Sometimes the best things hide in plain sight. If you didn’t know, Kansas was once an ocean, and a huge chunk of that history is still alive at Cheyenne Bottoms — the largest wetland in the interior United States. We sit down with Curtis Wolf, director of the Kansas Wetlands Education Center, who breaks down what actually makes something a "wetland," why this 41,000-acre basin is a lifeline for migrating shorebirds traveling thousands of miles between South America and the Arctic, and how decades of careful management keep it thriving. We also swap stories from our own family trips out there, talk monarch butterfly tagging, and wrap things up with another round of Dartography. Highlights Curtis explains the three technical requirements for a true wetland: the right soil, the right plants, and seasonal water. Cheyenne Bottoms is a 41,000-acre basin and the largest wetland in the interior U.S. — yet less than 1% of the Kansas landscape qualifies as wetland. The Kansas Wetlands Education Center opened through a partnership between Fort Hays State University, the Department of Wildlife and Parks, the City of Great Bend, and Barton Community College, funded in part through a KDOT mitigation grant. A Hudsonian Godwit tracked by researchers flew six days straight from Chile to Cheyenne Bottoms without stopping. One square meter of mud at Cheyenne Bottoms can hold up to 65,000 bloodworms — a key food source fueling migrating birds. The Center hosts around 700 programs a year, including a Second Grade Wetlands Day, summer day camps, Turtle Tots for preschoolers, and stargazing nights during the Perseid meteor shower. The annual Butterfly Festival features monarch tagging tied to the Monarch Watch program, plus a honeybee demonstration hive and seed bomb crafts. Monarchs migrating through Cheyenne Bottoms in the fall are actually the fourth generation removed from the butterflies that left Mexico that spring. Cheyenne Bottoms is managed in nine separate pools with a dike and canal system pulling water from the Arkansas River and Walnut Creek to maximize water availability for wildlife. The Nature Conservancy manages over 8,000 additional acres of the Cheyenne Bottoms basin alongside the state's 21,000 acres. Admission to the Wetlands Education Center is free. Dartography lands in Haskell County, home to Sublette, possible ties to the 1918 Spanish flu, and a starring role in Donald Worster's Dust Bowl history. Chapters 0:00 — Pen Disaster 1:30 — Wetlands Episode Intro 2:19 — Visitor Center Photo Tour 4:12 — Barton County Side Trip 6:11 — Meet Curtis Wolf 7:58 — What Is a Wetland 9:56 — How the Center Began 13:25 — Why Wetlands Matter 16:12 — Inside the Building 22:39 — Wildlife and Bird Migration 27:52 — Education Programs Highlights 29:12 — Stargazing and Camps 30:21 — Turtle Tots and Programs 30:49 — Butterfly Festival Spotlight 32:07 — Monarch Tagging Explained 33:16 — Migration Generations Story 35:33 — Festival Activities Rundown 36:18 — Birds' Impact on Wetlands 38:35 — Managing Cheyenne Bottoms 41:11 — Nature Conservancy Partnership 42:09 — Kids in the Wetlands 45:06 — Visit and Stay Connected 46:33 — Host Takeaways and Birding 49:24 — Dartography: Sublette and Haskell 54:31 — Next Dart: Northeast Kansas 55:33 — Kansans in the Wild Shoutout 56:55 — Final Credits and Signoff Resources Mentioned Fisher Space Pen Kansas Wetlands Education Center (Cheyenne Bottoms, near Great Bend, KS) Sunflower Summer app Monarch Watch The Nature Conservancy Quivira National Wildlife Refuge  Audubon of Kansas Kansas Tourism's Wetlands and Wildlife Byway Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s by Donald Worster Learn more about the podcast at askakansan.com! This show is part of the ICT Podcast Network, for more information, visit ictpod.net

What if the permission you've been waiting for to slow down was yours to give all along? Karen Bartholomew knows firsthand what burnout looks like — running from 6 AM to 9 PM, no time for a cup of coffee, no room to breathe. In 2010, as a single mom of three, she hit a wall and gave herself four months to figure out what she actually wanted. That pause didn't just change her life — it became the foundation of The Pause Method, a five-step framework she now uses to help high-achieving women strip away the conditioning, stories, and expectations that have been running the show, so they can design their next chapter with clarity and confidence. Karen and I talk about the fear of slowing down, the difference between scarcity and abundance, why we carry childhood stories into our fifties, and how courage isn't always about moving forward — sometimes it's about being still. HIGHLIGHTS How Karen recognized her own breaking point in 2010 and gave herself permission to pause The difference between a scarcity mindset and an abundance mindset — and how childhood conditioning hides our natural abundance Why fear of the future is really our imagination running wild with stories that haven't happened The childhood story Karen told herself at age 12 — that she wasn't loved — and how she learned it wasn't truth A powerful moment in a classroom exercise that helped Karen discover her voice and step into leadership How Karen coaches her own daughter through childhood conditioning at age 26 The five steps of The PAUSE Method: Perceive, Acknowledge, Unwind, Shift, and Embody Why slowing down feels so scary — and what we're really afraid of facing The courage to be still, ask "What do I need today?" and let that be enough Why you don't need a crisis to deserve a pause CHAPTERS 1:51 — Why Women Seek Change 2:02 — Burnout And Overload 3:08 — Asking For Help 3:50 — Karen's 2010 Breaking Point 4:41 — Taking A Four Month Pause 8:26 — Fear Of The Future 11:17 — Scarcity Versus Abundance 12:06 — Childhood Stories And Conditioning 15:39 — Finding Your Voice 17:32 — Coaching Through The Past 18:23 — The PAUSE Method Steps 22:46 — Embodying The New Truth 24:49 — Designing The Next Six Months 25:33 — Courage To Be Still 27:18 — How To Work With Karen 27:56 — Rest Without A Crisis 28:22 — Retreats And Closing Thanks RESOURCES Karen Bartholomew's website: karenbartholomew.com Want to learn more? The Thread Be sure to follow me @audradinell on Instagram and LinkedIn This show is part of the ICT Podcast Network. Disclaimer: we may receive a small commission on any products purchased through the links used in this episode. I only recommend tools and resources I actually use and find valuable.

What if the money sitting in your business bank account isn't actually telling you the truth? A lot of side hustlers manage their income and expenses in a simple spreadsheet, but that's a far cry from an actual strategy. I break down why the traditional profit and loss statement — while necessary for taxes — is backward-looking and doesn't help you make real-time decisions about your money. I introduce a better mental model based on the "Profit First" framework, walk through the four-bucket system for every dollar you earn, and share the exact tool I use to automate the whole process so it doesn't become another chore on your to-do list. Highlights Why tracking income and expenses in a single account is simple, but not a real money strategy The core problem with profit and loss statements: they're backward-looking and don't help day-to-day decision making The "Profit First" flipped equation: Sales minus Profit equals Expenses (instead of the other way around) Why you should plan to pay yourself a profit from day one, not just whatever's left over The four buckets every dollar should be sorted into: profit, owner's compensation, tax, and operating expenses Why side hustlers can often combine the profit and owner's compensation buckets into one The friction problem with manually moving money between multiple bank accounts How automating bucket splits with a business banking app removes that friction Why having a real-time view of your money is more powerful than a backward-looking P&L How this system scales as your business grows more complex (adding buckets for payroll, materials, etc.) Chapters 0:00 — Welcome 1:03 — Why P&L Falls Short 2:54 — Profit First Mindset 5:01 — Four Bucket System 6:37 — Account Friction Problem 7:47 — Automating with Novo 9:03 — Real Time Money Clarity 11:53 — Next Steps and Resources 13:43 — Wrap Up Resources Mentioned Profit First by Mike Michalowicz Novo Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review! For more information about The Side-Hustle Dad, visit our website at https://thesidehustle.dad Remember, build the business, but be the dad! This show is part of the ICT Podcast Network, for more information, visit ictpod.net.

Ever noticed how a garden doesn't stay weed-free on its own? The same thing happens with a once-thriving business. That's not bad luck — it's the law of entropy, and it applies to everything: your business, your relationships, your health, and especially your second act. The natural tendency of everything is to move from order to disorder unless energy is applied. That means if you're not intentionally improving something, entropy is quietly changing it for you. The good news? Once you understand this law, you can leverage it. The opposite of entropy is leadership — and your second act isn't waiting for the perfect time. It's waiting for your decision. HIGHLIGHTS The law of entropy explained: nothing naturally improves on its own — gardens grow weeds, houses get dusty, cars wear out, relationships drift apart, and businesses slowly decline Why businesses don't stay the same — they don't naturally improve, they naturally drift How stopping one-to-one meetings and team communication slowly erodes a healthy company culture Why marketing isn't something you do when you're slow — it's something you do to avoid ever becoming slow How shortcuts and skipped steps in your systems lead to quality drops, customer complaints, and costly errors The "orange cones" analogy: construction on the road is frustrating, but without repairs and improvements, the bridge eventually crumbles Even your dreams suffer from entropy — "someday" turns into next year, and next year turns into five years A personal story about writing a book: motion creates momentum while waiting creates decline — there's no in-between The neighborhood story: one house that stopped fighting entropy brought down the whole block and cost the owner real money at sale time The opposite of entropy is leadership — entropy says "wait another year," leadership says "start today" CHAPTERS 0:59 — Law of Entropy Explained 2:37 — Why Businesses Drift 3:46 — Culture Needs Maintenance 5:02 — Marketing and Pipeline Drift 5:35 — Systems Need Upkeep 7:40 — Dreams Need Action 8:32 — Writing a Book Momentum 10:11 — Neighborhood Entropy Story 11:54 — Spot Entropy in Your Life 12:30 — Leadership Over Entropy 13:10 — Wrap Up and Share Want to get more help from Lee with your business? Visit her website: https://leegray.actioncoach.com/ Identify your strengths and weaknesses as a second actor with our comprehensive Second Act Assessment. https://secondact.scoreapp.com This show is part of the ICT Podcast Network. For more information, visit ictpod.net.

Everyone assumes car people grew up under the hood with grandpa. This guest didn't — and he might be the best in the business anyway. On this episode, we sit down with Matthew "Matt" Miller-Wells, Associate Director of Automotive Studies at McPherson College, to talk about how a '68 Beetle and a lot of video games turned into a career restoring some of the rarest vehicles on the planet. We get into what it's really like inside the only four-year vintage automotive restoration program in the country, the wild story behind building a car museum from scratch in Salina, and how a student-restored 1953 Mercedes ended up placing second in class at Pebble Beach. Highlights Matt's automotive obsession traces back to a family '68 Volkswagen Beetle and a Herbie the Love Bug replica bought while stationed in Germany. McPherson College is the only school in the U.S. offering a four-year Bachelor of Science in Vintage Automotive Restoration Technology, started in 1976 by Smokey Blue. A feature on Jay Leno's show helped grow the program from a small two-year technical track into a full four-year degree. About 98% of McPherson grads land a job within six months of graduation, with many landing internships and offers well before commencement. Career paths extend far beyond the shop — alumni now work in insurance (Hagerty), auctions, social media/marketing, and even GM's heritage and design divisions. Matt spent five years building The Garage museum in Salina from the ground up, including VR welding/painting simulators and rotating exhibits like an all-yellow-car show. The college's "Path to Pebble" project — a student-restored 1953 Mercedes 300S Cabriolet — placed second in class at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in 2023. McPherson is reviving its T Build Team, where students assemble a Model T from parts to a running car in minutes. The college offers numerous scholarships (including from the Model T Ford Club, SEMA, and the Piston Foundation), and over 40% of the class of '26 graduated debt-free. McPherson's annual car show (first weekend in May) draws close to 500 cars and effectively shuts down the town. Chapters 0:00 – Car Show Photos 3:30 – Meet Matt Miller-Wells 4:42 – Military Roots & Moving Around 5:60 – Falling for Volkswagens 8:10 – Starting at McPherson 9:49 – Building The Garage Museum 14:44 – Making Car Museums For All 17:04 – McPherson Program Explained 22:48 – Careers Beyond The Shop 27:27 – Bringing Back the T Build Team 31:56 – Community Support & Scholarships 33:07 – Parking Lot Rebuilds 33:38 – Car Community Support 34:16 – Scoring a Parts Haul 35:38 – Young Enthusiasts Thrive 36:11 – Scholarships and Debt 37:14 – Path to Pebble 39:14 – Concours Level Details 40:48 – Pebble Beach Triumph 42:58 – Monterey Car Week 45:25 – Program Future & Tech 47:20 – Visit and the Annual Car Show 49:05 – The Hearse and Other Projects 51:42 – Host Wrap-Up and Thanks 54:10 – Kansas Car History Segment 1:02:53 – Final Sign-Off Resources Mentioned McPherson College Automotive Restoration – Instagram (@mcautoresto) Hagerty Classic Vehicle Insurance SEMA Piston Foundation Model T Ford Club of America Newspapers.com Learn more about the podcast at askakansan.com! This show is part of the ICT Podcast Network, for more information, visit ictpod.net