The Found Podcast with Molly Knuth: Small Town Business Strategy and Marketing

Hosted by Molly Knuth

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299

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Oct 2026

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About the show

Small town business strategy and marketing for entrepreneurs, nonprofit founders, and the community and economic development leaders who support them. The Found Podcast is a weekly show for rural and small-town Founders who chose to build where they live and want strategy that fits. Host Molly Knuth is a small-town business strategist based in Cascade, Iowa. Each week you'll learn how to market a business or organization when everyone knows everyone, how to find and reach your people in a small town, what to say so it connects, where to share it (and how often), and how to know it's working. Some weeks it's Molly solo, breaking down the frameworks she uses with clients. Other weeks it's a conversation with business owners, nonprofit leaders, and the chambers, EDCs, and regional partners working alongside them to build profitable, lasting organizations in small towns across the Midwest and beyond. The strongest businesses don't outgrow their communities. They help build them. Even the best builders hit seasons where the next move isn't clear. This is where you find it. New episodes every Wednesday. Download the free Small Town Founders Workbook at mollyknuth.com, and when you're ready to go deeper, explore Found, Molly's 12-week advisory program.

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October 28, 202635 min

How to Find Your Ideal Customers in a Small Town Market (The Found Framework Part 2: Where Are My People?)

I went to the grocery store for three things. Milk, bread, and whatever snack one of my kids suddenly needed for school the next day (because of course we were out). Brothers Market is five minutes from my house. The trip took 45 minutes. Not because of a line. Because of a client in produce, my kid's teacher in the cereal aisle, a woman from a committee ten years ago asking about my cows, and a guy at checkout who wanted to talk Vikings. And yet that same town, the one where you can't buy a gallon of milk without four conversations, is the town where Founders tell me over and over, "I just don't know where my people are." This is part two of The Found Framework, and we're answering question two: Where are my people? We're making your market bigger than your town, making your person smaller than everybody, and finding the specific places, partners, and connectors who already have your people's trust. Your people aren't hiding. Let's go find them. What You'll Hear Why "my town is too small" is a market problem, not a town problem The three circles of a small town market: hometown, drive time, and kindred How Dirt Road Candle Co. and The Midwest Girl built kindred markets far beyond their zip codes Why "my people are everybody" quietly sabotages your marketing The random Tuesday exercise: picturing one real person and mapping her lost to found arc in her own words Where your people actually spend their time, online and in real life Borrowed audiences, partners, and the connectors Molly calls mayors without a title The 10 Names Test, and what it tells you if you can't finish it The weight of being known in a small town (and why it's your biggest advantage) The Found Question This episode lives in question two: Where are my people? It builds directly on part one (How do I do this?), because you can't know whether the math works until you know who's buying. Resources and Links Small Town Founders Workbook (free): https://mollyknuth.myflodesk.com/smalltownfoundersworkbook Dirt Road Candle Co. (Michelle Myers, Atlantic, Iowa): https://shopdirtroadcandleco.com The Midwest Girl (sisters Marah and Marissa, Dubuque, Iowa): https://shopthemidwestgirl.com The Found Framework, Part One: How Do I Do This? Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5YACTbRulN4NooX32NgzgV 1:1 services and Found, the 12-week advisory program: https://mollyknuth.com Free Resource Grab the Small Town Founders Workbook, my free 2027 business and marketing strategy workbook. There's a whole section for this episode: your three circles, your one person, your places, your partners, your connectors, and room for your 10 names. https://mollyknuth.myflodesk.com/smalltownfoundersworkbook Go Deeper with Found This show introduces the five questions. Found is where you work through them for your own business or organization, with someone across the table asking, "Okay, but who is she really?" It's my 12-week advisory program, and you can learn more (plus my one-hour Pick-My-Brain-style sessions) at https://mollyknuth.com . 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 Share the Episode Know a Founder who keeps saying her town is too small? Send her this one. And if you take the 10 Names Test, I want to hear how fast you got to ten (or where you got stuck). Screenshot the episode, tag me, and tell me which circle your people live in. Website: https://mollyknuth.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mollyknuth Email: molly@mollyknuth.com

October 21, 202635 min

How to Build a Small Town Business Strategy That Fits Your Life (The Found Framework Part 1: How Do I Do This?)

It's 10:30 on a summer Tuesday morning. I've got my phone in one hand, a baseball bag in the other, a client call in thirty minutes, a daughter down in the barn waiting on help with her 4H calf, and a son who still hasn't found his cleats (reminder number four). And I'm standing in my living room thinking...how do I do this? Not how do I run a business. I'd been running one since 2017. The real question was bigger, and a lot more personal: how do I do this business, with this life, in this place? It's where every Founder I work with starts, including the ones who look like they have it all figured out. Especially those ones, honestly. This is the first episode of The Found Framework, a five-part series built around the five questions I hear from small-town Founders across coffee shop tables, at the ball field, and in my DMs at 11 at night. We're starting with the question that sits under all the others, and the answer starts somewhere that might feel backwards: with your life, not your revenue goal. By the end, you'll have everything you need to build a plan that fits on one page and fits the life you actually live. WHAT YOU'LL HEAR Why so much business advice assumes your life will politely step aside while you build (and why out here, it won't) The two questions hiding inside "How do I do this?" What 2017 Molly missed by saying yes to everything, and the different first question she asked when she rebuilt The three things to get honest about before you set a single goal: your real calendar, your enough number, and your non-negotiables The question Molly asks every client: what is this business for? Three decisions that come next: what you're actually selling, who it's for, and whether the math works How to build a one-page plan: one goal, three priorities, four seasons, and a weekly rhythm Why your strategy is supposed to change, and why nothing is wasted THE FOUND QUESTION This one lives in the How do I do this? question: the first of the five, and the one that sits under all the others. It's really two questions at once: how do I build the strategy, and how do I build it around the life I actually have? RESOURCES AND LINKS Small Town Founders Workbook (free): https://mollyknuth.myflodesk.com/smalltownfoundersworkbook Found, Molly's 12-week advisory program: mollyknuth.com A blank year-ahead calendar: Canva, a quick search, or ChatGPT will make you one Next up in The Found Framework: Where Are My People? FREE RESOURCE Want somewhere to put your calendar, your enough number, and your one-page plan? The Small Town Founders Workbook walks you through your business and marketing strategy one piece of the Found Framework at a time. It's free: https://mollyknuth.myflodesk.com/smalltownfoundersworkbook GO DEEPER WITH FOUND The podcast introduces the five questions. Found is where you work through them for your business or organization, with me alongside you. It's a 12-week advisory program for Founders who want a guide (and an accountability buddy) to build a strategy that fits their life and their town. Learn more at mollyknuth.com. LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5YACTbRulN4NooX32NgzgV Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-found-podcast-with-molly-knuth-small-town/id1530616432 SHARE THIS EPISODE Know a Founder standing in their living room with a baseball bag in one hand and a client call in thirty minutes? Send them this one. Then come tell me your enough number...or at least that you finally wrote it down. mollyknuth.com · @mollyknuth · molly@mollyknuth.com

October 14, 202627 min

Sunk Costs, Small Town Opinions, and Starting Anyway: Finding a Better Way to Build

CHS Class of 2005. I had a plan, and if I'm being honest, it wasn't really mine. It was THE plan we were all given at that time. Get the degree, get the good job (the one with the benefits), stay until retirement, and maybe get a sheet cake in the break room on your last day. By 2014 I was teaching high school English in a Calvin Klein sheath dress and heels, pregnant, checking every single box that blueprint handed me. And something in me was still whispering...there's got to be a better way. This one is for the box-checkers. We get into the three things that keep good builders stuck (sunk costs, other people's opinions, and the very real weight of our commitments), what "better" actually means when you build in a small town, and the chain reaction that kicks off the minute you get clear on future you. I even read my own "Wealthy Molly" list out loud. Consider this the on-ramp to The Found Framework, which starts next Wednesday. What You'll Hear The math so many of us absorbed growing up: college degree plus full-time job equals peace and stability The grass is always greener...and what to do when the patch you're standing on is a little brown Why running away from something isn't the same as building toward something The three things that keep Founders stuck: the sunk cost fallacy, OPO (other people's opinions), and the weight of real commitments Why OPO plays a bigger role when everybody knows everybody What "a better way" means, and why it isn't "faster," "more convenient," or "more efficient" The chain reaction: future you, habits, beliefs, thoughts, feelings, actions, results (and around again) Molly's Wealthy Molly list from a coaching session with Katrina Klooster , and what giggling at your own dreams gives away The "Oprah of the Midwest" (yes, I said it out loud) A first look at the five questions of The Found Framework and Found, the new 12-week advisory program Your 10-minute homework before next week Resources and Links Katrina Klooster's conversation on The Found Podcast from May 2026 The Found Framework series begins Wednesday, October 21 Free Resource: Small Town Founders Workbook Your 2027 business and marketing strategy, worked out on paper. Grab the free Small Town Founders Workbook: mollyknuth.myflodesk.com/smalltownfoundersworkbook Go Deeper with Found The show introduces the five questions. Found is where you work through them for your business or organization, with me in your corner for 12 weeks. Learn more at mollyknuth.com or email molly@mollyknuth.com and we'll talk. 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 Share This Episode Know someone who checked every box and still hears that little whisper? Send this one their way. Then tell me what future you does on a Tuesday. I want to hear it. mollyknuth.com · @mollyknuth · molly@mollyknuth.com

October 7, 202623 min

Small Business Burnout: 7 Lessons from the Thing That Makes Me Zero Dollars

Picture me on a Saturday night at the end of August: a wig with flips I can only describe as aggressive, a fake mustache I've sweat off more times than I can count, and a hanky in my back pocket assigned to one job. Upper Lip Patrol. I looked like a NASCAR driver who lost a bet. That's scavenger hunt night in Cascade. Every year I write the riddles, laminate everything in sight, glue tiny race car drivers to popsicle sticks, and send my family and friends all over town in teams. It makes me zero dollars. And this year, right in the middle of it, I realized it had taught me more about running a business than a lot of the webinars I've sat through. If you've been quietly running on empty (maybe without even clocking it yet), this episode is my case for play. We talk about writing without AI, looking ridiculous on purpose, why I keep refusing to sell this thing, and the branding, storytelling, and word of mouth lessons I didn't go looking for. I came out the other side remembering something I didn't know I'd forgotten. WHAT YOU'LL HEAR Why I wrote every clue by hand on a legal pad this year, and what writing without AI gave back to me The freedom of looking absurd in public when you usually spend a lot of energy on how you're perceived Why I keep saying no when people ask me to turn the hunt into a kit they can buy How play and silliness make the heavy parts of business more sustainable What a little Jeff Gordon on a popsicle stick taught me about consistent branding Why stories (not the details) are what bring people back year after year Bonus: word of mouth is still the most powerful marketing channel there is, especially in a small town The question to sit with: what's your scavenger hunt? RESOURCES AND LINKS Back catalog episode: Just Have F*cking Fun Recent episode: Using AI Without Losing Your Voice FREE RESOURCE Grab the free Small Town Founders Workbook, your 2027 business and marketing strategy built for rural and small-town Founders: https://mollyknuth.myflodesk.com/smalltownfoundersworkbook LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5YACTbRulN4NooX32NgzgV?si=eeab33fd432844ee Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-found-podcast-with-molly-knuth/id1530616432 SHARE THIS EPISODE If this one hit you somewhere in the feels, send it to the friend who needs a little permission to play. Then tell me your scavenger hunt. Tag me or send me a message... I'd love to hear it. mollyknuth.com · @mollyknuth · molly@mollyknuth.com

October 5, 20264 min

Bonus: How to Measure Nonprofit Impact When the Work Is Relational (Moms Connect Dubuque)

We stopped recording...and then kept talking. (As one does.) In this bonus clip from my conversation with Kristina Heinzen and Gina Martin, co-founders of Moms Connect Dubuque, we get into a question every nonprofit leader, funder, and community builder runs into sooner or later: how do you measure impact when the work is relational and generational? Counting is easy for most of us. A thousand meals served, fifty-five packs of diapers handed out. But Moms Connect is building relationships with moms as they work to break patterns that kept them alive for years, and that kind of change doesn't show up in two months or by the end of a grant cycle. They do have some early numbers, though. Kristina shares what they've tracked informally so far: 17 moms who closed their child welfare cases and haven't had them reopened, compared with roughly 85 Dubuque cases reopened within a year of closing. And not one active Moms Connect mom has experienced termination of parental rights. What you'll hear: Why relational, long-term impact is so hard to fit into traditional metrics The early numbers Moms Connect is seeing on case closures and family preservation Why survival patterns take a lifetime (and a generation) to change What funders, grant makers, and the rest of us could learn about measuring success differently If you haven't heard the full conversation yet, start with their full interview How Two Foster Moms Built a Nonprofit to Keep Families Together: The Moms Connect Dubuque Story. Connect with Moms Connect Dubuque: Website: momsconnectdbq.org Facebook: Moms Connect Dubuque Ask them about volunteering for or donating to the Dignified Christmas Market this December 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 If you work at a nonprofit or a foundation, or you sit on a grant committee, send this one their way. It might change how they read the next impact report. Now...go find something.

September 30, 202651 min

How Two Foster Moms Built a Nonprofit to Keep Families Together: The Moms Connect Dubuque Story

I'll pull back the curtain a little: I walked into this interview with my questions prepped, sent, and tidy. Then Kristina Heinzen and Gina Martin answered the very first one and the whole conversation went somewhere else entirely. (The good kind of somewhere else.) Kristina and Gina met in foster parent licensing classes in 2019. They went in believing they'd be the ones rescuing kids from hard situations. What they found instead were moms who loved their kids fiercely and had nobody. No support system. No steady people. So they did something that really shouldn't be revolutionary...they sat down with moms who had lived it and asked what would have made a difference. The answer was relationships. That conversation (and some tacos) became Moms Connect Dubuque, now a 501(c)(3) walking alongside moms as they navigate systems, access resources, and build the skills to care for themselves and their families. Fair warning: we go deep quick in this one. There are tears. There's talk of trauma, addiction, and the foster care system. Listen all the way through, because as Gina and Kristina will tell you, hearing someone's story is where empathy starts. What You'll Hear How fostering unraveled everything Kristina and Gina thought they knew about parents in the system The "I'm too late" moment that became Gina's catalyst for change Why Kristina came to see the mom of the boys in her care as those very same children, ten years earlier The May 2023 conversation with two moms that shaped everything Moms Connect does Why proving you deserve help, one transaction at a time, keeps moms stuck (and what a warm handoff looks like instead) Inside a Moms Connect gathering: childcare, a shared meal, a donated party bus, and a new curriculum on survival responses The employment program launching this fall: a cleaning business paired with an education track through NICC and Iowa Works How "let's meet with some moms, let's have tacos" turned into a nonprofit with a board, partners, and two co-executive directors What Kristina and Gina have found about themselves: how much they don't know, and the power of receiving Resources and Links Mentioned Dignified Christmas Market Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) Iowa Works Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque ( and catch Ep. 258 with Josie Manternach of CFGD ) Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Connect with Kristina and Gina Website: momsconnectdbq.org Facebook: Moms Connect Dubuque Listen and Subscribe Follow the show on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5YACTbRulN4NooX32NgzgV Follow the show on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-found-podcast-with-molly-knuth/id1530616432 If this conversation cracked something open for you, send it to one person who would get it. And if you're anywhere near Dubuque, the Dignified Christmas Market could use your hands (and your gift drive) this December.

September 23, 202652 min

Every Ballot, Every Deed, Every Dollar: What Your County Auditor Actually Does

You probably couldn't tell me what your county auditor actually does. I couldn't either, until I sat down with Whitney Hein. Whitney is the Jones County Auditor and Commissioner of Elections, and by the end of this conversation I had a whole new appreciation for how much of our daily life runs through that office: elections, property taxes, payroll, budgets, the courthouse itself. It's a job most of us vote on without fully understanding, and that's exactly why I wanted her on. We get into what drew her to the role, what six years in has taught her about resilience, and the behind the scenes work that keeps Jones County elections free, fair, and trustworthy. If you've ever wondered what actually happens to your ballot after you drop it off, this one's for you. Meet Whitney Whitney Hein is the Jones County Auditor and Commissioner of Elections, first elected in 2020 and now in her second term. She's a wife to her husband Ben, a mom to their daughter Laney, and lives in rural Jones County, where her family farms. Before stepping into county government, Whitney worked in ag business and animal science. What You'll Hear Everything the auditor's office actually handles, from elections to payroll to property taxes Why Whitney left a career she loved for a job she had little experience in The behind the scenes security measures that keep Jones County elections accurate, down to numbered seals and hand counted test ballots Why local elections deserve just as much attention as national ones How to plan ahead for early voting, absentee ballots, and Election Day itself What six years in the role taught Whitney about her own resilience Resources & Links Jones County Elections: https://www.jonescountyiowaelections.gov or on Facebook Ballot tracking tool: available here through the Iowa Secretary of State's website Connect with Whitney For the fastest response, call the Jones County Auditor's office directly. Full contact info is listed at jonescountyiowaelections.gov . Listen & Subscribe Spotify Apple Podcasts If this one opened your eyes even a little, share it with someone who votes in Jones County (or wherever they call home). The more we understand these local roles, the more we trust the people doing them.

September 16, 202624 min

Using AI Without Losing Your Voice

Okay, let's just say the thing out loud: You've seen the captions that sound like a robot wrote them. You've seen the flyers that look like every other flyer on the internet this month. Maybe you've decided AI just isn't for you because of it. Here's my confession: I use AI, specifically Claude, in my business every single day. And I still (mostly) sound like me. Not because I found some secret tool nobody's told you about, but because I took the time to actually set it up before I asked it to do anything. So this week I'm walking you through exactly how. No hype, no fear-mongering, just the actual steps I took (and still take) to keep my voice in the driver's seat. What You'll Hear Why AI is already in your toolbox whether you've opened it or not Why leaning on every platform's built-in AI at once quietly erodes your brand voice My "20 Questions" trick for teaching your chat how you actually talk Why guardrails matter more than a good first prompt How I built my own "Molly Operating System" out of my Enneagram, Human Design, and CliftonStrengths results Why you're still the last line of defense, no matter how good the draft looks Listen and Subscribe Spotify Apple Podcasts If this one hit home, send it to the small business owner in your life who's still typing everything into a blank chat box and hoping for the best. And if you try the 20 Questions exercise, message me at @mollyknuth or molly@mollyknuthmedia.com and tell me what your chat figures out about you.

September 9, 202626 min

How to Start a Podcast for Your Business: My Real 7-Step Process

Somebody pulls me aside about once a week now and says some version of the same thing: I've been thinking about starting a podcast. It happens in client sessions, at conference tables, in DMs from people I've never even met in person. And every single time, my gut reaction is identical: just go do it. So this week I'm pulling back the curtain. Not the polished, "look how easy this was" version...the actual seven step process I used to launch this show, the one I'd use again if I were starting from absolute zero today, minus the six months I let a microphone collect dust on the corner of my desk before I did anything with it. This one's part pep talk, part field manual. Numbers, mistakes, the actual tools I use, and the real talk nobody puts in a "how to start a podcast" listicle. What You'll Hear Why the "podcast market is too saturated" fear doesn't hold up (and the stat that proves it) The seven step process I used to launch this show, step by step The three tools I consider non-negotiable (and why I don't overthink the rest) Why I built a list of 30 episode ideas before day one, and why most people skip it The 80/20 truth about launching versus marketing a podcast What changed between 2019 Molly starting this show and the version of me behind the mic today Resources & Links Mentioned The Podcast Lab by Jenna Kutcher Blue Yeti microphone (my mic of choice) Descript (editing software mentioned in this episode) : use this link to get 50% off your first 2 months! Libsyn and Captivate (hosting platforms mentioned in this episode) Podcast strategist Jill Carr, for launch support Listen and Subscribe Spotify Apple Podcasts Share the Show If you know someone who has been sitting on a podcast idea for six months (or six years), send them this one. That's how this show grows, one share at a time.

September 2, 2026Episode 26825 min

The Worst Business Plan I Ever Made

Back in 2022, I had a marker board covered edge to edge with ideas. I'd write a launch date right next to each one, feel the rush of excitement, and sprint at it with everything I had. And then somewhere around week four, I'd realize I was building the plane while flying it. Sound familiar? If you've ever had a big idea that fizzled out somewhere between the excitement and the finish line, this episode is for you. Today I'm walking you through the shift that changed how I plan every launch, every program, every big scary idea since 2022...backwards planning. I'll break down the five steps I use with every client who shows up with a big idea in their head, walk you through Rory Vaden's eight core departments of a business, and take you behind the scenes of something I'm working on right now in my own hometown of Cascade, Iowa, so you can see exactly how this plays out in real time. What You'll Hear The worst business plan I ever made, and what it cost me (credibility, energy, and a little bit of faith in myself) The real difference between forward planning and backward planning Rory Vaden's eight core business departments, and how to use them as a lens instead of a checklist Why naming what could go wrong isn't pessimism...it's leadership Where I still struggle to ask for support (hint: it's a Human Design Manifestor/Enneagram 3 thing) A real, in-progress example: backwards planning a downtown revitalization effort in Cascade, Iowa Resources & Links Mentioned Rory Vaden's eight business departments framework Follow along with Molly: @mollyknuth on social Email Molly: molly@mollyknuthmedia.com Share the Episode If this one hit home, send it to the person in your life with a big idea and no map yet. And if you're backwards planning something right now, I want to hear about it. Message me @mollyknuth or shoot me an email at molly@mollyknuthmedia.com.

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