Tag: Chamber of Commerce

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Brandon Burton 0:00
This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.

Hello, Chamber Champions. Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast. I’m your hosts Brandon Burton. And it’s my goal here on the podcast to introduce you to people and ideas to better help you serve your Chamber members and your community. You’re joining us for a special episode as part of our 2023 ACCE Chamber the Year Finalist Series.

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Becki Womble 1:03
I’ve been using Community Matters for probably six or seven years now. And in a previous life, I sold commercial printing so I can highly recommend Community Matters because it’s a complete turnkey job for any busy chamber exec and it’s a wonderful, beautiful printed product whenever you’re finished. And I just I’m very sold on Community Matters. And with a printing background I just big endorsement from me.

Brandon Burton 1:44
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Our guest for this episode is Justin Harlan. Justin is the managing director of Tulsa Remote, a program honored on Fast Company’s prestigious list of world’s most innovative companies for 2022, which recognize its unique approach to attracting remote workers to Tulsa and promoting economic development in the city. Under Justin’s leadership Tulsa remote, the largest relocation incentive program in the US has grown more grown to more than 2200 members. Justin has represented Tulsa remote at international conferences like Web Summit and collision conference, where he shared the power of the programs community building efforts and benefits of remote work. He previously served as the Senior Executive Director for Reading Partners Tulsa launched his career with Teach for America, Oklahoma, when it opened in Tulsa in 2009. and was a founding board member for collegiate Hall College Prep Charter School in Tulsa. Justin’s passion for promoting community growth and development extends to his personal life as well. He and his wife Megan run to fitness studios in Tulsa, pure bar, South Tulsa and row house, South Tulsa, Justin holds a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Tulsa

. Justin, I’m excited to have you with us today on Chamber Chat Podcast, I’d love to give you a moment to say hello to all the Chamber Champions that are out there listening and to share something interesting about yourself so you can get to know you a little bit better. Sure, wait,

Justin Harlan 3:31
it’s good to be here. Thanks for having me. I appreciate the invite. And yeah, it’s a it’s a awesome opportunity just to be able to talk to chamber leaders because so much of our work overlaps with the chamber here. And I think it’s really a team effort as it relates to, you know, attracting people to a city. So this is great. I’m looking forward to the conversation. Let’s see a fun fact about myself, you know, you’ve you’ve rattled off most of what makes me interesting already. I was a music major in college. So that’s often a you know, maybe a fun fact that it doesn’t get read. I initially came to school down here in Tulsa as a singer. So as a vocal performance major and quickly learned that probably wasn’t going to be how I made a career. And so I also added a business degree and you know, kind of thought maybe I can mix the music with the with the business and go into the business side of the arts and got into the nonprofit world. And I’ve never looked back. So there you go. There’s a fun fact that oft often doesn’t make the bio. Yeah, that’s

Brandon Burton 4:30
good. I’m sure there’s more discussion there that can be had. Regardless, it’s always interesting to find how people find themselves in this world today. So I appreciate you sharing that that bit of your background. So I shared a little bit about what Tulsa remote is in the in your bio, but why don’t you take a few minutes and just tell us really what Tulsa remote is what the focus of the program is. Kind of how you go about your work and obviously we’ll get into much deeper calm realization about it throughout the episode, but give us kind of that high level of what is Tulsa remote?

Justin Harlan 5:06
Sure, Tulsa remote is the largest network of remote workers that have come through this incentive program that started in 2019, when we brought about 70 people, and obviously the world changed for all of us in the way that we are working in 2020. And we’ve grown substantially since then. About 380 People came in 2020, about 950 and 2021. We had just under 800. Last year. So yes, we’re up over 2300 people now that have moved to Tulsa and the $10,000 is often made, what makes the headline, because it’s a very unique approach to talent recruitment, but more than the $10,000, which at the end of the day really covers that the moving costs and somebody occurs for moving across the country. It’s the community that really attracts people, it’s the ability to plug into a new town quickly, leave a mark on a midsize city and get connected to remote workers in organic ways that maybe share different aspects of your background, but don’t work directly alongside you. And we’re really good at helping people get plugged into the community and, you know, contribute to Tulsa quickly, which I think is really what makes us stand out and what has led to 90% of people staying beyond that year commitment that they make when they accept that incentive to move to Tulsa.

Brandon Burton 6:23
All right, that definitely helps to kind of set the stage for our discussion today. I know chambers across the country are they’re battling this idea of being able to support businesses with remote workers and being able to attract remote workers to their community, especially if maybe a spouse takes a relocation to a certain community and and there’s that trailing spouse and and maybe you know, remote work may be an option for them as well. But I’m excited to get in deeper into that conversation. Some of the things you guys have seen and approaches taken as soon as they get back from this quick break.

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Brandon Burton 9:09
All right, Justin, we’re back. So as I mentioned before the break, I’m excited to learn the approach. So first of all, I guess what I’d like to maybe address is oftentimes Chamber of Commerce will be presented with an idea of a new program to implement in a city and maybe they implement it. And then it spins off to become its own nonprofit and operates under its own power, but it was started and spun off by the chamber. From what I understand Tulsa remote kind of started a little bit differently, but you guys do work hand in hand oftentimes with the chamber. So tell us a little bit about the origin of Tulsa remote, how it came to be. And I want to hear it just for the benefit of listeners who you know, are trying to adapt for their community. how something like this might look? Yeah, the origin

Justin Harlan 10:05
story for Tulsa remote really was two different things we’re trying to tackle. And it started at the George Kaiser Family Foundation, and still continues to live there. But like you mentioned, we work hand in hand with the city and the chamber and a lot of different partners to really make this successful. But it really came to be for a couple of different reasons. First, you know, we in Tulsa, and really the state of Oklahoma have been reliant on the oil and gas industry, pretty much in our entire existence as a state. And even in the best of times, that’s a very volatile industry, that can be a roller coaster ride. And, you know, we have a lot of great talented knowledge workers here. But the reality is for us to keep up in the future, we need more. And that was one kind of lightbulb moment, I think early on, it’s how do we attract knowledge workers in a way that isn’t reliant on one company, but goes after the individual. And just so happens that a lot of knowledge workers have been working remotely for a while. And you know, we had obviously no idea pandemic was coming. But you know, in theory, if you can attract remote workers, chances are that’s going to be a knowledge worker. And that was one big thing that was attracted to us in creating the program. We also have learned from programs like Teach for America, which as you read was in my is in some of my career history, that it often takes people have an incentive to get to Tulsa. But once they’re here, they’re very likely to stay, it’s, it’s really easy to get plugged in, it’s really easy to put roots down. And once somebody is actually willing to give it a chance, you’re very likely to fall in love and make this home for a while. And so there was also, you know, in addition to the need for knowledge workers and trying to attract talent, there was also this belief that if we could just incentivize people to come that they would stay, they would stick around, they’d find a home. And that certainly has turned out to be true. But that’s really how the program started is a Talent Recruitment initiative that also knew that it’s going to take a little bit more to get people to get Tulsa chance. But if they do come, they’re going to stick around. All right.

Brandon Burton 12:13
So you guys are primarily identifying remote workers to bring to Tulsa and make Tulsa their home and then continue their current employment in most cases, it sounds like remotely from wherever they’re coming from. How are you approaching specific businesses? I mean, you mentioned you want to focus on the individual rather than businesses. But how do you focus in promote Tulsa to do that, that specific niche audience of somebody who’s able to remote work? And are you providing opportunities for them to remote work while making Tulsa home?

Justin Harlan 12:51
Yeah, you’re exactly right. We’re going after individuals here. And all of them have to have a full time remote job when they come to Tulsa through the program, they have to be over the age of 18 are eligible to work in the United States and have lived outside of the state of Oklahoma for at least a year. And in doing so our recruitment and marketing initiatives are all really pointed at the person. And what we found, especially over the last couple of years, as I believe people have really reassessed their priorities in life and tried to figure out what am I what am I actually looking to get out of life in general, and what’s the role that we want work to play in it? I think cities like Tulsa, midsize cities that are still really affordable, are going to rise to the top as places that people want to be, you know, to kind of give you my Tulsa sales pitch. We have an incredible outdoor amenity scene with the largest public park that is privately funded in the gathering place. It’s free to everybody and just amazing. Named USA, today’s best Park in 2021. We have an amazing food scene where this year we had seven James Beard Award nominations, which is more than Las Vegas, it’s more than the entire State of Kansas and the rest of Oklahoma combined. You know, we have amazing music. So I say all that to say it’s a really high quality of life that gives you everything you want in a city, but it’s at a low cost of living. So you’re paying about half the price for twice as much space as you would in New York or LA or San Francisco. And to me, especially as proximity in our work becomes less important to be able to get that high quality of life and a low cost of living when placed does not matter anymore as it relates to where we’re working. I just think that places like this places like Tulsa are really going to benefit from that. And Tulsa remote is certainly one way that people are coming to the city, but I believe there’s people coming on their own too. We’ve seen a huge positive net migration over the last 13 years and I believe that’ll continue.

Brandon Burton 14:51
Right. So maybe you mentioned this and I just missed it but as far as the $10,000 to grant to help people make the move. Where’s that grants being funded from is that the city itself is that the foundation where where’s the the funds coming from?

Justin Harlan 15:09
Yeah, as of now, I’ll expenses come from the foundation, the entire budget to date has been spent directly from the George Kaiser Family Foundation. We had some recent legislation that was passed in the state of Oklahoma that allows for Tulsa remote to qualify as a proxy organization that’s recruiting quality, remote jobs, we’ve had some legislation in the state since the late 90s, called the quality jobs act. And they actually expanded that to include remote workers in 2020. And then we can basically get reimbursed for the employer tax dollars that are coming to the state through the individual that we recruit up to $10,000. And there’s a lot of, you know, there’s a lot of things that have to happen in order for us to get that full amount. But the long and short of it is if we continue to recruit the type of people that we are today, it will take us about two years to get that full $10,000 back for each individual. So pretty soon here, we’ll start seeing this program sustained and continued to, you know, pour in financially from the state for the first time, which will be a really great representation of that private and public partnership.

Brandon Burton 16:20
Right. So I know in your in your bios, I introduced you. It mentioned something about your passion for community building and economic development. And I believe I’d shared with you that Doug Griffiths actually recommended that I have you on the podcast and a lot of people listening know him as the author of 13 ways to kill your community. As you look at community building, how does Tulsa remote fit into building Tulsa? Obviously, you’re promoting Tulsa. But how do you see your role with Tulsa remote in in community building?

Justin Harlan 16:57
Yeah, I think first and foremost, it starts with the people that we’re selecting. And we look for people that have an eye for community and a track record that backs up their words, we look for people that have given back to the community that they’re coming from, and have been thoughtful about ways they hope to contribute to the city here. So I think first and foremost, it’s all about that selection process and knowing what you’re looking for, and then finding people that match up to that. And then we have people waiting, when you get here into town through Tulsa remote to get help you connect, we explicitly state on day one, that our goal for you as a member is that you do not need us as Tulsa remote to love the city of Tulsa, I think we’re really doing our job when we help somebody integrate into the community in a way that aligns to their values and passions and gives them real ways to contribute. And a lot of it, I think this is really just community in general, I think a lot of it has to do with how we as individuals enter into a space, what’s the posture that we take, when we’re sitting at a table of people that have been there their entire lives? And we’re entering in for the first time? How do you come in willing, and eager to help, ready to listen, and not coming in with a posture of I’m here to fix everything that might be broken? You know, and I think that a lot of that is also in the coaching and support that we give to our members. If you want to come in and make a difference, I think the very first thing you can do is listen and learn everything that’s already happening and integrate into that. And are there ways you can contribute and make things better? Absolutely. But if you come in guns blazing from the get go, you’re really not going to make a good first impression. And I think that’s incredibly important, as we all consider ways that we can help, you know, form a strong community.

Brandon Burton 18:41
Yeah, I think having that warm welcome. And that posture that you mentioned, I think Doug mentioned that in his book, that’s one of the ways to kill your community is to not welcome outsiders. So being able to be welcoming. Show them that there’s a place there in Tulsa for them and your community. As you’re seeking us, right.

Justin Harlan 18:59
I mean, I often say like we were all you know, we were all new to the city at one point. And if you’ve been here your entire life, you were still new at one point in your journey was a little different, but to you know, to kind of shun people or push them out simply because they’re new, I just think doesn’t pull out what we love about diversity of voice and diversity of thoughts and diversity of background. I just think that that is really what makes us stronger.

Brandon Burton 19:25
Absolutely. I couldn’t agree more. So as you’re seeking out purposefully, individuals to make the move, you’re making some sort of an approach or pitch to them. And then is there an application process as they go through to make sure that Tulsa is a good fit for them? Or what does that process look like as you try to nurture that relationship to help somebody make the move?

Justin Harlan 19:50
Yeah, the long and short of it is we move really quickly when you apply and then you have a while to decide and we help you along that way too. But once somebody applies to the program, you typically hear back within two to four weeks as to whether you got an interview, you have a quick 20 minute interview. That’s really I think just as much about you getting your questions answered as it is about us double checking that what you said in your application is true and accurate. And then if you get in, you have a year to make the move, you have to be physically present in Tulsa to start your year. And that’s kicks off with an orientation that we do. And then we offer to pay for you to come visit. So once you get in, and we say you’re invited to move to the city through Tulsa remote, we also pay for you to come and check it out kind of a try before you buy type situation. And we roll out the red carpet and make sure that you see all the city has to offer in a way that isn’t sugar coated or fake, but just kind of allows you to decide is this city the right place for you? And for some people the answer that’s going to be no, which we think is perfectly fine. I don’t think that any of us believe Tulsa is a good place for everybody. But we try to really kind of show the pros and cons and of all the different areas of town and really Tulsa as a whole, what are our strengths and weaknesses and then allow people to make the decision for themselves. And then as they move, you know, we provide ample resources to help find housing and get plugged in. And once you’re here on the ground, like I mentioned, you have somebody that’s ready to help you get integrated into the community. And we have a number of events that are happening every month. And really from there, it’s often running in a year it goes your year goes by really fast, often faster than you anticipate. So yeah, that’s a little bit about the process. It’s really straightforward. It’s we try to keep it very easy. And also just, you know, know that everybody’s making a very, very serious decision about their life. And we want to support with the right resources, but also want to empower them to do what’s best for them.

Brandon Burton 21:42
Yeah. So I’m just curious. And in this may be a question that’s out there in left field for you. But is there a some sort of a network of people that have made the move through Tulsa remote that where they can be connected with others who’ve made the move and realize, you know, we’re all in the same boat together? Or is it more anonymous, that as you come, you’re just integrated in the community? Or has that aspect work?

Justin Harlan 22:05
Oh, yeah, I mean, I’d say that’s the biggest value add is there’s 2300 people here, not including spouses and kids, right, when you get into the program, you actually have access to slack. And there’s some channels in there that we use for onboarding people that are onboarding or have not yet moved to Tulsa, but are kind of trying to decide. And there you can meet a number of people that can answer questions for you or tell you their perspective, you meet a lot of people when you come for that visit to and then once you’re here, it’s really just a matter of getting off your couch and getting out into the city to meet people. I mean, there’s stuff happening every week, whether it’s social in nature, or volunteering or professional development. And we also give access to a co working space where people can go and do their remote work. And there’s hundreds of people there as well that you can meet throughout the workday. So once you’re here, there’s honestly no better way to move across the country. You’re as long as you’re taking the initiative to kind of get out of your house and build community. There’s no shortage of opportunities to do so.

Brandon Burton 23:00
Right. So I know Tulsa is a great city. Got a great chamber there, Mike Neil, and he’s leading the great chamber there in Tulsa. Talk to us a little bit about how you go about working with the city and with the chamber to create that community and the warm welcome and any other way that you integrate with the city in the chamber throughout this program?

Justin Harlan 23:24
Yeah, well, I think, first and foremost, our program success is going to live and die by our city’s ability to market itself and brand itself across the country and across the world. And obviously, chambers play a huge role in that. There’s incredible work that the Chamber has done to bring in sporting events or musicians and really put Tulsa on the National Map. And all of that benefits our program where people, you know, have misconceptions that are maybe flipped upside down inside of its head to and maybe then that causes them to maybe get also shot or applied. It’s also remote. We’ve partnered on some close initiatives, for example, we have done South by Southwest the last couple of years, in partnership with the chamber, where we’re really showing off all that Tulsa has to offer for people that are willing to relocate. But at the heart of that at South by Southwest is music, and we’ve got a great, you know, music, film, music arts and culture department at the Chamber, that they’ve selected all the musicians, both years that we’ve been to South by, we’re constantly, you know, working with the city and the chamber as it relates to housing supply and ensuring that this net migration inbound is not impacting people that are already here, within systemic issues, you know, like housing. So yeah, we work really closely just to make sure that we’re all on the same page and that the things that were touting to the nation are aligned with the things that the chamber is also touting and that there’s other cities that we can often learn from through The chamber. So it really does feel like a great partnership where we all have a critical role to play to ensure that Tulsa is on the national scale viewed as a place that people want to be.

Brandon Burton 25:12
Awesome. I appreciate adding that that perspective, just how you you integrate with the with the chamber and leverage on their work, and glue that you’re able to integrate a little bit of your music background there at South by Southwest.

Justin Harlan 25:27
I haven’t been invited to play. So maybe this podcast will be my coming out party.

Brandon Burton 25:32
It’s putting it out there. Yeah, I feel that. Well, I’m curious, you know, as far as a chamber listening, who might be interested and trying to attract some remote workers to their community, I guess without giving away all the secrets, right, you got to hold some advantage. But what, what tips or action items might you share with the Chamber who maybe wants to explore getting into similar line of work?

Justin Harlan 26:02
I don’t think that what I have to share is necessarily rocket science. But what I think we’ve done really well and Tulsa remote is considered what makes our city unique and figured out who is it that we want to attract that we think would be a good fit for what makes our city unique, and then created marketing campaigns around that. And I think everybody’s got something that makes your state city standout. And there’s something about your place that other places do not have. And the more that you can lean into that rather trying to rather than trying to be something that you’re not, or being something that somebody else is that you really want to be, I just think the more that you can lift up, what makes you special, is only going to attract what other you know, the people that are belong and fit in your city are going to see and want to be a part of. And I think that, you know, the special twist that we’ve had on that at Tulsa remote, certainly was a lot about timing. And, you know, the success of the way that our work environment shifted drastically has caused our community to grow like crazy. But I think something that we were doing before Tulsa remote even existed, is leaning into what makes Tulsa a special place, leaning into why people would want to be here right now. And I think the more that cities and chambers could do that, the more successful you’ll be. And the more that you’ll see people coming aligned to the the type of folks that you want to attract. And to me that that’s really applicable across businesses, that’s applicable across cities. And I don’t think there’s, you know, anything in that statement that we didn’t already know, I think playing it out and making it happen in action is really the difficult

Brandon Burton 27:47
part. Yeah, sounds like placemaking is the big factor there and making your community attractive and really highlighting what makes you stand out. You’d mentioned that the marketing campaigns. Can you talk to us a little bit about that? Is it purely social media? Is it are you do mailers? What what is the marketing campaign look like? Because he tried to attract these specific individuals.

Justin Harlan 28:12
Yeah, we’ve been really innovative throughout the years and tried a lot of different things early on, you know, the fact that a city was paying people $10,000 To move there and got us a lot of free media or media great. It’s a great headline. We also have paid for social ads or you know, done things on social our social media accounts are some of the best as it relates to just lifting up what’s going on in Tulsa. And I’d recommend folks to check those out and give us a follow, we often try to highlight the day in the life of a member, for example, on social media, where they take over the account and kind of show us everything they’re doing throughout the city, giving those real life kind of testimonials, I think builds perspective, where maybe it’s someone from New York, who’s watching and they’re seeing somebody who just moved here from New York actually love and enjoy what the city has to offer. And they’re taken aback and say, Oh, I didn’t realize that this place could be for me. And so I think that some of that relaxed exposure is important. We’ve also done some referral programs throughout the course of the program, which allows for folks to tell their friends and family and be rewarded if somebody comes to Tulsa and stays throughout the year. And that’s been really successful too. So So yeah, I’d say those are the big ones earned media, paid social and referral. And like I said, so much of our work really relies heavily on the way that Tulsa and Oklahoma are lifted up throughout the country and other ways to

Brandon Burton 29:36
Yeah, I can see in certain communities and maybe you don’t see it so much in Tulsa but I know certain communities may have a certain maybe a stigma or stereotype about their community that maybe they need to address with their marketing. Do you guys get any feedback from people that maybe it made the move and they’re like I was resistant because of this thing, but you helped me overcome that or or it may They don’t make the move because they’re resistant to one thing. Is there a way that you guys are found to gather that kind of data?

Justin Harlan 30:07
Oh, yeah, most definitely. Yeah. I mean, a lot of it’s word of mouth. You know, when people do come and visit, telling us what they’re surprised by some of it is actually quantitative data that we have. If people don’t make the move, we ask them why. And so we actually know a lot of the reasons why. But I think the biggest misconceptions about Oklahoma probably won’t surprise you, you know, a lot of it is just the thought that it’s a bunch of cowboys roaming around and, you know, a big field. And that’s certainly not the case. I mean, there’s only 4 million people across the entire state, but a million of them are here in Tulsa, it’s a big city, we have professional sports, we get big music acts, we have a great food scene, it’s a really great place to live. And it’s a quarter of the state’s population. And, you know, it’s it’s a big city, it feels like a big city, there’s certainly places you can see a lot of land, but it takes a little bit to get there. That’s one I think politics is another big one, especially as of late, where folks on the coasts and often view their exposure to Oklahoma and the national media is often around very, very divisive and red, conservative policies. And so it’s almost like this misconception that everybody in Oklahoma believes the same thing. And and I think there’s often pause, as it relates to somebody that’s trying to decide where they want to move, and whether that aligns with their beliefs. You know, I think something that’s unique about Tulsa. And we really consider ourselves a purple city, the state of Oklahoma is undoubtedly red. But there’s a lot of differing viewpoints here in Tulsa, we can disagree in a healthy way, we can have dialogue and debate in a way that moves us forward. And that nature that I just think it’s unique, I think that there’s often especially in this day and age, it feels like you’re one or the other. And I think that when you can find places that really embrace both and talk through differences in a healthy way, I think that’s really going to be what sets it sets us apart in the country over the next decade or so like, these are places we should be tapping into more and learning from, as opposed to oftentimes we hear from our members, they were in a place where that said they really value diversity. But when they really step back and think about who they were surrounding themselves with those people that look just like them and thought just like them. And that’s not all that diverse, you know, when you can come to Oklahoma, or in Tulsa and have a neighbor that looks different from you, and thinks different from you. And you can learn how to actually have that dialogue. That’s a skill set that I think we’re losing. And that is true diversity. That’s how you actually figure out how to healthily disagree and work to a solution that actually benefits everybody.

Brandon Burton 32:51
Yeah, I love that perspective. That’s awesome. So I like asking everyone I have on the podcast, this question, and you’re gonna bring a unique perspective to it. But as we look to the future of chambers of commerce, how would you imagine the future of chambers going forward and their purpose going forward?

Justin Harlan 33:14
Yeah, well, to me, right now, there’s more opportunity than ever, as people can be mobile, I think that, you know, as jobs increase within the tech world, proximity to the office is only going to become less of a thing, which will allow people to really go where they want and prioritize place and prioritize life over, you know, being required to be stuck somewhere because their job requires them to be. And I think that that really just, it’s a unique moment for chambers that are showcasing all that a city has to offer, because there’s just more opportunity than ever to attract an individual. And like I said earlier, I just think that creates awesome, awesome space and opportunity for folks to lean into what makes them different, and lift up what what makes them unique. And I think if you do that, well, in this day and age, and over the next couple of decades, I think we’re gonna see more and more remote workers. I just think there’s the cities that do that well are really going to gain and lean into where our country is taking us in this tech space and in this future of workspace, and lifting up what makes life good, and just allowing folks to then think about the fact that life looks good there and I can do my job anywhere. That sounds like a good place to be so that that would be my word of encouragement is just lean into what makes you unique and be open to you know, those those people that are willing to relocate and are assessing their priorities in life and be comfortable with work not coming first in that lift up what really makes your city great.

Brandon Burton 34:51
Yeah, I think that’s great, great perspective and, and something I think chambers need to get on board with quit too because that working environment is changing very rapid. We’re seeing from remote work to, you know, these glimpses of what Metaverse might look like, into the future. And it’s not so much the brick and mortar and needing people on Main Street, you know, with shops. So those will be there, too. Bye, bye. Oh, yeah, there’ll be there. But helping those individuals sell online, you know, that would be another way of just being able to think outside the box of what the traditional business structure look like. And I think having remote workers in your community and placemaking for that is a key aspect to it. So appreciate, I would say that

Justin Harlan 35:37
those places that you just mentioned, actually become even more important because remote work does not mean isolation, remote work does not mean that we’re just sitting in our house, and we’re comfortable staying in our pajamas all day and work. I think everybody wants community. I mean, there’s a recent study that showed that 65% of people wouldn’t have somebody to call if an emergency happened. That is like, an all time high for isolation, you know. So I think that those third spaces, whether they’re co working spaces, or gyms, or restaurants, or coffee shops, those actually all become increasingly more important in the world of remote work. Because it’s not that we’re saying we want to be alone. It’s not that we’re saying we want to close the office door and put our head down in our music on, we still need connections, we still need people. And I think that’s what has actually made Tulsa remote thrive is the fact that in the remote work conversation, we’ve also created space and community for people to connect. And there’s a lot of power in that. And the third spaces aren’t going anywhere. In fact, I think, you know, they become even more important to build and expand and make presence and promote, because those are the spots if remote work continues to increase. Those are the spots that people are going to build those connections and build community. Right?

Brandon Burton 36:47
You mentioned co working spaces, and I just a few weeks ago was visiting one and they’ve been completely full and have a waiting list, you know, for months out because people want their community as a as they do remote work. So you’re spot on. Yeah. anybody listening, wanting a good business model has a shared office spaces are huge. But Justin, as we wrap up here wanted to give you an opportunity to share any contact information for listeners who might want to reach out and connect you had mentioned following on social, what would be the best ways for them to do that and to be able to connect with you.

Justin Harlan 37:22
Yeah, following on social is great. If you want to add me on LinkedIn, that’s often a place that I do connect with folks. And then if you have any questions for, for us and our program, if you just email info inf o at Tulsa remote.com We’ve got a team of folks that are ready to respond. And if you specifically want to connect with me, you can request for that there as well. And I’d be happy to get in touch. So I appreciate everybody listening and we’re always happy to help from here.

Brandon Burton 37:51
That’s perfect. We’ll get that in our show notes too. So people can look it up and and follow in connect with you. But just it’s been a great conversation. Hopefully it’s opened the minds and perspective of those listening to just what they can do in their community to make them stand out and really showcase what their community is all about. So I appreciate you being with us today and sharing this great work you guys are doing there in Tulsa.

Justin Harlan 38:14
Thanks for having me.

Brandon Burton 38:16

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