I think we should all do that kind of thing, is be a little more positive.
And if you want to extend it, you could be more positive to your friends, too.
So when you hear them say that in whatever environment, whether it's online
or in person, just stop them and say, hey, you know what you just said is not true. You're fine.
There's nothing wrong with you. And just begin to have that conversation because
people don't notice when they say these things.
Hi, and welcome to 5 Random Questions, a show of unexpected questions and unfiltered answers.
I'm your host, Danny Brown, and each week I'll be asking my guests 5 questions
created by a random question generator.
The guests have no idea what the questions are, and neither do I,
which means this could go either way.
So sit back, relax, and let's dive into this week's episode.
Today's guest is Deb Brown. Deb is a dynamic, small-term advocate and community
development expert with extensive experience empowering rural communities.
Deb is also the author of From Possibilities to Reality.
Save your small term with these uniquely doable ideas, projects, and success stories.
A comprehensive workout filled with practical strategies and real-world examples
for small-town revitalization.
So, Deb, cuz, welcome to Five Random Questions.
Thank you, and I'm so happy to be here. I'm super happy to have you here.
And I mentioned cuz there. Obviously, we're not related, but we have this on.
We've known each other for years now.
We've got this sort of ongoing, which I think you initiated, actually.
Probably. We've got the same initials, same last name, obviously.
So there's a lot of, you know, a lot of overarching connection there, I feel.
And because it's just like, it seems funny to say because to a guest on the podcast.
And she's not really your cousin, but that's okay. You feel like a cousin,
you know, we're in touch with each other, follow what each other's doing.
You know, like cousins would do. We just don't get together very often in person.
Exactly. Which we should try and remedy in 2026. Good idea. And as I mentioned
in your bio there in the introduction, obviously, you're a huge advocate for small towns.
And as someone who moved back in 2019 from a very large city to a small rural
village in Ontario, Canada, I know myself the difference of mindset that we had to adopt as family.
So for you, because obviously you're very passionate about small towns,
what is it? And this isn't part of your random questions. I'm just really curious.
What is about small towns in particular that makes you so passionate?
Well, I was born and raised on a farm in Iowa, and I'm just a rural advocate
because I live there and I do the kind of work that involves making our rural towns more powerful.
It's so great to know your neighbors, to be able to do things together.
There's good and bad to that, of course, but you got to look for the good,
right? And most small towns are close enough to a larger city that you can still
experience those huge symphonies and those great art things.
There's benefits to both, right? But I'm going to tell you to live in a small
town because you are a bigger fish in a smaller pond.
And you have the opportunity to be more involved and to make a difference in
the community that you live in much more than you do in a big city.
I know when we first moved here, and like I say, it took us,
we'd always lived in a big city.
My wife and I lived in Toronto for a bit, and then a city just a little bit
smaller than Toronto when the kids came along until they got a little bit older,
which, you know, made us want to move to a quieter place.
And we first moved up here, it was in the winter, so it was like completely
unexpected for us, really cold.
But one of the neighbours on Christmas Eve went round the whole village,
handing out a homemade putty jam, which I thought was amazing.
And she does that every year now you know we expect to see
sharon now she'll come and sharon's amazing she's like so
community minded as well um if someone's got an accident
she'll take care of the yard or more you know below the
snow all that kind of stuff so yeah it feels like
there's um and like you say there's good and bad but it feels like
there's a you have to look out for each other in a small term because
you're you can you can't be cut off i guess at times yeah you
do and you know you have children and the
opportunities for them to be more involved in their
activities at school but also in the community are
greater and it's safer
generally small towns are safer than your bigger cities so
you don't feel so bad telling the kids yeah go ahead and play with the neighbor
across the street and worry about them being kidnapped right those things matter
yeah and I agree that's one of the reasons we moved was you know the city we
lived in felt safe but We knew that when two young kids.
You know, we appreciate where we are now and they appreciate it now.
They didn't at first, they hated it because we were taken away from their school
friends and everything.
But they're really, they're super glad where we live now to be like that because of that very reason.
And speaking of very reasons, there's a very specific reason that you're on
the show today. And that's to answer five random questions.
So, Deb, are you ready for the random question generator to be brought up on
screen? I am. I sure hope so. Yeah.
Alrighty, let's have a look and bring it up for us.
Okay. Here we go then, Deb. Question number one. If you're in a circus, what would your job be?
Oh, I'd be in charge of marketing. In charge of marketing?
Yep. I'd be in charge of marketing because I'm not going to play with lions
or climb high ropes or swing from something.
But I'm really pretty good at doing advance notice for small towns along the way.
Circuses travel usually and everything.
People want to go, but they have to know about it. And, you know,
the old way in doing it, of course, is newspapers and press releases, that kind of thing.
But there's so much more opportunity by using online tools to let people know
about the things that you're doing and how they can participate.
So, yeah, I'd be in charge of marketing.
And one of the things, I mean, we don't really see circuses where we live.
Like I say, we're really rural. so it's probably too much effort to try to bring
that amount of equipment etc to us.
There's towns nearby that have fairs but I don't think I've seen circus do you
think circuses are still,
like a valid entertainment, if that's the right word entertainment thing with
obviously there's the pushback about treatment of animals and you know how it's
not quite for whatever reason not quite the thing it used to be maybe 10, 20,
30 years ago I guess So the Cirque du Soleil has made a huge difference on how
people look at circuses.
It's more acrobatics than it is animals, yet they're still animals.
Barnum and Bailey are, I think, in Florida. They travel from the Midwest down to Florida till winter.
And I remember going to see them
from my little small town the folks took us to see
them along the way the trains going through I don't
know if they still do that or not but the masons and the different organizations
will often sponsor a small circus to help raise money for kids so for that yeah
I think they're valuable and it is great entertainment it's you know always money right?
How can they pay for it? So that's the question to resolve.
Yeah. And I think maybe, I don't know, I was probably a teen,
I believe. I don't think our kids have ever been to a circus.
That's how, you know, unusual it is, I guess. When the question popped up,
they were thinking, oh, circuses, that's cool.
It's unusual because I don't think our kids, our son's 15, our daughter's 13.
And I don't think they've been to a circus, been to a zoo, and they've been
to like wildlife resorts, but not a circus.
And again, I don't know if that's because of where we live, or it's just,
it's one of these things, like you say, it's changed so much now that what you
might have thought of circuses back in the day isn't quite what would be expected today, right?
And I don't know enough about how circuses are viewed in Canada.
So now you've given me something to think about and go check out as well.
I would imagine they still have them.
Get your kids to a circus. Absolutely, if you can get close to one, right?
Yeah yeah well and that's it i mean like i said i went to
one when i was younger much younger than i am now a long time
ago um and i did i really enjoyed it it was amazing it's
like the sights the sounds the noises and going
up to the animals afterwards you know meeting the people it was just really it
was amazing so yeah it'd be great i know like our kids are
my daughter especially so into animals
and adventures and nature um i
think she'd love it my son's a bit more techie and
sports oriented so he might enjoy it less
but I feel my daughter would have could you know find one like you say and you
mentioned obviously because of you you wouldn't want to face on a lion or a
tiger you wouldn't want to ride elephants or anything would you want to be maybe
the person that shoots someone out the cannon no no you still don't trust yourself to.
I'm opposed to using any kind of firearm personally.
What people make on their own decisions about hunting or legal things is,
you know, that's on them.
It's just not something I would want to do.
Okay, well, that's fair enough. I mean, I know I'd like to, you know,
there's some choice people I'd like to fire out a cannon, but I hear you on that.
So I feel that's a nice, easy way to ease into the five questions today, Deb.
So let's have a look and see what comes up for question number two.
Question two. Yeah, let's go with this one, Deb. Question two.
Do you ever talk to yourself?
And as a sort of bonus question to this, what do you say? All the time.
Of course I do. I recently injured my arm by falling on it.
So now when I take the dog out for a walk, the first thing I say is, pick up your feet, Deb.
Pick up your feet, Deb. So I can't remember to pick them up.
And I do have a little chihuahua, Shirley. You may or may not hear her later.
I now just talk to her, but I'm really talking to myself.
You know, So we process so much negative talk to ourselves without even thinking about it.
So I believe it's important to listen to the things that you do say to yourself
and stop that negativity and just say, hey, no, no, you're okay.
Like some women will look in the mirror and go, gosh, I'm fat. That's not good.
Look in the mirror and say, you know, I'm looking pretty good today, right?
It does something to your brain
when you focus on the positive and it's good for your health as well.
So, yeah, keep talking to yourself. I bet you do too. Oh, yeah,
lots because no one will speak to me otherwise.
Maybe we are related. No, just kidding. No, no, because of where we are.
I work 100% remote. My wife does as well. The kids are at school,
et cetera. So I think when I speak to myself, it's more about confirming that
I've done something right.
So I've been doing something for work or whatever, or I've made a decision that
affects the kids and their opportunities to go to college down the years or
whatever that might look like. I think it's more about validation that I did
the right thing. Excellent.
But it's an interesting point you raised about the positivity aspect,
because it's easy, like online especially, it's easy to get sucked into toxic and negativity.
In our traits and arguments and all that stuff,
and that can take obviously an impact on us as people and if no one's telling
you positive things it can take you down a dark path and I think it's like you say,
it's important but do you feel it's because we're so used to negativity and
people saying you must have something wrong with you if you're talking to yourself
do you think that puts us off being more open to personal inner dialogue?
Well, I think age has something to do with it.
When I was in my 20s, you didn't talk to yourself because people thought you were crazy.
And then the advent of the cell phone, when we first started seeing people walking
down the street talking to themselves because they had earbuds in, right?
Everybody's like, who's he talking to? What? And that took a minute to get used to.
So we're familiar with having conversations with other people.
But it turns into conversations with yourself, right?
Facebook is notorious for having spammers or whatever.
They want to stir the pot and talk about politics, for example.
So I'll read a post and then I go right by it and I tell myself,
look at that. You went right by it and you didn't respond to it. Good for you, Deb.
Because I'd like to respond, but it doesn't do me any good.
So just giving myself a pat on the back helps me more than it helps anybody.
But I think we should all do that kind of thing, is be a little more positive.
And if you want to extend it, you could be more positive to your friends too.
So when you hear them say that in whatever environment, whether it's online
or in person, just stop them and say, hey, you know what you just said is not true.
You're fine. There's nothing wrong with you.
And just begin to have that conversation because people don't notice when they say these things.
It's really true. I watched, there's a really good snippet, and I'll try to
find the link to it, like a YouTube video.
It's just like a short one, and I'll drop it in the show notes so listeners can check it out.
There's a basketball player, Nate Riggs, maybe, I think. I don't know.
I don't know basketball.
His first name is Nate. But anyway, so seemingly this basketball player has
a lot of people that don't like him for whatever reason.
So he was getting interviewed after a game and a female reporter asked him about the game.
But the way she approached it was she was paying him compliments about what
he was doing and how he was doing it, which was, you could tell he wasn't used
to hearing that because he sat up and his immediate attention was on the lady reporter.
And it's like you say, I feel we get so much negativity thrown at us by the by.
When someone takes the time, like you just mentioned, Deb, about sending it
to your friends or even a professional athlete who you're talking to,
when you put kindness and positivity out of the way, it does make them stop and take notice.
And I feel that has been lost a little bit because of, you know,
we know negative news stories get all the clicks online, for example.
Yeah. And people like you and me that do work from home and we're alone often. Right.
It's very easy to get lost in that avenue
of negativity and not taking care of yourself you know learning positive thinking
and and putting index cards around the house with something positive on it why
not because you have that's that's personal health you you want to take care
of your own health first and we we're not very good at that either.
Yeah, no, I know we used to put little notes, little post-it notes in the kids' lunchboxes.
So they go to school and get just like a little message, like you say.
And we stopped that when they got a bit older because they asked us to stop
it. But I feel that's, you know, just something like that, right?
It's just, it can make a big difference with like a tiny, it didn't take us,
it took us, what, 10 seconds to write a little message and stick it in a lunchbox.
Put it on their mirror in the bathroom that they see when they wake up.
Don't stop it. stop you know they're embarrassed at school i
bet right god my dad put another note in
my lunchbox oh lord but in
the bathroom at home it's a safe space that's true
that is true my daughter does love the bathroom she's like she's a
competitive cheer athlete so she's in there a lot doing her makeup and
hair and getting ready for competitions etc so yeah i
think i'll do that and i do like the the the
mindset of putting personal post-it notes as well deb um
just for yourself because it's easy for us to get sucked into not feeling good
about ourselves and just a reminder hey you know what you got up today and you
made someone smile you know something like that i guess yeah those little tiny
steps i talk about small steps all the time in my work but they're very important.
For ourselves but the people we share them with
too it takes you nothing to make a
comment or say hey you're looking great today um
i have been known if i see a woman with great
shoes i'll say man i like your shoes where'd you get them those
kind of thing i do it to strangers because i like her shoes and i want to know
where she got them not afraid to talk to anybody about anything but it creates
a moment of relationship with someone that sends them off towards a better day
and it gives me an answer i wanted,
Win-win. 100%. There's a really good YouTube channel.
I'll try to find the link to that as well. And I'll send you.
You'd really enjoy it, Deb, where people just drive by and they just shout out
random compliments to strangers.
Like say, hey, you, do you mind not being so handsome? Leave some for the rest
of us and all that kind of stuff. It's just really nice. It's a really sweet.
I would love to see that. Yes, please.
So I will try to find that channel. I'll definitely send it over to you.
And I think, yeah, that's a really nice, important message for question two.
So I appreciate that, Deb.
Thank you. I love your random generator.
Well, speaking of random generator, let's have a look at question number three.
And I'm curious about this one, knowing you as I do for the last few years.
If you were asked to teach a class, question number three, what class would you teach?
Okay, so work-related, I would teach how to fill empty buildings.
It's something I'm asked about often. I've done a TEDx on it.
I work with entrepreneurs and one of the things that they're great at is we
want to get them out of their basements and garages into a small booth where
they can test and try their idea out.
And if you follow it directly.
When you start small, that's an opportunity. So say I'm doing woodworking and
making cool things. I am not going to go from my basement directly to an empty building. I'm just not.
I mean, because that's $100,000 for the building and another $100,000 to fix it up.
And it's insane the amount of money that you need to start a business in a brick and mortar building.
And you haven't even built your market. You don't know if you have a product that people want.
So taking small steps along the way is all that part of how to fill an empty building.
And small towns are great at this because they have a lot of events and fairs
and festivals where vendors can set up and sell their wares and try things out.
So that's another small step. And then if you've found, hey,
this is really working and people like my product, maybe you can go into a building
with three or four other people and have a shared building opportunity.
So there's a small town, Washington, Iowa. They took it. It was an old J.C.
Penney's department store.
And it's filled with all different kinds of vendors.
And they have small tables. One woman makes jewelry and she only has a small table.
That's her spot. there's a bookstore at the back
whole wall for books for kids and
it looks like just a store when you walk in with all this cool stuff
right but it's a group of people that are trying out their ideas and seeing
what works and being able to grow and many of those people have gone on then
to get their own building and create their own larger building can you tell
i get excited about filling empty buildings, right?
And it works in cities too. It's not just small towns. That's something that works everywhere.
So I'd be happy to teach that kind of thing.
And I have learned that sharing stories and talking about what other communities
have done is a much more valuable teaching opportunity than just lecturing and saying,
if you do this, then you got to do that, then you got to do that.
And you have no examples. You have no proof it's real.
Where if you're sharing a story and pictures and making it interesting to listen
to, now you've got a class that people want to take and want to do something
when they get out on their own.
Well, it's interesting as well, you mentioned that it can be done in cities.
I mean, obviously, small towns are a perfect environment because supportive,
like people know each other and want to help each other succeed.
And when I think of, say, similar examples in a city, I might think of like
co-working experiences like office sharing opportunities like that.
But when you mention, you know, almost like a craft fair, almost.
But different businesses coming together, different small businesses coming
together in an empty building and now creating almost like a mall, like a mini mall.
Do you feel it's like, obviously you're a bit biased because you're such a passionate
advocate for small towns,
but do you feel small towns have more options to do what you're mentioning about
coming together as opposed to larger cities where it's more expensive,
maybe people less willing to take risks, etc.?
So I lived in Chicago about 25 years, so I'm very familiar with living in large cities.
And our circle of influence, which is the number of people that will come to
your funeral, is usually between 100 and 150 people.
So think of those 100 people, how many are friends, and it might be only 20
that you can count as friends. Not close friends, but friends.
What if you brought all those people together and say, hey, you know,
I know about this empty building.
Um what can we do that what kind
of businesses could all of us participate in you're able
to do that in a big city too because you
have that many contacts and people you know so don't don't don't let the idea
of big cities being cold at least in chicago chicago is a group of neighborhoods
all it's really a bunch of small towns all connected um so depending on which area you live in,
that's something you can easily do.
I know the, um, the Korean people that I remember in Chicago,
they sponsor each other to come over and start their own businesses.
So they often have two or three people in a building learning how to run a business,
you know, from people that have already come over here.
And then when it's their turn, they contribute to bring somebody else back over. So, um.
I used to do that. I was just at Ellis Island. My grandparents came through in 1922.
And it was, wow, what an experience, Ellis Island in New York City.
I got to stand where they stood when they got off that boat.
And I got to see the ship manifest and their names and had this really cool feeling.
And they were sponsored by a cousin out in Iowa.
So a lot of the immigrants that came through, at least from Germany,
had that same experience. Somebody sponsored them to come.
You can do that kind of thing with the business, too, if you really think about it.
And then make sure that business is an experience. It's not just a room full of things for sale.
Make sure people have fun and can explore and try products.
And if you're, my friend sells furniture for a living. He's got his own design
business and furniture store.
But he also, every Christmas time, teaches people how to make Christmas wreaths.
And he does that class twice a year. And his class is always full.
He does it in his store because he sells Christmas products.
You know, and for $45, you get a wreath and you get a few products.
And if you want to buy more products from him, you can. Or if you want to bring
yours from home, you can do that too.
That's an experience that store owners can do more of.
Boy, I just really went on a tangent, didn't I? No, no. And this is what I love about this show.
It's like it does go on different tangents because of the, you know,
the questions that can arise that are generally not even attached to each other.
So no, no, no, not at all. But it did make me think, and you kind of answered
it there as well, about having the experience in these empty buildings that are now not empty.
As a quick little bonus follow-up to that question, let's say you can put four
small businesses or four local businesses into an empty building that really
complement the whole experience to anybody that's visiting that building now.
What four it doesn't have to be names just the kind of businesses I guess what
four would you choose maybe to really offer something cool.
So, tell me the name of the size of the town we're working in, in our imaginary town.
All right, let's go with my little village, 800 families. So,
what's that, 3,000 people on average, maybe? Okay, so 800 families.
And how many other businesses do you have downtown?
Do you have a downtown? Yeah, we don't really have a downtown.
We've got a small little mini mart.
We've got a little grocery store, like a local store, and then a little tiny
little restaurant, and that's it.
Okay. Do you have an empty building?
We have the community hall, which is kind of... That's perfect. That's perfect.
So we're in the holiday season right now, and you wouldn't start it right now.
You'd start it for next year, right?
So what's coming up? Valentine's Day.
So let's use the community hall from the middle of January to the middle of February,
every Friday and Saturday to give people to try out their ideas with product
that is related to Valentine's Day.
So you might want a hairdresser that also does nails and pedicures.
You may wish to have clothing, someone that's making really cool clothing, either for men or women.
Gift cards, that's another great one. Maybe an artist can be in there and one
of their products is gift cards and they might be able to teach you how to make
your own gift card. That's a little workshop they can do.
And jewelry is always a big winner. Now, if you can find someone that's making jewelry, that's cool.
Because they're making their own jewelry, right? And it's a one-of-a-kind thing.
It's not mass-produced and it's not coming from China.
It's coming from one of your neighbors that's doing cool things.
Now, in your town, 800 people, there might be a high school student or two that
have some ideas of what could go in there as well.
And I would definitely talk to them and see how they'd want to be involved.
I think you've just given me some plans for the local community center.
That's awesome and i like the way that that you mentioned
you it's all interconnected um and you're
getting the people involved as well you're getting like the customers if you like
involved because now you could have the person that makes the jewelry
here's how you can make your own jewelry now you've got this like very
custom design that's unique to you because you put your own little
stamp on it um so i like that i like that
a lot and and so i guess that the
idea would be to to then continue building that so
if you're thinking seasonal for example you could look what are do
in the summer well there's a lake here so people go uh
jet ski and they go kayak and they go um surfboard and stuff like that so i
guess you can build a whole bunch of stuff around that as well to you know for
once once the tourists and the cottagers start coming up to our little village
you know in the warmer weather as well well you would probably need a bike repair shop,
you might be able to convert that into renting out skis and toboggans and that
kind of thing in the wintertime.
And why couldn't you do that from your community center? Of course you could.
Yep. I like, I might have to put you in touch with our local Lions group,
Deb, and get them up to speed on all these cool plans.
So I like that. I like that a lot. And that answered my question perfectly.
So speaking of questions, let's have a look at question number four.
Who is the most famous person you have met? Oh, good Lord.
Met and talked to or just met? Both, if you wish, or either are.
Up to you. Your question.
Gosh, I don't pay attention to famous people, frankly. Um...
I'm stuck. I'm never stuck. I'm trying to think of the director.
I met a film director who, whoever it was that directed JFK was the movie he
was working on at the time.
We went to a rave in Chicago, sitting at the bar.
And at the time I liked tequila. So I was drinking tequila.
And before you drink it, you got to throw your salt over your shoulder first,
right? And then you put it on your hand?
So I'm sitting facing my husband and we're drinking shots of tequila and I'm
throwing salt over my shoulder.
The director was sitting next to me. He never said a word because he knew I
was throwing salt on him over my shoulder.
He finally turned around and said, hey, I'm so-and-so, nice to meet you.
And I'm like, oh my God, I covered you in salt. And he just laughed.
And then I turned back around because it was totally embarrassed.
That's a fun story. I intend to have those.
And that was, so JFK, I think, JFK, was that Oliver Stone?
That's it. It's Oliver Stone, yep. So you're throwing salt on Oliver Stone.
I was throwing salt on Oliver Stone at three o'clock in the morning in a rave bar.
That is amazing. So there's so many questions there.
I know, right? Like, A, what were you doing in a rave bar? B,
what was Oliver Stone doing in a rave bar?
And then I love the fact that he didn't react negatively.
Because I guess when you've got that position of power and you're not used to
people just being normal around you, I don't know, but I love the fact that
he didn't react, he just says, hey, you know, it's all good it's all good,
it's three o'clock, we're on a rave bar, we're having fun Yeah, he could have been a,
real God, I can't say that word, a real asshole about it, there we go,
that's as close as I'll get to swearing today, but he wasn't, but who knows?
He might've been a little tipsy himself, right?
At three o'clock in the morning in a rave bar. Well, yeah.
So now I'm curious if he's ever, you know, I have to go through all his back
catalogue from JFK onwards and see if there's any little tidbits there.
You know, certainly a throwback to that time, you know, when I got salt thrown over. That's amazing.
Like, not everybody's got a story like that. That's kind of cool.
So what did your husband think?
Did he say anything, you know, did you guys recognise Oliver Stone or was it
just after him? Yeah, once he turned around, we knew who he was.
Kevin didn't care. I'm sure he was giggling inside watching me do it every single
time, waiting for the guy to turn around and turn into something, a madman, right?
And that didn't happen. And my husband was as excited as I was to be in the
realm of this famous person, right?
And we never talked to him. That was an opportunity where I could have had a
great conversation and I didn't do it.
And normally I'm pretty good about talking to anybody about anything.
So I kind of feel it's not a good story because I didn't do what I normally do and talk to him.
Though I guess that could have been a bit different. I'm going to assume there
was loud music when it would be in a rave.
So the music, I've only been to one rave many, many years ago and it's very loud.
I could have only assumed it was loud. Well, it was a private party,
and we were invited by a friend.
My husband sold cars and had some pretty famous customers, and we were invited
by the owner of the car dealership.
So it was louder music, of course, but not traditional rave music. It wasn't house music.
And you really, you know, you were there to drink and dance, of which we did both.
Yeah. So in that respect, mission accomplished. But yeah, I would have loved
to have heard, you know, what possible conversation may have happened then.
If you're a click in the morning, a few tequilas down with Oliver Stone.
Could have been interesting.
Well, if this show ever takes off superstar internationally,
I will try to get him on and I will ask him that question. Hey,
do you remember that time?
Way back when, when you were doing JFK.
Yep. I doubt if he does. But who knows, right? We'll get his version of the story. But I like that.
That's definitely a famous person's story I've never heard before,
obviously, for obvious reasons.
So I like that a lot, Deb. I will keep that in mind.
I've ever run a bar myself at that time of night and wondering who's behind me.
But we're doing well here. We're reaching the end of the road almost for your
time in the random question hot seat.
So let's have a look and see what question number five is.
I'm going to skip this one because we just had a drink question. Oh, but let me answer it.
Let me answer it. Okay, you know what? Let's go. Let's answer it then. That's fine.
Question number five, Deb. What is your favorite drink?
I don't know if this is my favorite, but it's one I've always liked.
And I learned about it in a little Greek island called Paros in the Cyclades area.
So tequila, normally you drink it and follow it with lime and salt.
And the bartender in this tiny, tiny island looks at me and he says,
do you want to learn how to drink tequila the right way?
And at the time, I was a bartender in Chicago, and I'm thinking I'm hot shit, right?
That I should know how to do it the right way. Well, I learned in that environment
how to do it the right way.
So you take your tequila, and you take a slice of orange, and you put cinnamon on it.
Drink your shot, bite into the orange and cinnamon. It's like a Jolly Rancher,
like you've taken a bite out of a Jolly Rancher piece of candy.
So now you have to go home and try that.
Well, I do because, like yourself, I guess, prior to telling that just now,
I always believed it was like a slice of lemon and the salt, right?
So you took the, was it the salt and then the lemon?
I can't remember the order. Yeah, salt first.
Lick it off and then bite into the lime. Yeah. But orange and cinnamon.
Yeah, because I would far prefer orange to a lemon.
Any day of the week, every day of the week. Cinnamon. I do like cinnamon. in.
So that would be an interesting experience.
But I'm guessing the tequila's got to be nice too because you can get really harsh tequila.
Yeah, no white tequila. It cannot be a white tequila.
Generally that's your bar tequila, your low level tequila.
But you know, Jose Crabbeau, Patron, those kind of tequilas.
Okay, so you get the tequila, obviously, you've got just a slice of orange and
then you just put like, what is that, like a sprinkle in it?
Yeah, just a little sprinkle on it. You can take a pinch and put on it.
And then you take the tequila first and then the fruit. Drink the shot,
bite into the orange piece. Okay.
And this gentleman that taught you how to do it in the Greek island, what's his background?
Was he in the industry? Does he make tequila? What's his background?
He was just a bartender. And it wasn't even the owner of the bar because I had
asked to meet the owner because I was in the industry.
Just a guy that bartended there, lived on the island. He was a local,
which is important to note because a lot of tourists in small Greek islands, right?
And just was a great conversational on the list. And we just had a really good time with him.
I have no idea what he did during the day, but at night he bartended.
And he passed out wisdom about how to drink tequila, which is obviously awesome.
And funny thing, the reason I'm remembering this, I was coming back from New
York and my seatmate is one of the, what's the word I'm looking for?
Higher ups at Jose Cuervo Company.
And I can't give out his name or position, but I was sharing that story with
him. and he was on his way to Cape Town and he said, I can't wait to land because
I'm going to have to try it.
So I'm waiting to hear back to see if he's tried it yet.
That's like the ultimate validation of the method, right? Yeah.
You've got the high ups of like a world famous tequila, you know,
distiller. Company, yeah. Yeah, exactly.
So yeah, it'd be really bad. Not bad. It'd be disappointing maybe.
I don't know. Maybe that's the wrong word. If he comes back and says, no, no, that was awful.
Don't even contact me again I promise he won't say that I no longer drink but
if you do have that opportunity I encourage you to try it not to get drunk but
to try something different I will try that on New Year's Eve that tends to be
the only time that I'll sort of have spirits is New Year's Eve,
I'll try that, I'll raise a glass to your honor and I will let you know probably
a few days after how it went But yeah, I will definitely try that.
You know how to catch me, cause.
Exactly. So Deb, as mentioned, appreciate your time on the random questions
hot seat and being open with your answers and sharing some really cool,
fun stories that I wasn't expecting, obviously.
But this is only fair because I've put you in the hot seat for the last 30, 40 minutes or so.
It is now time to hand over the question baton to you.
So here's what I want to know from you. What advice would you give new podcasters
that live in small towns in communities of under 5,000 people?
Ooh. So funnily enough, there's a really big movement, I guess,
if you want to call it that, for hyper local podcasting.
So most podcasters or many podcasters are all like global.
So you go for global audiences and you're trying to grow your show no matter
what country the listener's in. But there's a lot of movement in the last 12
months about hyper-local podcasting.
So you create a podcast for your community, for your town, for your village, for your school even.
You know, you get really niched then because you've got almost like a warm audience
to start with because people want to know about, if I started a podcast about
where I live now, for example,
people might want to know or hear me talking to locals and how they came to live here.
Have they always lived here? Were they like me? did they come afterwards um
what was the mindset change if they did have to do that uh what's
it like surviving in the winter because the winters here are brutal um
so a lot of things like that and and they're really taking and picking up steam
um and that if you get into that like real niche where it's somewhere that you
know well and it could be a business could be a village like me it could be
your local uh athletics community whatever it looks like, Deb.
Like I say, you've already got a warm audience, so that can help you with the growth side.
And you've always got topics to talk about because there's always,
always, always something different happening that you can expand on.
So you mentioned some great examples with the empty buildings, for example.
So if there were, I mentioned the community hall earlier, if there was things
going on in the community hall, can I speak to people that come in and that
keep coming back each year to do craft shows and stuff like that?
Why do they keep coming back?
What's the and what do they think of the area, all the kind of stuff like that.
So I guess, again, rambling, you just mentioned rambling there when you're on a tangent.
I guess it would be go local and really...
You know knuckle down onto the locality of where you are so if you're a a freshman in high school,
what was the difference in moving from your comfort zone
in elementary school to this new high school that's in a different area
different kids and all that so there's a whole bunch of things like that i would
say use the locality and use the people use their stories to build your own
awareness and get local news you know people local businesses to be part of
that to share why they invest in that village, why they invest in that town, that kind of thing.
So I guess that would probably be where I'd maybe go for a local podcaster on a small town or village.
So, and I want to know, do you, where can I tell my clients to learn more about
you and to follow your podcast?
Oh, well, now you're getting me to promote myself and it's not meant to be like that way, Deb.
Oh, but I want to know. Yeah, yeah. For me, it's simple. I created a really
custom, a straightforward custom URL.
It's dannypod.com, D-A-N-N-Y-P-O-D.com. It's got all the cool stuff there.
But that was a sneaky one that you got in there because I'm going to hold you
to that as a sneaky booger.
But yeah, great question. I love it. I always love talking podcast anyway,
and I love the fact that you kept it local, which is great, which I'm not surprised
about knowing you and your passion.
So speaking of passion, Deb, I really enjoyed having you in the five random questions hot seat.
Now it's my turn to get you to promote yourself. So for people that want to
know more about what you do and how you do it for maybe their own small towns,
etc., to find out more about your book or just connect with you,
where's the best place to connect, follow you, buy the book, etc.
A couple of places. The first place is at saveyour.town.
So it's S-A-V-E-Y-O-U-R dot T-O-W-N, not dot com, dot town.
And if you put a slash in the
word sign up behind that you can sign up for a free
email that we send out every week that talks about world
challenges and different ways to address them my speaker site and where there's
more info on my book is buildingpossibility.com exactly like it sounds buildingpossibility.com
my email dev at savior.town please shoot me an email i like talking to people.
Unless they're in a tequila bar at three o'clock in the morning when you
just ignore them just throw salt on them instead but that's
awesome i will be sure to leave the links to those in the show notes as
always so whatever rap you're listening to this episode on or if you're listening
to on the website just check out the show notes as usual and the links will
be there for both deb speaking and deb's community site as well the small business
site so i get small towns not small business my bad my bad we almost got through
without a fluff and i had to mess it up right at the end there.
So again, Deb, I really appreciate you coming on five random questions today. Thank you very much.
Thanks for listening to five random questions. If you enjoyed this week's episode,
I'd love for you to leave a review on the app you're currently listening on
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Until the next time, keep asking those questions.
You.