Conrad Fargo sits down with Sue Baron, founder of Golden Drive, a volunteer-run nonprofit supporting homeless children in the Fargo–Moorhead metro. Sue breaks down Golden Drive’s model in plain language: no salaries, no big building, no holding product “just because,” and no complicated gatekeeping. Donations come in and go right back out through schools, shelters, and resource rooms, helping kids with essentials that are easy to overlook until you need them immediately, hygiene items, socks, underwear, sweats, snack bags, and non-perishables.Sue shares how the entire mission started in the most unglamorous way possible: saving restaurant crayons that were headed for the trash. That one habit turned into boots-on-the-ground outreach, business-to-business asking, “Do you want to help our homeless kids?” and eventually into a decade-plus community engine. She talks through partnerships and supporters like Culver’s, Gateway Chevrolet, YouthWorks, the West Fargo Rural Fire Department, the West Fargo Police Department, and the UPS location on 13th Avenue in Fargo, plus a long list of local businesses, schools, churches, students, and volunteers who keep showing up.The conversation gets real about scale and momentum: Giving Hearts Day, filling resource rooms year-round, events like “Fill the Fire Boot” with Jay Thomas, and the sock drive that has reached 46,215 pairs. Sue’s message is simple and stubborn: start with what you have, connect people to helping, and “stay golden.”

Conrad Fargo sits down with Shelle Hagen, owner of Elite Massage Academy, to unpack how one local massage business became three interconnected ventures: Elite Therapeutic Massage (with offices in Fargo and Moorhead), Elite Massage Academy (a massage therapy school), and a continuing education operation that has her traveling the United States teaching therapists and spa teams. The conversation starts with Shelle’s philosophy of pursuing ideas even without early supporters, then quickly turns into the real-world mechanics of building a business that runs while the owner is on the road, and why teams, systems, and delegation are non-negotiable.Shelle breaks down the licensed-profession landscape on the ND/MN border, explaining North Dakota’s state regulation versus Minnesota’s city-by-city approach, and why she actually values regulation as a pathway to safety, education, and broader modalities for clients. From there, Conrad digs into her day-to-day reality: juggling a long-running practice, building a school, and spending weeks each month traveling to teach continuing education, sometimes inside high-end spa environments where premium services can run hundreds of dollars.The core story is innovation in the most literal sense: Shelle describes the pain points of traditional hot stone massage, including the infamous “pulled pork roaster” water-heating setup, awkward river rocks, timing windows, cleanup, sanitation logistics, and the sheer labor involved in resetting for the next client. That frustration leads to Core Stones, an ergonomic soapstone tool system that can be used hot or cold and functions as an extension of the therapist’s hand. Shelle recounts discovering the product in a Massage Warehouse magazine, connecting with the original owner (Dale Grust in New Paltz, New York), flying out to see the operation, and ultimately purchasing the company so it would not disappear when the founder retired.From there, the “Innovate” theme gets even sharper: Shelle explains how the old water-based heating method was still an unsolved problem, so she prototyped a no-water, open-heat system that is safer, temperature-controlled, and designed for real workflows. She tells the story of ordering and hacking together equipment, reaching out to “Evan Dash” and the Dash pancake griddle as an early prototype, then taking the leap to call 1-800-Invention to connect with engineers and move toward a patent-backed product. The payoff is operational: her cleanup/turnover time drops from roughly 40–50 minutes to about 3 minutes, and spas can see measurable revenue increases by adding the modality as a signature service.Conrad also pulls the thread back to origins. Shelle shares her path through Concordia College (exercise science and Spanish), her early cleaning business in 1998, her decision to enter massage therapy, and why she started her massage business halfway through training in Moorhead before licensing in North Dakota and moving into Fargo. She explains how retraining hires sparked the idea for Elite Massage Academy, designed to bridge common gaps she saw in graduates, and even mentions using a synthetic cadaver tool for anatomy education. She also highlights a North Dakota Career Builders funding option that can cover much of the cost of training for those who commit to working in North Dakota afterward.

Heather Aal runs Aal Yours Consignment, a consignment boutique and curiosity shop tucked into the Hawthorne Historic District in South Fargo at 615 9th Avenue South, about a block and a half south of Island Park. The space has its own local lore, originally an Island Park grocery store, and now a rotating, highly curated mix of antique and vintage furniture and home decor, with new items hitting the floor daily and the layout changing constantly. Heather breaks down how consignment works in real terms: items get 90 days on the floor with markdowns every 30 days, and sellers split net proceeds after costs like credit card fees, auction fees, and marketing. Contrary to what many assume, most of her sales still come from walk-in traffic, with additional reach through Etsy as an international seller, selective use of eBay for truly auction-worthy items, and estatesales.org for online auctions when items aren’t reclaimed after the 90-day window.Heather’s path into this world runs through Chicago consignment work, furniture refinishing, and high-end estate sales in Dallas, followed by years in the nonprofit sector, including work connected to the Better Business Bureau in Fargo and later the Essentia Health Foundation. After COVID-era disruption, she built the shop deliberately, leaning on local small business support like SCORE, SBA resources, and the Fargo Executive Club. A standout early “universe has spoken” moment involved a rare desk tied to Henry Ford and a Smithsonian reproduction story that helped cement the vision. The conversation also touches on why older items feel different, the way “joy” transfers from one owner to the next, and Heather’s next creative pivot after hand surgery ended refinishing, including experimenting with a crucible to melt down broken jewelry and obsolete metal pieces.

Conrad sits down with Matt Larson, the Executive Director of Farm in the Dell of the Red River Valley, a nonprofit with a simple mission: transforming disabilities into abilities. Matt explains how the farm and garden operation employs adults with disabilities, creating community, vocation, purpose, and a paycheck, while also growing produce that serves the Fargo-Moorhead area. The work is seasonal, ramping up in early May and wrapping in mid-October, and Matt shares how the team is experimenting with winter opportunities to keep people connected and employed, including baking and serving events, with more ideas in development for February.Matt describes the range of disabilities they support, primarily intellectual disabilities with some physical considerations, and how job coaches sometimes accompany employees depending on individual needs. Conrad and Matt also unpack the ecosystem of partner organizations that help adults find employment, including CCRI, Vocational Training Center (VTC), Heartland Industries, CLS, and the Carlson Center, plus how parents can connect directly with the farm.Beyond the farm, the conversation explores what it means to be an executive director at a small nonprofit, the realities of running operations with a lean staff, and Matt’s path from 23 years of teaching at Park Christian School in Moorhead to leading Farm in the Dell. The discussion also goes deep into Matt’s faith journey, the difference between works and grace, and how worldview shapes leadership, resilience, and service. Matt closes with ways to support the mission through Giving Hearts Day, volunteering on the farm, and signing up for their CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) produce subscription.

Veronica Malachowski joins Conrad Fargo to unpack the philosophy behind True Image Tallow Skincare; a Fargo-area skincare brand built around locally sourced bison tallow and a “keep it simple” ingredient mindset. Veronica walks through what tallow actually is, why leaf fat (kidney suet) matters for skincare, and how she dry-renders bison suet at low temperature to avoid water-related spoilage and keep scent minimal. She compares the recent “tallow comeback” in both food and skincare, explains why bison differs from beef, and describes her small-batch process from receiving frozen suet in large chunks, to meticulous trimming, slow rendering, straining, vacuum sealing, and freezing stock for future production.The conversation also digs into her background as a dental hygienist (graduated 2000) and how studying fluoride originally kicked off a long, crunchy, question-everything path toward cleaner inputs, gardening, canning, and local food preservation. Veronica shares how she connected with community through Hildebrandt Farm (a fourth-generation, regenerative local farm with a West Fargo brick-and-mortar seasonal market), and how that network helped her build momentum as she moved from family-and-friends testing to full-time business ownership.You’ll hear specifics on where her products are carried, including Modish Boutique in West Fargo (off Veterans), Herbs and Spices on Robert Street in downtown Fargo, Hildebrandt Farm, Petals and Stems in Carrington, and wellness centers in “Mina.” Veronica also describes going storefront-to-storefront to wholesale her line, balancing production time with the hustle of partnerships and social media. She outlines her seven-product lineup, including seasonal blends (spring, summer, autumn, winter) with botanical profiles aimed at specific skin goals, plus tattoo aftercare, baby cream, and an unscented option kept to just bison tallow with organic extra virgin olive oil or organic jojoba oil. The episode wraps with a practical discussion of sensitivities like lanolin allergies, an honest take on Vaseline, and her outro music pick: “Glorious” by Mïm.

Rusty Galloway breaks down how a Class 4 laser-cleaning rig turns nasty jobs into clean, finished projects. Rusty describes their portable 300-watt Class 4 pulse laser setup (suitcase-sized unit, long hose, handheld head, and an air compressor) and how it strips away grease, carbon buildup, dirt, grime, rust, paint, and varnish without chemical baths and with minimal cleanup. They also get real about safety, what “Class 4” means, and why the work happens up close in careful passes rather than flashy sci-fi beams across the room.The conversation gets practical with use cases around the Fargo-Moorhead metro: commercial kitchen deep-cleans inspired by Rusty’s years in kitchen management at Sanford Medical Center, helping local food trucks that are too busy to scrub equipment, and the oddly satisfying results of removing paint and varnish from doors and furniture. Rusty keeps coming back to the same theme: customers rarely want “just stripping,” they want the project done. That mindset pushes him toward furniture repair and refinishing so LRG can become a true one-stop shop instead of handing you a half-finished problem.Rusty and Conrad also talk hustle as learning what you do not know so clients do not have to, plus the autonomy of building something outside the corporate machine. Rusty shares how his long working relationship with Carrie turned into a leap into business ownership, helped by trust built through shared recovery. The episode closes with a Johnny Cash sendoff, “I’ve Been Everywhere,” and Rusty’s invite to reach out to LRG Laser Cleaning by connecting with Carrie through lrglasercleaning.com (and by searching “LRG Laser Cleaning” online).

Conrad Fargo sits down with Jon Tatro owner of Clean and Pristine Solutions LLC, a local residential cleaning company focused on recurring weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, and quarterly home cleanings. Jon explains why he prefers the more personal, relationship-based nature of residential work, while also taking on daytime office cleaning when it fits and occasional move-out style jobs through the Fargo Housing Authority. The conversation traces how Jon’s attention to detail was sharpened during his prior career at Fabricators Unlimited, where he performed final inspection on stone countertops, and how an entrepreneur class connected to F5 helped turn his ambition into a real business.Jon opens up about addiction, incarceration, and what it means to be in recovery, including how gratitude, accountability, and ongoing self-work helped him rebuild. He discusses how the same intense focus that can fuel addiction can, in recovery, become fuel for building something positive for the community, which is why he supports the mission of F5. The episode also touches the local networking scene, including Tea Time Tuesday at the Daily Dose, Far More Networking, and the referral connection through Tiffany Savageo of Savvy Cleaning and the Savvy Food Truck. Jon shares practical operations too, from supplies at Costco and Menards to using Mrs. Meyer’s products, plus the systems behind the scenes, including scheduling software built for cleaning companies, checklists, weekly team meetings, QuickBooks, and a smoother client intake process. Music pick of the week is “The Search” by NF, tying the theme of struggle, momentum, and forward motion together.

Danny begins with a simple line from his former personal trainer — life never gets easier, you just get better at dealing with it — and shows how that mindset carried him from bodybuilding diets and long days at Valley Landscaping into launching his own company from nothing but determination, word of mouth, and a garage full of refurbished equipment. He explains how he and his brother scavenged mowers and snowblowers during Fargo’s citywide cleanup, learned small engine repair out of necessity, and slowly gained attention for reliable work at a time when they still had no advertising, no budget and no shop space.The tipping point came when Personal Touch Property Management and local real estate investors began calling them back for larger tenant maintenance and repair work, opening the door to bigger projects like decks, patios, siding, fences, an insulated shed build, and eventually an out-of-town apartment remodel in Baiji through Christensen Companies. Danny walks Conrad through the reality of taking that leap: signing a shop lease he was personally liable for, surviving a difficult split with his brother, keeping the business alive with 70-hour workweeks and riding out the seasonality that freezes gutters, halts landscaping, and suddenly turns all attention toward snow removal.Hiring becomes a major theme as Danny describes cracking the workforce challenge by recruiting directly from NDSU’s construction management program and bringing on employees like Tyler, Derek and Jesse, whose mechanical expertise even sparked plans for a 16-and-older automotive shop. Networking threads through the conversation as Danny credits cousin Lee Roggenkamp’s groups for sharpening his public speaking and helping him meet his social media assistant Alicia. Conrad adds insights from his work as a Realtor with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Premier Properties and as a small business consultant, comparing the worker-short contracting world with worker-dense fields like real estate. Together they examine the scrappiness of Fargo’s “north of normal” business culture — where surviving, growing and staying booked comes down to relationships, referrals, resilience and never believing you’ve already got enough work in the pipeline.