Cities don’t become great by accident, they get there when people from every corner of the built environment share a clear purpose and a practical playbook. We sit down with Wes Craiglow, executive director of ULI Northwest Arkansas and founder of Skyline AMC, to unpack how a neutral convener can transform regional momentum into measurable outcomes. Wes shares the story of launching ULI NWA just six years ago and scaling the three-day Place Summit to 400+ attendees by breaking silos and putting developers, engineers, architects, planners, and regulators in the same room with real problems to solve.

Wes reveals the operating system behind that growth: mission-first leadership, written intent, and decentralized control. Drawing on a 25-year Army career, he maps command principles: purpose, end state, and key tasks, directly onto business. The result is a team that acts fast in ambiguity because they know why they’re acting and what success looks like. We dive into practical tactics: tracking time to balance working in the business and on the business, pricing to create margin for improvement, and fixing processes instead of blaming people. Reps and sets matter, he says, but only with good form, systems before repetition, so practice makes permanent in the right direction.

This conversation is a field guide for association leaders, real estate pros, city planners, and entrepreneurs who want to scale without losing their soul. If you care about quality of place, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and building teams that can “lift heavier” missions over time, you’ll leave with a sharper lens and a clearer plan. Tune in, take notes, and then apply one idea this week, track your time, write your intent, or push a decision down with top cover, and watch your momentum build.

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Cash flow, quality, and quiet scale: that’s the real story behind building a B2B service franchise that most people never see but everyone relies on. We sit down with Nolen Hughes, president of Jan Pro of Arkansas and the Ozarks, to unpack how a regional developer model can serve banks, logistics hubs, and industrial facilities while paying franchisees on time, even when enterprise clients take 90 to 120 days to cut a check.

Nolen takes us from his early days with College Hunks to a multi-market operation that supports 180 franchise partners across Arkansas and southern Missouri. We dig into the operational backbone that keeps standards high and clients happy: monthly audits, uniform chemicals and microfiber systems, and a centralized process for safety documents, billing, and compliance. He explains why national supply programs matter, how account-based purchasing gives owners crucial float, and what it really takes to match the right operator to high-traffic sites like manufacturing campuses.

We also get candid about the human side of scale. Nolen talks through shifting from a family-run structure to a unified leadership model, why unity of command restores culture and momentum, and how elevating a young team creates room for growth. On the strategy front, we explore territory expansion driven by customer demand, the realities of winning national and regional accounts, and the brand dynamics of B2B franchising where only a tiny slice of the population is an actual decision-maker.

If you’re curious about franchising beyond fast food, or you lead a service business navigating long payment terms, this conversation is a masterclass in operations, finance, and leadership. Subscribe, share with a founder who needs it, and leave a review to tell us which insight you’ll use next.

The empty building at the corner isn’t an eyesore, it’s a question waiting for a brave answer. We sit down with developer Cameron Clark to unpack how a mid-century church becomes a walkable hub and why “public art with a P&L” might be the most honest way to describe thoughtful real estate.

Cameron traces an unconventional path from Chick-fil-A to licensed apparel to small-scale development, sharing the service mindset that still shapes his projects. He breaks down a real Fayetteville redevelopment: anticipating traffic and safety concerns, adding crosswalks and park connections, and inviting supporters to speak up when NIMBY voices dominate hearings. We get into the messy middle, rezoning, planning commission, city council, and the tactics that align a project with adopted plans to earn staff support. If you’re curious how design decisions become political wins, this is the blueprint.

We also talk about the risk math nobody sees on Instagram. Cash flow droughts. Personal guarantees that pull spouses into the arena. The overhead trap that pressures developers into bad deals. Cameron’s strategy is plain: keep a lean team, raise smart capital, prefer singles and doubles over moonshots, and focus on Northwest Arkansas where community, trails, and neighborhood retail compound value. From condo conversions near Wilson Park to practical re-tenanting, he shows how modest, human-scaled projects can change how people live day to day.

For founders and builders, Cameron’s advice is direct: find mentors, do the work, and build for the long game. Attention spans are short, entitlement timelines are not, and vision only matters if it survives hearings, budgets, and weather. If you care about walkability, NIMBY dynamics, local development, and the real grind behind “vibrant streets,” you’ll leave with a sharper lens and a few battle-tested tactics.

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