Thanks to Prairie Business Magazine for including me in its annual 40 Under 40 issue! Here’s a complete list of all the honorees.

I headed off to the South Dakota AdFed Chili Cook Off Contest last Thursday. With mybald cap in place (I couldn’t summon the courage to Britney Spears it and just bic my hair), vogue sweater vest (several sizes too big, stolen from the bottom of my husband’s closet, but still as sartorial as Ric Santorum or Ryan Tysdal) and big bowl of chili, the pot brimming with pork perfection, I set out to be Jim’s culinary copy, his sarcastic sous chef stand-in sans several inches. And in that two and almost a quarter hours, I realized pitching Three LIttle Pigs chili should be served with the same zest you pitch a client. Not everyone likes pork, just like not every client likes the creative we may pitch. But sometimes it’s just a bad taste from a mom who over-peppered pork chops, so a nibble or new presentation, makes it palatable.

When it comes to the recipe, remember the rules but add your own spice. The chili I dished up took a twist on the traditional, not just using so much pork you needed to do some extra push ups to pull the spoon up, but putting in that little extra (and no, not love… in this case, bacon, which is probably about the same thing). When working on projects, time-tested ideas can always work, but when we remember to make it just a little different, those ideas stand out from the others.

Did we win? No, tied for second. But the biggest lesson is, in the end you just need to be you. So while I spent 134 minutes as Jim Mathis, that time quickly came to an end when I ran into the gas station, bald cap burgeoning from the top of my head, and scared a small child. Probably best to stick to being a blonde with mediocre kitchen skills.

Originally posted on ADwërks.com.

A few months ago we started working on logos for Selfspiration. Selfspiration is an organization I started that works to end child sexual abuse through legislative and social change. I knew that the process involved creating a visual identity that looks and feels just right. I’d been through this before, but as we started working through it, I realized that creating a logo for a business (as near and dear to your heart and wallet as it may be) did not compare with trying to find perfection for something you feel so passionate about and want to resonate with others on so many levels. We wanted something to appeal to child and adult survivors, girls, boys, men and women, and people at all socioeconomic levels, since child sexual abuse does not discriminate. And it needed to be something to symbolize struggle and strength, pain and the persistence to preserve.

We did a creative brief (which I labored over), and I probably got my email flagged as spam when I would think of something more to tell Sara (ADwërks Art Director) as she worked on the design. For this, it needed to be just right.

When on the client side, I used to pride myself on my ability to be ruthless and to make a quick decision. But with Selfspiration, I struggled (and Jim and Sara who helped with this project remained steadfastly patient!). I liked something about every option. I laid out the different designs all over our house, carried the stack of pristine white printouts in my purse until they become dingy with lip gloss, protein shake powder and some weird green stuff that makes you wonder what you put in your bag.

Finally, I needed to make a decision. I put everything out in front of me, took a deep breath and just listened to my gut, but even more, to my heart. We went with a design that I think symbolizes the tears and the hurt that can come from abuse, but the ability for survivors to move forward and create something beautiful in their lives.

And just last week we held our first Selfspiration day camp with teenage girls who survived sexual abuse. Several of the girls, and the adult survivors working as volunteers, saw the logo and talked about how “cool” and “awesome” it was. When you hear words like that, a few bald patches make it well worth it.

Originally posted on ADwërks.com.

 Originally aired on MidcoSportsNet.com

I learned about Duff, this puff of peaceful white that suddenly become a demon when brought home to its new owners. And teaching Duff to not mame, bite or amputate his owners became the challenge of Jackson Galaxy, also known as the cat whisperer.

But I started to realize cats like Duff can sometimes be all too similar to clients. The relationships start off with the best of intentions. Like taking Duff home, it all seems so picture perfect. But sometimes, within just a short time, the claws come out. While we may charm and put on the perfect smile to schmooze a client to sign with us, how often do we ask ourselves if it’s the right fight? Or as clients, figure out if the decision goes beyond the best bottom line numbers to personalities that work well together. To avoid an intervention with a crazy facial-haired cat whisperer, that’s where it becomes important to take a pause (or paws) and make sure that the people work so the work can do its work.

In just a matter of days, months of training (probably not enough), hours of commiserating my lack of athleticism (probably too many), and too few minutes of rational thought culminate in the challenge known as Tough Mudder in Somerset, WI. The 10-12 mile course with approximately 25 military inspired obstacles bases itself on being the toughest event on the planet.

When you consider that you run through fire, jump into ice water, climb hay bales with pitchforks and walk through electrified wires, it may be the toughest or the dumbest thing a person can do. And as I signed my death waiver in bold, bright, glittering pink pen, I realized that this brand makes even signing your life away something you smile about. It’s a brand that knows itself inside and out, reinforcing itself not just with design, style and color, but with a readily identifiable voice in all it does. It’s not just the copy on the homepage, but everything down to the to-do list for the day, which reminds you to not puke and of course, to sign that death waiver.

Either on Facebook or face-to-face, it knows its voice, bringing a mixture of irreverence, arrogance and camaraderie. Take the online quiz to see if you could muster enough tomake it through a Tough Mudder; you’re asked about your workout but also the best ‘stache. This brand voice mocks marathons (boring) while remembering its mission to help raise funds for the Wounded Warrior Project. So the greater shock will be if I make it through the challenge (not a timed race, but just a matter of making it to the end). Only Saturday will tell.

Originally posted on ADwërks.com.

Thanks to IdeaMensch for featuring DooGooders and Selfspiration!

Jolene Loetscher grew up among the farm fields of Nebraska and now calls South Dakota home. She graduated as the top broadcast journalism student from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and received her MBA in Global Executive Leadership from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Starting at age 19, she worked as a television reporter/anchor for KTIV-TV (NBC) in Sioux City, IA and KELO-TV (CBS) in Sioux Falls, receiving regional and national awards for her writing and live reporting. Her work appeared on CNN, MSNBC, CSPAN and The Weather Channel.

Jolene moved into public relations, working in media relations at Sanford Health, helping guide the nation’s largest rural not-for-profit hospital through regional and international expansion, and receiving more than $10 million annually in earned media. She’s worked with The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Ad Age to pitch, place and in some cases write stories for clients. Jolene continues her on-air work with freelance government and sports reporting covering South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota markets. She and her husband started DooGooders, a dog doo removal service, in 2007 and received recognition for its marketing campaigns. DooGooders currently sells licenses for locations across the country. They also founded Mud Mile Communications, working with local, regional and international brands to develop social media, online, video and communications strategies. She also founded Selfspiration, an organization to help victims of child sexual abuse through legislative changes and the creation of a day camp.

Jolene calls Sioux Falls, SD home with her husband and business partner, Nate Burdine, and their pugs Maggie and Mayhem.

What are you working on right now?

As Chief Doo Officer for DooGooders, right now I am focusing on expanding our crappy service, selling licenses around the country and implementing a new service, dog DNA testing. This allows our doologists to test poo with PooPrints technology (especially in condos, homeowners associations and apartments) to figure out when someone doesn’t doo what they should doo. Since we give away 7-percent of sales to charities, I enjoy learning about new organizations that can benefit from some doo dollars. I am also juggling some new marketing/PR projects through Mud Mile Communications and working on my passion project Selfspiration, developing a non-profit for survivors of child sexual assault.

Where did the idea for DooGooders come from?

We lived with some friends while trying to sell our house in another town. Their two dogs, Bubba and Skinny, both boasted very efficient bowels. We decided to help out our friends, both working parents. And after an afternoon of poo pick up, we realized how great it would be to just pay someone to deal with doo. A few months later when I decided to get my MBA, my husband Nate and I wanted a way to make some extra money. Then we remembered our crappy idea to pick up poop!

What does your typical day look like?

I usually get up around 5 a.m. and meet with a training group (right now I’m preparing for a Tough Mudder in Wisconsin, so this may be a posthumous piece after May 19). That’s about the only consistent part of my day. From there, I can be in meetings, planning PR or marketing projects for companies down the street or across the globe or pitching the latest poo technology. My days usually end around midnight or 1 a.m.

How do you bring ideas to life?

You can doo a lot of thinking scooping poop! But I don’t doo as much pick up as before, so a lot of my idea generation done while running outside, running to meetings or just playing with our pugs. I believe ideas can happen anywhere and you just need to be ready to embrace them.

What’s one trend that really excites you?

I am so excited technology gives small communities the power and the potential that previously could be limited by geography. Our rural towns plant, nurture and grow some of the most incredible visionaries combined with a work ethic and passion for dooing good.

What was the worst job you ever had and what did you learn from it?

Picking up poop can be crappy (especially when you run into Danes with diarrhea or poodles with puddles of poo after they ate boxes of Crayons), but it taught me you need to know your industry from the ground up (literally in some cases). But I would take poop scooping any day over my job at an insurance call center turning lines pink on a spreadsheet. It taught me grey cubicles can suck energy, enthusiasm and ideas for growth right out of your brain and that work environments should always utilize people’s strengths, and employees should get more than a paycheck for recognition of a job well done.

If you were to start again, what would you do differently?

I’d love to say I would do everything the same. But, I think I would just be more fearless.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Stumble. Take a journey and some times the trip includes tripping along the way, but that’s how you learn, grow and figure out what really works.

What is one problem you encountered as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

Just one? I think it’s about learning to not get absorbed in what others think of your ideas. Some people will never understand why you would want to take on the risk of starting something new, but you need to focus on those that just understand the rewards that come with being an entrepreneur.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

Ummm…. can I shamelessly promote buying a DooGooders license and starting a poo pick up service in their community? Actually, we created an idea of a Board of Learners, in an informal matter, to help guide us as entrepreneurs and people. We just pick a few people that we admire and respect and try to make a conscious effort to catch up with them every so often for a laugh and advice.

If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be and how would you go about it?

I want to change the stigma that surrounds sexual abuse, especially child sexual assault. As a survivor, I know how that can hold people back from coming forward and create a culture of fear that only protects perpetrators. After speaking out about my experience as a teenager (Selfspiration.com / TEDxSiouxFalls.com), I started Selfspiration, a non-profit dedicated to helping survivors of child sexual abuse through legislation and the creation of a day camp. This year we passed legislation in South Dakota to remove the statute of limitations on most cases of rape. I am also working on Selfspiration day camp, a place where kids who’ve been abused can feel strong and empowered and where adult survivors can put purpose to what happened to them by helping staff the camp.

Tell us a secret.

I’m really 4’ 11.5” (my driver’s license says 5 feet).

What are your three favorite online tools or resources and what do you love about them?

Google Docs – Our businesses use Google Docs for collaboration on projects and staying organized (or some semblance of organization).
Thesaurus.com – It always helps with writers block! And the grown-up version of the only thing I wanted for Christmas at seven years olds, a dictionary (I still own that dictionary!).
NYTimes.com – I will always be a news nerd, even after seven years as a television journalists, I can’t quite give up geeking out on a new story.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

Underwear! by Mary Elise Monsell. My mom, a first grade teacher, gave me the book years ago and it remains one of my favorites. It’s about Bismark the Buffalo who needs an attitude adjustment and finally learns from his friends how to enjoy life with funny underwear. It can be so easy to forget to enjoy life, but told in such a simple way, Underwear! reminds us to not be crabby like Bismark and relies on our friends for the best parts of life.

Three people we should follow on Twitter and why?

@hughweber (Hugh Weber) – I consider Hugh one of the biggest thinkers I ever got to work with. Hugh believes that big ideas do not limit themselves to big cities, but brilliance can be built in the smallest, most humble of hometowns.

@SwearengenCD (Al Swearengen Creative Director) – I adore Deadwood (the show and the South Dakota town itself) and this combines one of its greatest characters with a business made for his foul-mouthed, hard-living ways. When I just need to laugh, this is what I read.

@joshallan (Josh Allan Dykstra) – Josh’s blog on strengths-based leadership and the work revolution always inspire me to be a better business owner. His ideas seem even more relevant as we watch an evolving economy that changes the landscape of how we work and live.

When was the last time you laughed out loud? What caused it?

Probably this morning when I woke up to two pugs farting in my face. Somehow I managed to discover an alarm clock worse than an actual clock.

Who is your hero?

My family. My husband, parents and sister always stand by me, no matter the challenges or crazy ideas. They remind me that when people believe in your ideas, they believe in you. Plus, they can always make me laugh, if it’s by making a cherry pie with salt instead of sugar or chasing mice out of their house.

What’s the hardest part of your spouse being your business partner?

We met at work, so it’s harder for us to not work together than always hang out. But the biggest challenge is that we work in different ways. I will keep seven or eight windows open on the computer and bounce from one idea or project one minute to the next, where Nate remains very focused.

If there were 25 hours in the day, what would you do with the extra 60 minutes?

I would love to say I would write more, which I wish I did a better job of just making time to do, but honestly, I would probably just take the time to watch some mindless television, like the Real Housewives (just about any city would do).

Connect:

Jolene Loetscher’s Website - joleneloetscher.com
Jolene Loetscher on Twitter - @joleneloetscher
Jolene Loetscher on Facebook - facebook.com/joleneloetscher
Jolene Loetscher on  Linkedin -  linkedin.com/in/joleneloetscher
DooGooders on Twitter - @doogooders
DooGooders on Facebook - Facebook.com/DooGooders

About three years ago, Rebekah Speight took her kids to McDonald’s and as she cleaned up, a familiar face looked back at her. It wasn’t from a coin purse, but from the pile of uneaten McNuggets. The McNugget looked like George Washington. So government waste no more, Speight kept the pronounced POTUS profile and tucked it into her freezer.

Here’s where the word-of-mouth world that GW knew and our world of connectivity meet to make a creative grass roots campaign. When Speight needed to raise money for a higher purpose, to send students from her church to camp, she got the calling to auction the meaty McNugget. And the lesson from history and marketing is that at times the best viral campaigns mean brushing off the freezer burn and taking a bite of creativity bigger than George Washington’s wooden dentures could take (yes history teachers, and my mom, I know that’snot quite true). It’s stepping outside the usual to create chatter about the unusual. It’s using the tools and toys we employ every day – Facebook, Ebay or Twitter – to drive awareness of those causes that matter the most to us.

For Speight, her bid for the presidency on eBay got media coverage from around the world, creativity that cost conversation and getting bids past $8,000. While Commander in Chiefs may communicate about taxes or partisan politics, when a message makes its way through all the other talk of the day, we must ask why it matters so much. For Speight, the head of state (even in a state of breaded tastiness) gave her a way to help the cause and kids she cared most about it.

Update: The winning bidder chickened out on the sale, but organizers say they will still work to find someone interested in bidding on this presidential piece of poultry.

Originally posted on ADwërks.com.