(Brinkman) When you go to Wabash and you meet these people
and you see how important they are to each other,
this is what we want this country to be about.
I think we are all hungry right now
for this kind of unique collaborative community
and it's alive and well in this town
and it's beautiful.
I felt like I've realized something that I didn't know that I was missing.
There is something amazing about people knowing you,
people wanting to know you more
and I feel blessed to have just been a part of it
and to have learned from it.
We're going to show other small towns
that it's about supporting your small businesses
and supporting your neighbors
that's what can make your town great again.
(Announcer) Small towns across the country are fighting for their survival,
with the odds stacked against them.
But what happens if we join that fight,
if we dedicate a little money,
a lot of experience,
and thousands of hours of work,
into one small town;
focusing on the businesses at the heart of their main street.
Nearly 10,000 people wrote in to tell us about their favorite community.
And the country voted for one winner.
Now, marketing expert Amanda Brinkman and her team at Deluxe,
are going to work for the people of Wabash, Indiana.
And they've brought along entrepreneur Robert Herjavec
to help revitalize the town.
Every episode we're working with a new small business
to see if we can change the odds.
If together, we can start a revolution.
[Radio] Hey there everybody Wade Weaver here
105.9 The Bash.
Giving you the rundown of an action packed day here in Wabash.
Tonight we're going to bid a fond farewell to the team.
There is going to be food, speeches, surprises
and I'm told champagne.
And if all that doesn't get you there,
I don't know what's going to.
We're going to hate to see these guys go,
but let's send them out in style,
tonight at the Honeywell.
(Weaver) Robert Herjavec is with us from Shark Tank
and Amanda Brinkman from Deluxe.
What a great gift you gave to Wabash,
seriously what a great gift.
(Brinkman) Oh, Absolutely.
Well, I feel like the real prize here is that you guys have a renewed sense of pride
for who you are as a community and as a town.
(Herjavec) You see that.
You walk around,
even the businesses we're not involved in with,
people are excited and it's really rewarding.
You get to actually see a tangible result.
-Could you please give us,
like one little parting shot of advice?
-One thing I've learned is just because you come from a small town
doesn't mean you should think small.
-My biggest piece of advice is to not let that flame flicker.
See the Small Business Revolution as just kind of that spark
that got things going
and isn't an end when we leave,
it's just kind of the beginning
of the new era of Wabash, Indiana.
-Thank you.
Thank you,
for doing what you guys have done for this community.
-Thank you.
-Thank you for having us. We appreciate it.
-All right, Robert Herjavec and Amanda Brinkman.
This morning down at the Honeywell Center
members of the Deluxe team have flown in
and they are giving a workshop on marketing for small businesses.
So, if you're an entrepreneur
or if think you might be one, one day, don't miss this one.
-We knew from the beginning
we would only be able to work really closely with six businesses,
but we wanted to have an affect on more of the small businesses in town.
-Email marketing is the best return on investment
that you can make in your business.
(Brinkman) We wanted to figure out a way to scale our marketing advice
to more small business owners within Wabash.
So bringing the team down from Deluxe felt like a great way,
for not only the people who have been working on the marketing for the small businesses,
to meet the small business owners they have been working so hard for,
but for the town to benefit from that marketing expertise.
-I'm going to talk about what is your marketing style.
(Herjavec) It is vitally critically important
to understand who your customer is.
(Jennifer George) Anything that we can get just helps all of us.
Just to be excited about our town again.
So, it's not just about downtown it's about all of us.
(LeeAnn George) I've been in Wabash for 44 years.
When we first moved here there were a lot of stores downtown.
And then all of a sudden we lost a big industry.
And that hurts any city when you lose an industry.
And some of the places just went out of business
and then you saw a lot of empty buildings
and we don't see that now.
It's a great thing for us.
(Matt Haynes) There have been hard times here.
Our town has gone through so many ups and downs.
We don't want to see us go through a down again.
We are at a rallying point.
(Tracy Griffith) For a long time Wabash was failing.
And you know, we're not there yet, but were getting there
and I feel like this is just really started that fire
to make people work a little bit harder and a little bit harder.
(Brinkman) It's so incredible to see the way the people of Wabash have responded to this project
and we're hoping that some of that knowledge and excitement carries into the future.
But we also want to leave behind some more tangible changes.
We have been working all summer long with local contractors
making physical improvements not just to the individual businesses,
but to the downtown.
(Brian Hoffman) I mean, 10 years ago nobody would have
came and stayed downtown Wabash and been out walking around,
there's nothing to walk around and see.
And we hope to keep the ball rolling and it doesn't just stop after,
you know, you guys leave town.
We hope people here in town will take hold of this
and start to lean in on it too.
(Mike Paul) You talk to people anywhere and like
"what the heck is going on in Wabash"?
You can't even drive through town there's so many forklifts
and lifts working on buildings and painting,
it's just been crazy.
Yeah, it's very good.
(Afla Irani) I think the momentum is already there and it's building,
and it's building, and it's building
and I think this will take us,
years from now you'll just see that impact.
(Brinkman) Christine's been running the show from the Wabash end.
And she was also the one to give us our very first tour of the town.
So we're meeting back up with her for one last tour,
to see what we've accomplished together.
-Well, as you both remember Deluxe had these really great,
kind of a set-up projects
that could help make our community more bright, vibrant
and so some of the projects that we were able to
work on over the summer months,
were these signs you see hanging here.
-I love these signs.
-We had nothing for pedestrians,
so these hanging signs really connect the pedestrian to the stores.
(Kent Henderson) Deluxe hired us to design and build and install these signs.
You know, they should be there forever and it's really cool to walk around
and see our handiwork on every downtown building,
it's really cool.
-Another one of the projects that we had identified to work on this summer was...
the alley walk.
There was no color...
(Brinkman) I love the heart of Indiana.
(Herjavec) It's friendlier.
(Flohr) It feels it doesn't it.
(Herjavec) Yeah it does. It feels friendlier.
-Look at the logo!
- So, to Deluxe...
we wanted to thank the Small Business Revolution.
You're not just making communities prettier,
you're changing communities.
-Thank you for saying that.
-It's true. You're changing lives.
(Herjavec) It's beautiful.
-And one of the other things that we were really excited about
was this building that unfortunately wasn't taken care of
and had to be razed several years ago.
The building that stood there was called the Mammoth Building.
We worked really hard this summer
and transformed one of the busiest corners
in downtown Wabash,
to a really great public gathering space.
-This was a lot that had been kind of an eyesore for the town,
for several years.
So, it was a good opportunity to do something
that's right here where you pull into the main part of town.
When I first heard about the stuff Deluxe was doing,
a lot of other business owners that weren't right downtown,
we thought why pump all that money into the downtown,
it's not going to benefit anyone else,
but I've got 37 people that work for me,
it wasn't what I thought
and that it actually is going to other places other than the downtown
and it's pretty cool.
(Mike Paul) The trickle-down effect is huge,
from Deluxe, to me, to the sub-contractors,
to the merchants, and then the consumer ultimately.
Yeah, it's been huge.
Very proud to be a part of it.
-Twenty years from now just coming by and seeing people
sitting out there on the patio doing stuff like that
it's... it will be gratifying.
(Maria Smyth) That's what we all want is just improvements,
one step at a time.
(Flohr) So if you remember, one of the things you said we had in our town
was a goldmine and it was...
-The Honeywell Center.
-The Honeywell Center.
And you had talked to us about making sure that
we connected with the 270,000 plus people
that walk in these doors every year.
-Such a benefit.
-Right. So, what I was going to ask you both,
how do you feel about doing a plug for the town of Wabash?
-Let's do it.
-I'd love to do it.
-Awesome, let's go.
(Herjavec) Are we ready?
-Yes, let's roll it.
-Hi this is Robert Herjavec from Shark Tank
and with my friend Amanda "Brickman" from Deluxe.
Oh, I said your name wrong.
[beep]
-This town is incredible.
A historic downtown,
great restaurants,
incredible shopping...
you can do a lot of stuff here.
What's the first line?
-This town is incredible.
[beep]
-Tons of unique shops and restaurants
and some of the most welcoming people you'll ever meet.
-So come explore Wabash,
we know you'll love it here.
-Watching Christine work I'm consistently amazed by her energy,
her intelligence and her commitment to this town.
She's really been Wabash's champion since day one.
As much as anyone, Christine is going to be the person
who takes what we've started here and carries the torch forward.
So we want to sit down with her one more time
and make sure that she has all the tools she needs
to help Wabash succeed.
(Brinkman) You do such an amazing job promoting Wabash
and promoting tourism,
but one of the things I've noticed is that
if you're driving on 24 or even 31
you might miss downtown Wabash, right?
Because there's no directional signage.
There's nothing telling you that there's this
beautiful, historic downtown just a mile down the road.
So we thought it'd be fun to buy some billboards for you.
-Much needed!
-Yes!
-Oh my goodness!
-Would you like to see what they might look like?
-Please!
-Okay. This one shows a great picture of historic downtown.
Thank you, assistant.
(Laughter)
-And then this one has a little bit more of a
it plays up the "Winner of the Small Business Revolution."
-It's such a great idea.
I remember the very first time I came here.
I didn't know I was in Wabash until I literally was in Wabash.
-So these are really gonna give an audience and the opportunity to consider,
"Wow, I've got 14 miles!
Let me Google this place. What's around here, you know?
-Far enough out when people are starting to plan
where they're gonna have the lunch or the dinner.
So even if they don't stop,
we definitely want to leave them with the impression that there's
a beautiful, historic downtown in Wabash.
-That is gonna make a huge difference.
-We're also going to put out of home billboards
in Peru and Kokomo,
in Mexico, North Manchester,
um, but all along 24 and 31.
-Why are all the named...
[laughter]
...as though we're in Central or South America?
-I don't know. It's something very interesting about...
-I don't have an answer.
-I just had a great tagline for the town of Wabash.
It's the first town to have electricity.
So how about this on the billboards?
What do you have now as a tagline?
"Visit..."
-It's a call to action.
-It's good.
But how about this?
Here's what the billboard in front of Mexico should say.
You ready?
"We have better tequila than you!"
[laughter]
"Come get lit in Wabash."
-Well, hey now!
-That's actually really good!
-Do you get it? Do you get it?
-I do get it!
-You know, Robert and I and the Deluxe team,
we all spend a lot of time working with small businesses,
but what we've been doing here is honestly new territory.
None of us have ever worked on a whole town before.
So before the party starts,
we have one last stop to make.
Back to Modoc's Coffee to talk with unofficial town elder, Steve Downs.
I want to ask him how we did,
how he feels about what's happened in Wabash
and what he thinks the future looks like for his town.
-This has been a great process.
I can't believe it's almost over.
The most significant thing that comes away from this
is the impact you've made on the small businesses.
I talked about validating what you've done for the city,
but what you've really done is validated our small business owners.
They now are feeling much better about themselves than they were before.
So out of anything that's been accomplished here,
you've done that.
-That's wonderful to hear.
-It's been wonderful.
-See now from the beginning we wanted to be able to make an impact here,
but when you think about it $500,000 is a lot to invest in one community
but it can't solve for everything.
-No.
-How do you feel this is setting Wabash up for the future?
Has this been the springboard you had hoped it would be?
-Actually it's far exceeded our expectations.
It's going to be easy to attract more people to the community.
-You know there is something too about that next generation.
-No question.
-Seeing if we can get those kids excited about it and seeing the value.
-And that's really a new attitude.
I mean for years and years young people couldn't wait to get out of town
and now that's starting to change,
but it wasn't always like that.
What I'm worried about is we're going to have a little let down
when you all leave,
but I'm confident that what you have done is going to make a lasting impression
on this community and it's citizens.
No question about it.
-It'll be hard for us to leave too.
I mean it'll be with heavy heart that we drive out.
I feel like the thing that's going to give me comfort is
that when I get in my car and I drive away,
I don't see this as an end of anything.
-I would agree with you wholeheartedly.
-I feel good about the work that we've done here
and isn't it great in life when you can
do good with good people and have good results?
-Absolutely.
-And I think you guys will make it what it is.
-We're getting there.
Thank you.
And it's not a small way,
you've had a major impact on us.
You really have.
(Brinkman) This town and these people
have had such an incredible impact on my life,
on my team.
It just felt like we couldn't possibly leave without having a moment to stop
and thank the town for how welcoming they've been,
how responsive they've been to the changes,
to thank all the people that have helped make it possible.
It just felt like the right way to leave
and also encourage them to not let this be the end,
but to just be the beginning of that next stage of Wabash.
(Herjavec) You know what I've learned out of this
is small towns contain those bonds
that make people want to do even harder.
These people want to succeed
not just for their family, their business,
but for the entire community.
-Okay we're ready to start the program.
Waiters and waitresses will be passing out glasses of champagne.
We approach this celebration or this final event
with really, really mixed emotions.
Finale means that all of these people are leaving us.
We just simply hate to see this come to an end.
This is a small town almost in the middle of nowhere,
and it's been struggling for years.
It's been losing population.
It's been losing employment
and yet all of the citizens of Wabash
continue to increase their efforts
to improve life in Wabash, Indiana.
We know now that with you leaving, the hard work really starts.
We have to put into action the lessons
and the advice you have given us.
We will work to make you proud.
We have no doubt about that.
[applause]
-It's incredible the community that you guys have
and the support that you were able to get together.
I hope if anything during this time
we gave you a glimpse into something that's possible.
You can do anyting you want.
Congratulations and thank you.
[applause]
-When we're walking down the streets
you guys stop us and you thank us,
but it is I who want to thank you.
I see the faces of people who have become like a second family.
I feel like I'm coming home.
How do you do that?
[laughter]
At Deluxe we work with small business every day.
We love small businesses,
but it has been going on this journey along side you
that has made us realize that this was the right town.
[applause]
Could I have Christine come to the stage.
Alright. So Christine, for someone who spends her entire life
making other people's lives better,
we'd like to give you $10,000.
We want this to continue to help you in your work
to bring tourism into Wabash, Indiana.
Steve, join me center stage please.
We would like to give you $20,000.
It's incredibly important that entrepreneurship stay alive in Wabash.
-That's wonderful! Wonderful!
(Brinkman) In the grand scheme of things
we've been here such a short period of time.
I never expected Wabash to feel so much like home,
but I guess that's really what makes this town unique.
Not just that they have something special here,
but that they can make you feel like you're truly a part of it.
-Alright, this is to Wabash.
Again, thank you.
I mean it when I say that you have changed our lives
and it is without hyperbole that I declare
that Wabash may just be the greatest place on earth.
Cheers.
[cheering]
-Cheers.
(Lisa Downs) We're all sad to see you go,
but now is the time when the real work starts.
It's time to get down to business and use those tools
that they have now equipped us with to make it happen.
(Scott Long) Well we don't stop
and we just keep plugging along.
It's a long process.
That's how you get things done.
(Steve Downs) Downtown may never come back to the way it used to be,
but it's certainly going to be better than it has been
over the last few decades.
It's going to get there, I think.
It's gonna get there.
(Kris White) I think this town has grown a lot tighter knit
than we even were before.
(Judy Kilmer) Harry's been very emotional.
There's nothing wrong with that,
seriously.
They just made your dream come true.
(Maria Smyth) We will be that affirmation to,
they're real, get out there and vote
because this can happen to your town, too.
(Tracy Griffith) I am excited to see this going forward,
for the next town that will be picked...
(Aaron Griffith) Yeah, 'cause we're gonna be nosey as heck.
-Yeah! Yeah, we're gonna be watching their voting
and of course looking to see who's working hard at it
and who's losing sleep at it.
It's definitely been
one of the most monumental things to have ever happened in our life.
(Brinkman) I'm gonna be sad to go,
but somehow there's a comfort in just knowing that Wabash is here,
that after we leave
these people are going to go back to their quietly compassionate lives,
and I also have a feeling I'm going to be back.
♪
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