Nick Beadleston from the Grove Community Incubator in Traverse City, Michigan

https://www.groveincubator.org/

Nick Beadleston is the executive director of the Grove Community Incubator, a local nonprofit which nurtures fertile ground where entrepreneurs, organizers, and artists connect and flourish. One of their most successful joint programs, the Office of Possibilities (OOPs), has become a vital peer-support group for hundreds of local entrepreneurs and changemakers. Grove's work and collaboration space--located in the Commongrounds community center--is home to numerous growing small businesses, nonprofits, and social enterprises. Prior to leading Grove, Nick worked in multiple fields, including small business consulting, print journalism, and international development and aid. He is also an Army veteran with multiple combat deployments. And, shockingly given his predilection for profanity, Nick is also an Eagle Scout.

Grove Community Incubator We nurture fertile ground where entrepreneurs, organizers, and artists connect and flourish. We want to see every innovator is rooted in the relationships and resources needed to fulfill their deep purpose. We accomplish this by: - Owning and operating collaborative workspaces, like our coworking space at Commongrounds. - Developing and facilitating networks of peer support, like our weekly Office of Possibilities. - Attracting new resources to nurture social innovators. The world’s best gardeners don’t weed. They don’t pull, prune or fertilize. They barely even water. They know they don’t need to. They just focus–endlessly and obsessively–on building healthy soil. The plants know how to do the rest. We’re following this wisdom to unite and support our local changemakers.

Resources: Office of Possibilities- Every Tuesday, 9-11am in The Alluvion, 414 E 8th St. Traverse City, Michigan. The Office of Possibilities (or OOPs) is Northern Michigan’s front porch for connection & collaboration. We gather every single Tuesday from 9-11am to share and support one another along our journey as entrepreneurs and changemakers. We keep the format simple so the conversations can go deep. No need to bring a business plan or elevator speech. Just show up when you’re able, share what you want, ask for what you need, give what you can, and hit the road when you have to. Since we started this weekly program, we’ve had over 300 local entrepreneurs and changemakers attend. Some choose to come back every week to be a part of this growing community. Hopefully, we’ll see you next Tuesday!

Buy all of these books used. You will want to write in them. Also, I’m happy to loan anyone my copy of any of these. But A.) you must return it, and B.) you must add your own notes.

Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouniard. Patagonia didn’t start off as a good company. But they became one over many years and a lot of hard conversations. Make sure you get the version with pictures. So worth it.

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by Bill McDonough and Michael Braungart. I don’t say this lightly, but it literally shifted my world view on design, consumption, and creation.

Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer And Venture Capitalist by Brad Feld and another guy. It's dry as shit, and it will save your life.

The Great Game of Business by Bo Burlingham and Jack Stack. Not sure how you make a tractor parts business so disruptive, ethical, and impactful, but they did! Pretty much everything–and there is a lot–written by Ari Weinzweig.

A Lapsed Anarchist's Approach to the Power of Beliefs in Business is my favorite. So much concentrated value that I can only read a few pages at a time, because I have to stop and think about the magnitude of what I just read.

Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown. (Not a typo; they spell their name lowercase.) More about community organizing than entrepreneurship, but lots of analogous lessons if you look closely.

Akimbo podcast by Seth Godin- “People like us do things like this.” Also, his blog is the best on the internet.

How I Build This by Guy Raz - deep library of interesting founders/ companies

A Bit of Optimism by Simon Sinek- interesting and infectiously positive.

1000 True Fans by Kevin Kelly. (Read the blog post, not the book.)

Also, if you’re ever in Detroit during the weekend, go to Black Tech Saturday. That is the gold standard for what a peer-supportive entrepreneurial community should look like.