Dakota Collins was born the son of professional hippies - his mom worked in medicine, and dad in education - with construction on the side - and Dakota was raised largely free-range in the hills southwest of Fort Collins. He was born with a club-foot, which required repeated casting to straighten, and which eventually caused him to develop scoliosis. And then he discovered slacklining! In a matter of months his spine was straight and his life transformed, and he soon travelled the nation and the world as a professional slackliner, motivational speaker, and adventurist!

He later co-founded Breathe - a mindful community featuring yoga, extreme slacklining, meditation and more - and met his now wife at a Breathe festival - where they spent the full week together, and then she immediately joined the man she’d just met on a 30-day backpacking trip in Alaska. I write all this to share the notion that when Dakota Collins does stuff - he does it all the way!

Dakota founded Grey Rock Landscape and Construction in the fall of 2020, and hired his teenage sister to mow lawns, and built the business to 4 full-time employees before he quit his full-time job with Larimer County. Now 5 years in and 18 employees strong, Grey Rock has become one of the premier landscape design and installation companies in Northern Colorado. And it’s all about culture. It seems everyone loves Dakota, and you will too - so please tune in and enjoy my conversation with Dakota Collins.

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

In today’s episode of The LoCo Experience, I welcomed Nate Hines back into the studio for his second appearance - with the agreement that he gets to interview me for the second half of the show! Nate was our final guest of Season 4, (Episode 200) - and in 2025 he executed the strategy he shared in our previous conversation - acquiring and integrating three water engineering firms!

Hines Inc. is the leading voice in the #waterfirst movement, which encourages developers and property owners to consider water first when designing anything from a residential landscape plan to a city park to a major subdivision. This can save 30% or more on install, 30% or more on maintenance, and increase the longevity of systems through professional management. We zoomed in on Nate’s skills-building journey, which included bruising lessons from a failed merger, and the support and encouragement of an advisory board along the way.

For the second half of the show, Nate interviewed your host, Curt Bear. We discussed the philosophies that drive our policies at LoCo Think Tank, my why in becoming a small-L libertarian, and we closed with a selection of LoCo Experiences from yours truly - specifically, a quick tour of the five times I’ve nearly killed myself and my wife in raging rivers, on mountain passes, or on a motorcycle! - so please tune in and enjoy my conversation with Nate Hines.

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Today’s episode features Kris Buchanan, Founder of Phase Three Product Development and Co-Founder and CEO of RedDrop Dx. RedDrop Dx has developed an FDA-approved, pain-free blood collection device that is used at home! Drawing on years of experience designing medical instrumentation and microfluidic systems, he and his partners set out to solve the “blood acquisition” problem as a standalone, scalable solution rather than a one-off component tied to a single test.

RedDrop offers a simple at-home kit that uses heat to bring capillary blood close to the skin’s surface, followed by a quick, virtually painless micro-needle activation that creates tiny openings and applies gentle vacuum to collect blood. The process avoids nerve stimulation, reduces contamination, and produces a consistent, lab-ready sample. RedDrop is FDA-cleared and sold business-to-business, primarily to diagnostic companies, healthcare providers, and testing services.

Kris is one of those sneaky entrepreneurs that fly under the radar, employing ~25 leading edge engineers at Phase Three Product Development - which his son Will is now managing - and changing the world of data collection (via blood) in the medical space. You’ll be sure to hear more about him and RedDrop Dx in the years ahead, but start here and please enjoy my conversation with Kris Buchanan.

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Now This is NOCO! - Ben & Kelsi Harris, Owners of This is NOCO and the NEW Discover NOCO Magazine

On today’s episode of The LoCo Experience podcast, I’m excited to introduce Ben & Kelsi Harris to our listeners! They are the owners of the This is NOCO media company, and recently expanded their offerings through acquisition of Discover Fort Collins magazine - which will be adding editorial and community content and rebranding as Discover NOCO this spring!

And - they’ve recently come aboard the team for The LoCo Experience podcast - Ben in production and Kelsi managing social media and Co-Hosting a new short-form Business & Community News segment on The LoCo Experience!

Ben & Kelsi came back to Northern Colorado in 2020, escaping Covid-nation in California, where they worked together at a Christian camp - and Ben rekindled his production business, The Hype and the Heart at that time. The opportunity to acquire NOCO Date Nights Instagram page surfaced in January 2024, and they’ve grown their following and rebranded to This is NOCO in the summer of 2025. They are all about local, and together, we’re LoCo for Local, and so please welcome to the show - and to the team - and enjoy my conversation with Ben & Kelsi Harris of This is NOCO!

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

In this episode of the LoCo Experience Podcast, I had an intriguing conversation with Johnny Fimple, Founder of Resonate, a Fimple Plan. Johnny is a business coach, and shared his journey from being a passionate drummer in the music industry to pioneering a unique coaching perspective centered on improving employee-customer interactions.

We delved into his early years as a musician and music store manager in San Francisco, his transition into the restaurant and retail sectors, and how his personal and professional life evolved, including meeting his wife Natalia. Resonate focuses on enhancing business communications and fostering a positive work culture, driven by Johnny's vast experience and genuine enthusiasm for helping others succeed.

His approach combines practical business wisdom with the improvisational spirit of a jazz band; he shared a lot of Fimple wisdom, and we shared a lot of laughs, so please tune in and enjoy my conversation with Johnny Fimple.

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Jenna Lee Dillon spent her growing up years in Southwest Colorado - in the small town of Mancos - on the way from Durango to Mesa Verde National Park. Her father was in the real estate business - some construction but especially buy, fix, and flip - a decade before it was cool. After high school, she wanted someplace bigger and warmer, which landed her at Arizona State University.

Just out of school, Jenna Lee landed a job in marketing - a remote job for a California agency - and she soon evidenced her gutsy personality by starting her own freelance agency on the side, and exploring the most interesting places to live. With stops in Austin, Chicago, Portland, Dublin and Fort Collins before finding her current home in Arvada, Jenna Lee lived the digital nomad lifestyle a decade before it was cool! She’s a 6X Founder, and is turning one of her ventures - Screen Freed Revolution - into a non-profit in 2026.

In this conversation we explore financial best practices and emotions, the urge to start new things and to run Spartan Races, and discuss why Jenna Lee and her family should move back up to Fort Collins. There’s lots of smart business content, many fun and inspiring stories, and plenty of laughs, so please join me in enjoying my conversation with Jenna Lee Dillon.

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

John Palke and I were introduced at a Realities for Children event some months back, and when we finally enjoyed a coffee together, I knew he had a story that I had to dig into and share! In real estate since 2019, John had previously been a commercial fisherman in Alaska (where he once fell in the water and nearly froze to death), was a partner in one of my favorite band bars, Hodi’s Half Note, and worked in operations at Vestas - until he realized giant windmills were a mostly a heavily subsidized boondoggle.

After getting into real estate with a name-brand firm, John became a partner in a property management business, Big Bear Properties. During the refi boom, he referred a full-time income worth of mortgages to a friend - who encouraged to become a licensed mortgage broker - allowing him to provide full-service real estate for investors - or a la carte for anyone! In 2025, he decided to go his own way in real estate, founding BBP Realty almost exactly a year from when this episode was released.

John’s a great storyteller, and I enjoyed every bit of this conversation - and I think you will too. So please join me in getting to know and love my new friend John Palke.

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Rachael Ardanuy is a purpose-driven attorney, as passionate about business and community as anyone I’ve come to know lately, and also an adjunct professor, Certified Jazzersize Instructor, and co-founder with her husband of Grow Your Own Fort Collins - a design and install firm focused on home gardening. We traded some home grown gifts before the show, and enjoyed a lovely conversation.

Rachael came to Colorado as a marijuana industry attorney - helping with formations and contracts and navigation of the regulatory hurdles in the still-young industry. As the pace of growth in the industry slowed - and regulatory hurdles in other industries increased - she has expanded to become a full-service contracts and counsel firm with a specialty in regulatory navigation.

In this conversation, Rachael shares a lot about what you didn’t know about the marijuana industry and the local constrictions to growth - and some ideas about what’s ahead. Smoking lounges, ketamine healing centers, and guided psychedelic journeys are all on the radar. She’s a smart cookie, and a lotta fun, so please tune in and enjoy my conversation with Rachel Ardanuy.

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain