The Found Podcast with Molly Knuth

Hosted by Molly Knuth

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288

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Aug 2026

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About the show

Welcome to The Found Podcast with Molly Knuth, a podcast for women who are founding and getting found with their businesses online. I'm your host Molly Knuth, and my mission is to help women in rewrite how we live and work on our own terms. We want to grow families, impact others for the better, and be a positive force in our communities…but we also want to have a fulfilling life, ya know? In the past 6 years I've gone from a stay-at-home mom to a freelance social media marketer to a #bossbabe managing client needs, talented team members, and my husband and four kiddos and our little farm in Eastern Iowa. What I've learned in that time is that it's not just about going full force or any one-size-fits-all strategy a business owner. It takes you leaning into your unique gifts, intuition, and goals, and learning about who you are as a person along the way. So come along for lessons and stories from female founders growing and scaling businesses with energetics, tried-and-true tactics, and high-vibe personal growth. Be ready to get found.

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60 recent

August 20, 202638 min

266: Better Every Day: Dr. Dan Butler on Building a School District Rooted in People

I have a confession. I've been bragging about our school district to basically anyone who will listen lately (sorry to my friends and acquaintances, you did not ask for this)...and today's guest is exactly why. Dr. Dan Butler is the superintendent of Western Dubuque Community School District, and he's spent 23 years building a career here, starting all the way back at his student teaching days at Bernard Elementary. Teacher. Coach. Assistant principal. Principal. HR facilitator. Now superintendent. Dr. Butler has done basically every job in the building, and you can hear it in the way he talks about this place. We cover a lot of ground in this one: what makes a 555 square mile school district (half the size of Rhode Island, for the record) actually work, why Western Dubuque ranks fourth in student achievement in the state, the real numbers behind school funding, and why Dan believes, without apology, that this district is simply the choice for education in our area. What You'll Hear: How a 555 square mile district made up of 19 communities functions as one school system Dan's 23 year journey through nearly every role in the district, from student teacher to superintendent What "better every day" actually means as a strategic vision, not just a slogan Why Western Dubuque ranks 4th in student achievement among comparable Iowa districts The NICC and Kirkwood concurrent enrollment partnership that's saved local families roughly half a million dollars in college tuition The real challenges facing public education funding in 2026, explained without the jargon Molly's own story of switching her kids from parochial to public school, and what changed her daughter's mind Connect with Dr. Dan Butler: Website: danpbutler.com District: wdbqschools.org Western Dubuque Schools on Facebook and Instagram Listen and Subscribe: Spotify Apple Podcasts

August 12, 202646 min

265: Wear the Name Badge: What Ed Raber Knows About Showing Up

This month on The Found Podcast, we're doing something a little different. We're bringing the boys in for a few episodes (don't worry, we'll be back to our women founders soon), and first up is somebody I've admired for a long time: my friend Ed Raber. Ed is the Director of Planning and Development for Dubuque County here in Eastern Iowa, but honestly, that title barely scratches the surface. Ed is a connector. A mover. The guy with an $8 Staples name badge who has spent thirty years showing up to Rotary, to library meetings, to coffee shops, to whatever room needed one more person willing to raise their hand. We talk about what it actually means to build an entrepreneurial ecosystem in a place like Dubuque County (spoiler: it starts with "no wrong door"), why farm ground and residential zoning matter more than you'd think, and the advice from a pastor that has shaped Ed's entire career: if you want to make a difference, you've got to stick with it. What You'll Hear Ed's path from urban planner to nonprofit economic developer to Dubuque County's Planning and Development Director Why he still wears a name badge everywhere he goes (and why you should too) What makes Dubuque County's rural population unlike almost anywhere else in Iowa The "no wrong door" philosophy behind a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem How 1 Million Cups came to Dubuque and why it works The Farley library project that started with one meeting Ed called himself Ed's answer to The Found Podcast's closing question, and the pastor's advice that changed how he shows up in the world Resources & Links Mentioned 1 Million Cups Dubuque Rotary International HACAP (Hawkeye Area Community Action Program) Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation Iowa Rural Development Council Dubuque County Library system (Farley, Epworth, Peosta, Holy Cross) Community Vitality Center, Iowa State University Small Business Development Center, Dubuque The Innovation Lab, Jones Street, Dubuque Connect with Ed Find Ed on LinkedIn Listen and Subscribe Spotify Apple Podcasts Share This Episode If this episode reminded you to go order your own name badge, or hyped you up to finally show up to that thing you've been putting off... send it to a friend who needs the nudge. And tag us. We love seeing who's listening.

August 5, 202640 min

264: The Messy Middle: What Rebuilding My Business Has Actually Looked Like

Back in May, I was on a Zoom with my friend Jill Carr, mapping out where this podcast is headed in 2026 and 2027, when something clicked. Not a big dramatic moment. Just that quiet click where somebody sees something about you that you're too close to see yourself, and the fog lifts. Then I got off the call and went right back into the middle of a website rebuild, a personal brand strategy session, a discovery call with a stranger, and a late night typing my Human Design and Enneagram into Claude trying to figure out who I even am these days. That's what rebuilding a business actually looks like. Not the shiny, wrapped-with-a-bow version I usually give you after the lessons are learned. This week I'm taking you into the messy middle while I'm still in it: four things I've been doing since April to lead myself, stay curious, get creative, and define my core. What You'll Hear Why I decided to rebuild Molly Knuth Media in April after my role at The Restoration Project came to a close What "leading yourself" actually looks like when you're rebuilding (hint: it's not about how many posts you publish) The client relationships that shaped this season, including a personal brand project with Lindsay Leahy and closing out my role at The Restoration Project alongside Brooke Fitzgerald Why I applied for Leadership Iowa and what a few curiosity-driven coffee conversations have taught me about my own community How I used Human Design, Enneagram, astrology, and CliftonStrengths (with an assist from Claude) to build myself a personal operating system The "one new thing a day" challenge I started for my 39th year, and what it's taught me about staying creative Resources & Links Mentioned Leadership Iowa CliftonStrengths Assessment Human Design Jessie J Home's Yap Challenge Lindsay Leahy The Restoration Project Gravel Grading & Excavating Listen & Subscribe Spotify Apple Podcasts Share This Episode If you know someone in their own messy middle right now, send them this one. Sometimes the reminder that scattered still counts as progress is exactly what someone needs to hear today.

July 29, 202619 min

263: The Midyear Check-In Founders Never Put on Their Calendar

We're over halfway through the year, which means I'm having two feelings at once: "how did we get here already?!?!" and "okay, let's actually get moving on the goals I set back in January." If you're feeling that same tug of war, this episode is for you. I'm setting aside the usual format this week...no interview, no list of tactics, no client wins. Just five questions I need you to actually sit with, notebook in hand if you've got one nearby. Because here's the thing about being a founder, whatever you founded (a business, a farm, a nonprofit, a family): nobody sends you a calendar invite to check in with yourself. So we skip it, quarter after quarter, until it's suddenly the end of July and we haven't stopped to ask if any of this is still working. What You'll Hear Why "stop, start, continue" might be the most useful three words in your midyear toolkit The difference between tracking your time and tracking your energy and why one of those metrics lies to you How to figure out if your definition of "good work" is even yours Why founders are notoriously bad at celebrating their own wins (and how to fix that) The one-degree-off-course story that will change how you think about small drifts in your business Listen and Subscribe Spotify Apple Podcasts Share This Episode If this episode gave you even one minute of honest reflection, send it to a fellow founder who needs the same permission slip. And come back next week for more of The Found Podcast.

July 22, 202648 min

262: Six Reasons 2026 Is Your Year to Finally Start That Business

If you've been sitting on an idea for your small town, a business, a side hustle, a project you keep circling back to, and something keeps stopping you every time you get close to pulling the trigger... this episode is for you. This week it's just me. I'm walking you through six reasons why right now, in this economy, in your small town, is actually the best time you'll ever have to start building something of your own. Not hype. Data, stories from my own backyard here in Cascade, and almost ten years of running my own business to draw from. We're talking security, income, community, access, opportunity, and identity. Six reasons, one big permission slip. Grab your coffee (or your feed bucket, no judgment) and let's get into it. What You'll Hear Why 5.2 million new business applications were filed in 2024 alone, and what that means for you The real math behind small town word of mouth, and the Creator Club story that proves it Why 92% of entrepreneurs say they don't regret starting, even the ones whose businesses didn't go as planned Local small business shoutouts: Rotunno Auto Detailing, Something Sweet Bakery, and Totes McGoats The one thing Molly wants you to do before this episode even ends Resources & Links Mentioned Ana of Lovely Little Light and Creator Club (referenced episode from early 2025, linked on the website) Rotunno's Garage Auto Detailing Something Sweet Bakery Totes McGoats Share the Love If this one hit home, send it to the person in your life who's been sitting on an idea. Screenshot it, tag me, or just send it in a text that says 'this is us.' Let's get more small town dreams off the ground.

July 15, 202657 min

261: 7 Truths About Rural America They Don't Want You to Hear

I'm angry this week. Not flip-a-table angry. The kind of angry that makes you sit up and say: this is wrong, and I want to be part of the solution. Rural America has been talked about, talked at, and politicized for years...by people who don't actually live here. So this week, I'm doing something different. Seven truths about rural America, backed by real data and real stories from my own small town of Cascade, Iowa. No spin. No agenda. Just the truth about a people and a place that deserve better than they've been getting. This one isn't political. It's personal. Grab your coffee (or your chore gloves) and let's get into it. What You'll Hear Why rural America's $2.7 trillion GDP contribution tells a different story than the one you've heard The truth about small town business owners as some of the most underestimated entrepreneurs in the country Why community isn't a soft value...it's an economic strategy How rural values got mistaken for political ones, and why that's a tragedy What it really means that rural America feeds the world and funds the country Why the next generation of rural leaders isn't leaving, they're choosing to stay The ripple effect of one small town business growing, and what it costs a community when it closes Resources & Links Mentioned Join Molly's email list for what's coming this fall: mkm.myflodesk.com/email Berning Acres Farm Camps (Western Illinois) Listen and Subscribe Spotify Apple Podcasts If this one landed somewhere in your chest, do me a favor: send it to somebody. Somebody in a small town who's never heard their story told with pride instead of pity, or somebody in a city who thinks they already understand rural America. And leave a review while you're at it. It's the easiest way to help this conversation reach a bigger room.

July 8, 202634 min

260: What Table Were You Actually Built For? A Self-Leadership Framework for Small Town Business Owners

This one is personal. Episode 260 is a solo cast, and it's the episode I've been sitting with for a while. I'm sharing what's been happening in real time in my career this year, not as a pivot story or a comeback story, but as a self-leadership story. Because I think a lot of people listening right now are living inside someone else's version of success and just don't have the language for it yet. This episode is that language. I'm talking about what happened when I chased bigger clients, bigger cities, bigger budgets...and why something still didn't feel right. I'm talking about the small moments of friction that accumulated until I couldn't ignore them. And I'm sharing the four-step self-leadership framework that helped me stop asking how do I get to the bigger table, and start asking what table was I actually built for. In This Episode: The honest truth about what I was chasing when I stepped away from Molly Knuth Media in 2025 Why "bigger is better" is a societal signal that hits especially hard when you're from a small town of 2,000 people What it actually felt like to sit in those bigger rooms with bigger clients and still feel something was off Why coming back to small town small business was not the easy choice, and why I had to own it as a decision and not a fallback The difference between settling and deciding, and why that distinction changes everything The 4-step self-leadership framework for naming, noticing, asking, and choosing What I want every small town business owner to hear before the back half of 2026 The 4-Step Self-Leadership Framework: Step 1: Name whose definition of success you've been chasing Step 2: Notice the signals that tell you when you're in alignment and when you're not Step 3: Ask the real question: what table was I actually built for? Step 4: Choose it on purpose, with full information and without apology Find Molly: Website: mollyknuthmedia.com Instagram: @mollyknuth Email: molly@mollyknuthmedia.com Listen and Subscribe: Spotify Apple Podcasts I want to hear from you after this one. What are you choosing for yourself in the back half of 2026? Reach out on Instagram or send me an email to discuss!

July 1, 202650 min

259: 28% Is Not Enough: Sarah Jakle on DemocraShe, Civic Engagement, and Why High School Girls Are the Future of Government

I get pitches in my inbox every day. Most of them I can't fit into the schedule, no matter how great they are. This one stopped me cold. Sarah Jakle is the founder and executive director of DemocraShe, a nonpartisan nonprofit offering free online training to high school girls in evidence-based resiliency skills, leadership, and civic engagement. They pay their participants $15 an hour. They recruit specifically from historically underrepresented communities. They are 90% girls of color and 70% first-generation Americans. And they have a wait list seven times longer than their current capacity. Only 28% of Congress is women. Only 11% is women of color. Sarah and her organization are doing something about that, and they're starting in high school, because that's the last time boys and girls believe equally that they can run for office. This conversation genuinely moved me. Have a notebook ready. What You'll Hear in This Episode: Why Sarah started DemocraShe after watching the 2020 election, and what she saw that nobody was addressing The two specific barriers she identified: women not seeing themselves as candidates and the outsized harassment women face when they do run Why DemocraShe pays its participants $15 an hour, and what that teaches young women beyond the paycheck The peer-led model: why the program is built by the girls, for the girls, from the name to the curriculum to the workshops The nervous system tools built into every session: grounding, the inner best friend, savoring, and the Viktor Frankl quote you will want on your vision board Why community over competition has to be taught early, while young women's brains are still neuroplastic Sarah's own story: being told in 2014 she would never work again, and how the same skills she now teaches girls are what got her back up How to Get Involved: Apply to the program: democrashe.org Donate to support paid participation and program access: democrashe.org Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn Listen and Subscribe: Spotify Apple Podcasts If this episode fired something up in you, share it with a high school girl in your life. Or a parent. Or a teacher. Or anyone who needs to hear that running for office is a birthright, not a privilege reserved for a certain kind of person.

June 24, 202642 min

258: In Order to Succeed, Help Others Succeed First: Josie Manternach on Teaching, Military Life, and Making a Difference in Rural Iowa

I've known Josie Manternach since she was roughly in first grade, and I still learned things about her in this conversation that I didn't know. Josie is an educator by trade, a military spouse, a mom, and now a community impact leader at the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque. But the path that got her there? It's the kind of story that is going to hit differently depending on where you are right now, whether you're holding tightly to a plan that's starting to unravel, or you're on the other side of a pivot wondering how all the pieces are going to fit together. She grew up in Cascade, fell in love with the ag room at Cascade High School, went to Iowa State to become an ag teacher, and had what she thought was her whole life figured out. Then came a retirement, a once-in-a-lifetime job offer, a Navy JAG program acceptance, a cross-country move, a pandemic, a baby, a thesis, and eventually... a path back home that looked different from the one she'd imagined. Every single step of it makes sense when you hear her tell it. What You'll Hear in This Episode: How the ag room at Cascade High School shaped Josie's entire career trajectory (and why belonging matters more than we think) The once-in-a-lifetime job offer that arrived at the exact same moment as her husband's Navy JAG acceptance What it felt like to leave the dream job she thought she'd retire from...at age 24 Life as a military spouse: navigating DC, Florida, a pandemic, a newborn, and starting over more than once How she learned to build community from scratch in places where she didn't know anyone Teaching middle school science in Maryland, working in higher ed in Florida, and what each season taught her Completing a master's thesis through Ohio State while working full time and raising a toddler Her current work at the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque: dyslexia tutoring, rural teacher retention, third grade literacy, and the grad partnership initiative The stat that stopped me cold: 47 students now receiving dyslexia tutoring weekly in Dubuque...where two years ago there were zero local options Resources and Links: Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque: dbqfoundation.org Rural Teacher Summit : coming this summer at Camp Little Cloud in Epworth Contact Josie directly through the Community Foundation website Listen and Subscribe: Spotify Apple Podcasts If Josie's story resonated with you, share it with someone who is in the middle of a plan that just got disrupted. This one is for them.

June 17, 202643 min

257: Stand at Your Full Height: Serin Silva on Nervous System Leadership, Energy Work, and the Future of Heart-Centered Business

I told you this was going to be a different kind of conversation, and I meant it. Serin Silva spent two decades inside high-pressure corporate environments at companies like MSNBC and Hearst, leading integration communications for billion-dollar acquisitions and overseeing a book of business worth $40 million. She was in rooms where she was often the only woman leader, playing a game with rules she didn't write and didn't always like. And then one morning, crossing the Bay Bridge on her commute, a little voice said: how much longer are you going to do this? That question changed everything. Today Serin is an energy healer, psychic medium, ceremonialist, and business strategist who helps women founders get unstuck and move fast. She brings together nervous system regulation, somatic work, intuitive gifts, and Fortune 500 rigor to help her clients find clarity, focus, and in some cases, double their revenue in under a year. This conversation goes everywhere, and I loved every minute of it. Grab a notebook before you press play. What You'll Hear in This Episode: How two decades in Silicon Valley and corporate media shaped Serin's understanding of what women have been asked to suppress at work The morning on the Bay Bridge that changed her life, and what it looked like to follow a voice she'd been ignoring for years What nervous system regulation actually has to do with business results Why heart-centered leadership isn't soft, and how women are already positioned to lead what's coming next The old corporate model (built for making cars, applied to people), why it's dying, and what's replacing it How Serin thinks about AI as a tool for freeing up more humanity, not less What it means to stop shape-shifting and stand at your full height The kaleidoscope analogy that I'm still thinking about Serin's answer to The Found Podcast closing question that genuinely moved us both Connect with Serin: Website: serinsilva.com Free 15-minute business reading Listen and Subscribe: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5YACTbRulN4NooX32NgzgV Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-found-podcast-with-molly-knuth/id1530616432 Have a notebook nearby for this one. Serin asks some questions in this conversation that deserve a real answer, and you'll want to write them down.