviously, you know, to know what's happening.

Yeah.

So I talked to him and said, is there something else I can do? I think there's a couple of options here with some different projects and some different publications, one being this publication On the Minds of Moms, which started in Fargo, Fargo Moorhead area, as a locally owned, you know, founded magazine by a couple of moms. And Forum Communications actually purchased it from those founders in 2019. And the plan had been for me to manage that when I came back when the pandemic— because I was actually on maternity leave when the pandemic started. So All of this was going on at the same time. It was just kind of wild, wild time for a number of reasons. And they said, well, you're a valuable employee and we will do what we can to keep you employed at Forum Communications. So let's go for it. So I became a remote employee that June when we moved back here to South Dakota.

So for our listeners that don't know what Eide Bailey is, it's not even just regional anymore. I mean, it is a multi-state— how many states are they in? A lot of states. Oh, I don't even know, but a lot. But they're a— they're an accounting firm. Yep. I love everything about— and there's, again, Danielle, the reason I bring people onto this show is to help them think differently about ways that we could be approaching, you know, like, what does our Danielle Taigen look like?

Right?

Like, that's the question, right? It's like, who are these people? And they're out there. So it's a really cool story. I had no idea that it was really your husband. This is similar to my story, at least a little bit, in the sense that my husband came back to take over my dad's portion of our farm.

Farm, right?

Right. I'm the generation that's carrying the name on or whatever, but it's not my work.

Exactly.

So it's actually— it's just very cool. Well, and also, I mean, what a story to be dealing with the pandemic, to be expecting another child. Like, oh, God, good for you. And you guys made it and you came out on the other side and everyone's alive, everybody's healthy. Like, that's a thing, man.

I mean, we barely made it, but we made it.

I get it. Yeah.

I would not recommend coming off maternity leave changing jobs and then moving to a new state all within, you know, like a 2, 3, you know, period.

They're like the big life things and then you did them, you stacked them on top of each other. I did the same. I don't know, there's something about it. I think once you're in it, you're like, whatever, right?

Just deal with it.

We'll deal with it. It'll be fine. But what's really cool is I think there's many parts of your story that, that are cool to me, but I think the fact that like the pandemic did deliver to all of us, to employers especially, a way of retaining people without requiring them to stay right there. Now, I, I think that shifting back a little bit, I'm sure you've kind of seen or heard some of these things, right? Like where, um, a completely remote workforce isn't exactly working for everybody. I mean, so we're kind of figuring, like, everyone's figuring out what does a hybrid of this look like now. But what this means for small towns, like, well, I guess I should ask you, I have thoughts about what this means for small towns. What do you think it means? Because you went back to where you grew up.

Yeah.

And I doubt when you left— I'm guessing, I may ask, when you left Turton, were you like, oh, one day I can't wait to come back here?

Oh, I never thought I would come back.

Okay.

I never did.

That's what I assume just based on how, you know, what I know of you and just professionally, you have professional aims. Like, I can see that. Right. So what do you think this means? Like the kind of the evolution of remote employment plus just the advent of all the amazing things that we get to use to do business from whatever small corner of the world that we want to. What do you think it means for us?

I mean, I think it's exciting because it does, it does open up the opportunities for people. You know, we've, we've talked about at length, you know, it was not common for anyone to be in these small communities, you know, 5 years ago and for anyone to be working remotely. You were either employed by the school You were employed by one of the local businesses either, right, in this area or maybe 20, 30 miles away, right? Or you were a farmer and you were a farm family and that's what you did. And now I'm a remote worker. There is another family where the mom, she was working for a local organization and got a different job working for a company out of Brookings. And she's a remote worker. And that's possible in this day and age. And it's exciting to see that they didn't have to contemplate her losing employment. They didn't have to think about, you know, her trying to find, you know, a job here in the area that she has to physically go to, because those are often limited, obviously, in a small town too, um, just based on the, the industry and the organization there. And so I think it's really exciting. You know, we've talked at length too when we have teacher openings, you know, just us in the community, you know, we've talked about teacher openings and thinking like there is an opportunity there if a teacher would move here, if that person has a spouse or a significant other who's coming with them and they have an opportunity to remain with their employer and be a remote worker, that facilitates that move in a much smoother way than disrupting their, you know, lives or the professional lives and the professional path someone might be on. So I just think, I think it's really exciting. I think it's still a little new for some people in the community, or to think that that those are really the, the opening opportunities or the available opportunities for them. But I think we're getting there. And I think the more and more we see things like those of us who are working remotely, I think more and more people will realize, wow, this is possible if we want to live in a smaller community, but we don't want to have to change jobs or give up our jobs or quit working. We don't have to. It's possible to, to do what we're doing and do what we want to do.

Right. I totally agree that it's still kind of a foreign concept, right? But COVID accelerated that learning. And I wish that it hadn't taken that. Like, I mean, I wish in a million ways that it had— that that hadn't been the thing that, like, made it so obvious. But it really did. You know, everybody came home and suddenly everybody was a remote worker, you know, with air quotes around it. Right. And so then, like, working from home and, like, for me, I'd have this— we have this facility that has coworking. Coworking made zero sense. It's just like so many people around here and now It makes sense because they understand remote employment. Okay. The other thing that I think is I would love to just, I would love to actually have you frame this out for, for our potential audience, right? Again, all sorts of different people listen to this podcast. I mean, sometimes it's people in community and economic development. Sure. Sometimes it's just literally people trying to do cool stuff in their small towns. Like I'm, that's the audience I always speak to because you don't have to have a title to like be an impassioned person, right? But what— let's talk a little bit about— again, now this is a little different because it's your— it was your dad recruiting his son-in-law.

Yeah.

But let's talk a little bit about the value of personal recruitment. Like, personally, again, your dad wouldn't necessarily— okay, I'm going to make an assumption here and you check me if I'm wrong on this, Danielle. But like, if he hadn't been in a position to see your, your husband presenting on these things that he was like completely attuned to, He wouldn't have necessarily just gone straight to your husband and been like, I think you should come back and run our bank, right? So the relationship wasn't the primary indicator. It was him being in a situation where he saw his talent and he saw the way he thinks and he started to see things line up. Is that fair?

Yes.

Okay. And again, the reason I say this is because every single one of us in small communities, we meet people. Along the way. And I think sometimes we're not capitalizing on those opportunities to say, gosh, I can't get this out of my head. Like, I'm watching you say, do speak about these things, and I can't help but think how aligned it is with this opportunity back home. Right? Can you talk a little bit about that? What was the conversation for your spouse? Because leaving Eide Bailey is a big deal, too.

Yeah.

You guys didn't leave. It wasn't like simple jobs to replace. It's a big deal, the leap that you both made.

And yeah, we had to have a very frank conversation because obviously, having grown up here, I know what is here and what it's like living in a small community. And we both really enjoyed Fargo, where we were living at the time. And we've still told people, as we've come back and encountered people, they've been like, oh, you didn't like living in a big city, right? We said, no, that was not it at all.

We loved Fargo.

We loved everything about it, but we saw something else and thought that would be better for our family and for us as individuals, too. So, yeah. And I think, too, the relationship— there was a lot of discussion, even over the course of several years, where my dad, I think, was— he would kind of test the waters a little bit to see where we were, because we had always talked about living in a small town and raising a family in a small town when we first got married and were looking at houses, we actually thought we should maybe look at houses in Kindred or Castleton, Mapleton.

Yeah, the little— so again, for people listening that aren't familiar with our— those are the bedroom communities outside of Fargo-Moorhead, right?

All within about 20, 30 minutes. So we could have still lived in Fargo— I mean, worked in Fargo, but we would have lived in a smaller community with smaller school systems where kids would have maybe gone to school. And we didn't end up having kids for 5 years into our marriage, so that wasn't a huge issue right away. But this was always something we had thought about. It just had to be at the right time. And when my dad approached my husband about it, and then my husband Kevin came to me and said, well, what do we think about this? It happened to be at the right time. We didn't know the global pandemic was coming, so that could be argued that perhaps it wasn't the best time, but we got through it. And so, yeah, it was certainly the relationship, but also, yeah, it was that same— that barometer over the years of kind of gauging our temperature and then us too, as a couple, talking about what did we want and what did we see for our future and for our family. I remember being on maternity leave with my daughter, who is now 6, and I remember—

And your daughter was— this was your second?

Yes. So she was my second.

Okay, just clarifying. But— Oh, yeah.

Yeah. So this would have been 6 years ago when I was on maternity leave with her. And I remember telling my husband, I don't know that I want to go to an office 40 hours a week, every week, all day. I'm not sure if that's for me. I think I want to be maybe more flexible, or I want to be more part-time when my kids are at that age where I want to spend a lot of time with them. And so these were conversations that we'd had, you know, over the course of many years to finally arrive at an opportunity that we said, hey, this does line up with what we've always talked about and what we've envisioned in our lives.

The other question I'm like dying to ask you is, as a journalist— and this, this is like unrelated to remote employment, like it's legitimately unrelated to like the arc of the story as we've discussed so far— but I think you— so you're back in this— I mean, again, like, it doesn't really— for a township, it doesn't really get a lot smaller than 55 people. I mean, am I, am I right about that? Like, it just doesn't seem like— people, people listening would be like, forget you, we have 10, like, whatever. It gets smaller, I understand, but like, that's a very, very small town, Danielle. And like, you were just in my— you were just in my town like a few weeks ago with some girlfriends and there's a big difference between Turton and my community, like, in terms of, like, what's available and stuff. There's just quite a bit more people here, right?

Right.

So I understand that small is a very relative thing, but as a journalist, what do you think are the biggest things that those of us that are trying to make our small towns great— what should we be thinking about? What should we be doing? Like, from a journalistic perspective, which is a— this is a completely unfair question, friend, because I didn't, like, prep you with this. But I'm just wondering, what can we do to kind of take back our story? Because Turin has a story. You guys are a part of that story.

Right.

And I just don't think we're naturally that given to this. Like, we're not that good at it.

Right. Yeah. I think, honestly, the whole reason I wanted to go into journalism as a profession is because I wanted to tell really interesting stories. And I think that every small town, no matter where you are, if you were in South Dakota, if you're in North Dakota, Minnesota, California, New York, wherever, all small towns have interesting stories to tell collectively about their town, about their history. But then they're also so full of really interesting people doing interesting things. And I just think that's the part that we are not good at sharing all the time with people about what is happening here in this small town. What's happening in your small town? Tell people about it, share with people about it. You know, last year actually, the Forum newsroom— and I, I still know kind of what's happening with the newsroom, what they're kind of working on. I still, I still know a lot of what's happening in the Fargo-Moorhead area. And there were a lot of stories coming out of like kind of that resurgence of small businesses after the pandemic was kind of officially— not officially over, but kind of the worst of it was over. And there were a lot of stories coming out about these small businesses that had emerged and, you know, were being successful. And last summer I realized that there is a woman here in Turton who operates a jelly business, and she's been doing this since 1999. And she goes to different vendor shows all over the area, including in Fargo-Moorhead. And I, I talked to her and said, hey, can I come out to your operation? You know, I lived here, I grew up here. You were operating, but I'd never been to her jelly house where she actually does this work. I've never seen this. Can I come out there and just see what you're doing so I could maybe write a story about it? I said, I don't know if the forum will want to run it, but I think it's an interesting story. Can I come out there? So she took me. I went out there one morning. She took me through everything. My mom actually came with me because she'd also never seen anything that happens in the jelly house. I mean, it's like 3 miles from town.

Can we just quick even just talk about that? Like, that I think is, again, when I think about, like, what are the practical things that we can take from this conversation, that's one of them. Yeah, like, explore your own backyard a little bit, right? And I'm not— this is— I'm not shaming you and your mom, but it's crazy to me to think that your mom had never been there, right?

Oh, and we said that too. I mean, we stood in this operation going, how is it possible we didn't understand the magnitude of what you're doing, the scope of everything, you know?

And that's so cool.

Yeah. So I went and I went home, I wrote a story about it, I sent it off to, you know, the editor and just said, hey, you know, I wrote this. It doesn't have anything to do with parenting, which is like my area with the forum that I manage. But I said, this is just kind of an interesting story, and I think your readers might be interested in it. And he said, yeah, this is great. They ended up putting it on the front page of the paper this Saturday. And the forum is only printed 2 days a week now.

Yeah. And can we again, quick, just to put this into perspective, the forum is a big freaking deal in North Dakota, right? Again, people listen to this. They're from all over the Do you know what the circulation is of Awhara?

I haven't heard the numbers for so long.

I know I'm putting you on the spot, but trying to give people some context. But it legitimately is the largest.

Yes.

Well, for sure, the largest newspaper outlet in our entire state.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's still the largest newspaper in North Dakota. But then we also reach North Dakota. We have a presence in North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.

Okay. I only wanted to say that because, again, it really illustrates that I think, Danielle, and you tell me what you think, but I really believe that people want these truly juicy, connective, feel-good— they're feel-good stories, but they're stories of hope. They're stories of grit. They're stories of perseverance. The idea that a jelly lady— I mean, the whole thing. I love everything about this story, frankly. And it hits the front page of the paper. Now, granted, it's like you had an in.

Yes. And that was advantageous, obviously. But they certainly have to— they didn't have to actually put it in the printed paper. You know, I gave it to them several days before they were even putting that paper together. But they also saw, you know, the value in putting that in the paper, especially for the readers who do still subscribe to a physical copy of the paper, for those who are getting the digital paper. And Char, the owner, they put it in the paper the same weekend that the Island Park vendor fair was going on, which Char was attending.

Yeah, fun.

They came home just over the moon saying, we had so many people who stopped by the booth to get jellies from us because they saw it in the paper. And I said, are you serious? I mean, I didn't know that that was like— I wasn't doing it to try to help sales or anything. I just wanted to tell this interesting story. And they were like, yeah, but everyone said they just— they loved reading about the story, so they had to find me at the fair. And they did.

So I literally could not love that more. And I think So then it's like you're like in the journalism business. So I want to ask you, how do we go about getting those stories told, getting them magnified? If we— let's say our community doesn't have a paper, right? How do we get the attention of a news outlet? Like, what do we do? Like, give us a few ideas. Maybe I'm sure we could navigate that because I think it's actually really special.

It is. And I think, too, you know, we— so Where I live, we don't have a community newspaper, but we have a countywide newspaper. And I have honestly pitched a few things to them and said, hey, you know, obviously I know how to do this because I've been pitched to for years and years too. But it's always— the biggest thing is always making some kind of a personal connection about why the story is interesting and why it would be good for those readers to read that story or hear that story, see the story, whatever it is. You're pitching it to, you know, TV station, whatever it is. But you have to make sure that they understand the value not just that you think it's a good story, but why you think other people will find it to be an interesting story. What would they gain from it? Making it clear to the person you're pitching it to is probably the most important thing. The other thing that sometimes people don't realize is that it's helpful for us, as those being pitched to, to know, you know, what are the visual opportunities, because people want that visual element to the story. So whether it's, you know, the video opportunity, whether it's some photos, and if you have the photos, great. You know, more and more, because Everyone is kind of spread thin trying to cover a lot, do a lot of stuff. You know, we don't necessarily always have time to go out and cover an event or get photos at an event, but if someone is willing to share photos because it's an interesting story and we're going to write about it, we'd love to do that, you know. So I think it's making clear, you know, why the story is important, why it matters, but then also trying to help, trying to help make the job of that person just a tiny bit easier if that's what it's going to take, you know.

Right, to get it done. That's all. Oh, that's so good. And I want to say, from my perspective in Oaks, we have been able to get Fargo-based media to Oaks a lot.

Yeah.

And one of the things that I think everybody in a small community, again, regardless of where you are, if you're in North Dakota, you're not, doesn't matter. Do you think, well, like, why would they care? Do you know why they care? Because they have an entire like they have such a slate of content to fill. Like TV stations, newspapers, they need content, right? So all the time, all the time, it's never ending. Every single day, those poor reporters or journalists or whomever it might be, right? They're literally scouring, looking for these stories, right?

Yeah.

So I think we just need to maybe stop discounting the value of what we have to offer too. And like, the tips that you gave help a ton. Like, you got to make it personal. Yeah, you've got to make it. And if you can make it easy for them to tell it, all the better, right?

Yeah. Well, and like you said too, I think media organizations are also realizing that people are interested in that feel-good story, you know, or the feel-good news. We get enough of the hard news and the bad headlines and stuff like that.

They have a plethora of that, right?

We don't need that anymore. But, you know, yeah, like, and the thing too is that even if you don't currently live in a small town if you've ever been to a small town, if you know people from a small town, you will see those people or you will see those things in the stories that you read or see, you know. And I think that that's always fun too, that if a story resonates with a reader or with a viewer because they know somebody in a town like that or they have been to a town like that, you know, we all feel connected to that then. And maybe we weren't expecting to.

Right. Ah, it's so good. So, gosh, I love talking with you. I mean, you're such a delightful person. I knew that I would. It's great. But as we kind of naturally come to our end, when you think about, like, let's talk for a moment to the people again, the people that might be contemplating moving to a small town might not be the ones listening to this podcast, right? But the people that want those people to come to their communities, those are the people that we're talking to, right? They're the ones that say, like, how do we get our Danielle of our own back here? What should we be doing? What should we be thinking about? Like, what are your thoughts about that? Because it's a really special story. I think your story is special.

Yeah, I mean, I think it is special too. And we've certainly received that kind of positive feedback since moving back here. About how unheard of it might be. But that's the thing. We don't want it to be that unheard of. We want people to realize that, you know, going to a small town, living in a small town, it is really special because, you know, you, you just get to know people on a different level and you feel things on a different level because there's this, you know, there's an incredible sense of ownership and, you know, this really important communal fabric that runs through a small town, you know, and, and I'm not saying that, you know, bigger cities don't have that as well, but it's just, it's a little bit different because the scale is so much smaller. So it feels more intimate and it feels more personal to everybody who's a part of it. And I think when it comes to getting people to think about living in a small town, moving to a small town or returning, returning.

Yeah.

If they were giving it a shot. Yeah, right. I think it's just, it's emphasizing the fact that you can have a really full, rich life in a small town just like you can in a big city. And if you are looking for something that's different and is going to be a very unique experience, a small town will certainly give you that. Because, I mean, small towns are full of really interesting people. It's just no matter where you go, you know, it's going to be an interesting experience and You know, I think it's just something that people don't realize. I think they think that small towns are a thing of the past and that, you know, that they're dying, that small towns are dying, you know. And I hate the— I hate that idea of that final ultimate end being associated with small towns because I don't think that's true at all. I think a lot of small towns are vibrant and thriving, fun communities. They may not have a lot of people, but that doesn't mean that that community isn't still there. It's not going to cease, you know.

Well, and I think that's important. I think along with this, and again, I say this a lot, it's like if you really value making an impact, like if that's a thing that's important to you, you know, you, you want to put your stamp on something, however that might look. And again, like this, this newest, youngest generation of workers coming into our workforce, they're very purpose-driven. Right. And socially conscious, which can be challenging for the older generations to kind of wrap their brains around. But I think that is something to really leverage.

Right.

Because I mean, there is no— I mean, you talk about— I always say same rock, bigger ripple. Because in a small town, there's just like your impact. If you show up and you're full on giving something that's amazing, that the impact of that can be felt just deeper and wider, right? Yeah.

Right.

And so it's amazing, right? So do you feel like you've experienced that being back home?

Yeah. And that was actually one of the things that we talked about when we talked about why we would even want to move to a small town, specifically to this small town too, because Kevin and I were both involved in some organizations in the Fargo-Moorhead area and we really loved them. We just felt like sometimes we were just another volunteer. We were just, you know, another person, you know, to sit on a committee or what, what have you. And we said, you know, if you move to a small town like Turton, you become not really like a big fish in a small pond, but you can, you can have more of an impact. And we talked about that, you know, if you sit on a— if you sit on the school board of a small rural community, you will certainly have an impact. And obviously you can have an impact in larger school systems too. But there's just— again, there's just something more intimate about the experience when it's a smaller community. And we certainly— I mean, we have certainly felt like that. We also realized that as the newest members of your community, we kind of got a bullseye put on our back. So we got asked to sit on all sorts of things, like be involved in everything.

Right? You know, you're like, great! And right now—

no, yeah, those things started saying no to a few things if it didn't make sense. But You know, there were things too that I thought was really exciting, you know, with an event that I've helped plan, bringing up the idea of how do you raise money effectively when it's a small event and it's a small community. And, and I was able to bring some of my past experiences from different organizations I'd been involved with in the Fargo-Moorhead area. And, you know, we ended up like doubling the amount of money that they had raised previous year when we hadn't been thinking this way, you know. So it's just things like that. And that money stays here in the community to help people who are dealing with some kind of a medical challenge or a situation that they weren't expecting. You know, and that when you know that that money that you help raise is going to your neighbor down the street, that says something, you know, that means something.

It does. And that's one of the things, right? It's not just that when I talk about, like, imprinting ourselves, it could just be intellectual capacity, you know, like intellectual capital. Like, we bring our outside experiences back. And so I want to encourage small towns to be sure that we're not closed off to that.

Right. Yeah.

And because I get that it can be hard. It can be hard. You feel like some of it is approach. I'll say when I first came back here, I very much was like, but I know things. I know things. You should listen to me. And that's not the way to do it. You've got to almost listen more than you talk to just really understand and get the lay of the land and figure out to where the best of yourself is going to land and where it's going to actually reap the most. Results. That's a challenging thing, too. But I think just recognizing the incredible power that we have if we've gathered any outside life experience that you can bring back and the things you can influence, even if it's a small nudge.

Right.

Yeah.

And like you said, too, it's amazing the importance of listening when you're in a small community, because small communities do have unique challenges. You know that about Oaks and other communities. Turton has its challenges, too, but I think I think, like you said, it's about the approach and making sure that you have listened enough to understand that there is maybe an issue or a challenge that you and your specific skills can address. Because I think in that example I just mentioned, if I had come at that organizing group the very first time I sat down with them to talk about this event and been like, here's how we should do it, here's what I think we need to do, and here's how you should get sponsorship.

You haven't been doing a good enough job. That's all they hear.

Yeah. That's just not very compassionate either. These are people I've known my whole life that I'm not going to say that to them. So it was to make sure that I understood how the committee and the planning of that event happened before I said, well, I think there's an opportunity here. Here's maybe a way to approach it that's different, but it could yield something bigger and better. Yeah.

Oh, I love it. Danielle, it's been so fun chatting with you. All I can say is that Turton, South Dakota, What a lucky little town.

Well, I mean, we think we're pretty lucky to be here, too, and to be able to do what we do and to be able to enjoy this and be here with close to family and in a small community where we do feel like we are able to make some kind of an impact, no matter how small it might be on a day-to-day basis.

It's awesome. We will make sure that we get all of the connections. So anywhere if people want to read your reading, there's anything that you want to share with our audiences, everything will be in the show notes. So, perfect. Seriously, thank you so much for joining us.

Yes, thank you, Rebecca.