(upbeat music) (lively music) - My shoot the moon idea is to bring the magic of The Bay to public schools, make them feel like a place where skateboarding, music and fashion are supposed to happen.

(lively music) I'm insanely kind, but I'm also insanely competitive, and those two things sometimes don't always blend well.

(lively music) In 20 years, I'll be living on a beach somewhere, renting vintage dirt bikes to surfers, living my best life.

(lively music) -[Mike] A place building community with art, music, fashion and civic engagement, (upbeat music) and meet community building entrepreneur Mike Smith.

(upbeat music) What If!

(upbeat music) -[Mike] Welcome to this episode of our series about innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship in Nebraska, What If.

This show is all about community building entrepreneurs, and we're going to meet two cool ones.

Let's start with Marcey Yates and a visit to CULXR House.

(scratching sound) (soulful music) ♪ You want that, that's a light move.

♪ ♪ I could get that back in the night groove.

♪ ♪ I pick up the mic and I excite you.

♪ ♪ The sound of my voice say I like you.

♪ -[Mike] The world of Marcey Yates starts here.

(soulful music) What's your favorite part about doing this?

- Just like creating something from something, you know, being able to, to get the feeling that you got that you have in you and be able to translate it to the production, you know what I mean?

And then when you hear it come out the speakers, it's like, you know, I got one.

(soulful music) -[Mike] Music came first for this award-winning recording artist, music producer and audio engineer.

Having somewhere to make music was nice, so why not make a place for other things that matter to Marcey?

Music, art, fashion, community engagement.

Welcome to CULXR House.

(soulful music) -[Marcey] We are a gateway, starting point, a launchpad.

(soulful music) (upbeat music) -[Mike] Give me a tour of CULXR House.

This is what I call a gift shop.

So we sell records, we sell clothes.

We sell things from local makers as well too.

Even our own merch.

-[Mike] A lot of these records come from Marcey's rather diverse personal collection.

(upbeat music) And then there's some music gets made in there, right?

- Yeah.

This is where a lot of it happens, man.

When I say a lot of it, yeah, a lot of production goes on here.

A lot of creators come in, use the space.

-[Mike] A space used by Marcey and lots of other creators with a DIY setup.

(upbeat music) You do events up here, right?

Concerts, sometimes community events.

- We do more intimate events, so if it's smaller, then we'll do them here.

Some organizations, they like to do like meetings, retreats and things like that.

(upbeat music) -[Mike] That includes candidate forums, meetings, all kinds of things.

Sometimes rented, sometimes a free community space consistent with the CULXR houses, nonprofit and for-profit business model.

And back here is this big, fantastic garage space where lots of cool stuff happens, right?

- Yeah, yeah.

This is this is the warehouse.

- Yeah.

- You know.

(upbeat music) -[Mike] Fashion shows, concerts featuring local and touring artists.

Podcasting surrounded by the art of local artists and the creator of this place.

(upbeat music) -[Marcey] Some of our work is mine.

You'll see it around here.

It'll kind of be like, get familiar with my style and be like, oh, that's that's Marcey.

You know?

(upbeat music) -[Marcey] If y'all ready to get started, say, let's get started.

- [crowd shouting] Let's get started!

-[Marcey] Hey, that's the energy I love.

(upbeat music) -[Mike] One of the things happening regularly here is a live painting tournament called Art battle.

-[Marcey] Now, once we get going, feel free to walk around, go live, make sure you tag CULXR house, please.

Right.

Brushes up.

Ten.

Nine.

(crowd counting down) Eight.

Seven.

(crowd counting down) Six.

Five.

(crowd counting down) Four.

Three.

(crowd counting down) Two.

One.

(crowd counting down) Let's go.

(crowd cheering) -[Mike] Artists get 20 minutes to paint anything they want.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) Audience vote determines the winners.

(upbeat music) How's it going?

(upbeat music) -[Marcey] Going good.

You know what I mean?

Y'all see, as beautiful as it looks, there's always a little chaos behind the scenes, man.

But that's the beauty of putting together something like that.

Man in space, man.

So going.

Good man.

Crowd loves it.

The artists love it.

It's hot, right?

- Yeah.

- But hey, you survive.

You'll survive.

Survive.

-[Mike] And you love it.

- I do.

I do love it, man.

(upbeat music) -[Mike] There's a lot of energy in that room when that happens, isn't there?

- Yes, a lot of energy.

And I love it when the crowd is into it.

Again it builds up the artist, you know, because it takes a lot to get out there in front of people.

(upbeat music) - Marcey, I'd like to get in on the battle.

- Really?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

Yeah.

I got somewhere for you to go.

(upbeat music) -[Announcer] Two minute warning.

Y'all got two minutes left.

Work on finishing up.

(upbeat music) (scratching record sound) - Not what I had in mind.

(indistinct chatter) - Some tough competition.

(jazz music) -[Crowd] Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

-[Announcer] Brushes Up!

(crowd cheering) And winner of our battle tonight, Ryan.

(crowd cheering) -[Mike] What do you think of this place?

-[Ryan] It's very cool.

(jazz music) I love the vibe in general.

I love all of the artwork.

I love meeting like minded people that, you know, just do art for fun and then come here to compete.

(jazz music) - Hello everyone.

-[Everyone] Hello.

-[Marcey] My name is Marcey Yates.

I'm the director of the CULXR House.

Thank you for being here.

(upbeat music) Here at the CULXR House, we are a creative space.

(speaking foreign languages) -[Mike] There's always something happening here.

On this day, a summer camp session for refugee and immigrant kids to explore music, art and fashion.

-[Marcey] We'll break you down into groups and we'll try to have as much fun as we can.

(speaking foreign language) (attempting music) -[Marcey] So first, I want to start with an exercise just to get into one of the first aspects of music, which is rhythm.

(clap, clap, clap) (piano notes) -[Claire] Find a picture you might like, get some scissors and just don't be afraid to get in there, you know, just really mess it up.

So you can take your time and make anything you want.

(upbeat music) -[Marcey] We're going to design a outfit.

We have clothes as well too.

So I want you to look around and get some inspiration right.

(upbeat music) From Lionel Richie.

I'm really digging the vintage sweater he got on.

(upbeat music) -[Mike] What's the best way to kind of get kids to think like that?

-[Marcey] I think just like, let them roam in the atmosphere.

So right now, a lot of them, like are gravitating to just like trying stuff on, right now, you see, like accessories and things like that.

You know, it's kind of what you're into, like your aspect of like fashion.

(upbeat music) -[Mike] A small room Marcey setup to record music was the starting point.

Now he has a place 20 times bigger, visually exciting, celebrating art and the history of this North Omaha neighborhood.

(upbeat music) Visitors say it makes them feel like they're in New York, Berlin, or the 90s punk scene.

(upbeat music) Talk about just being an entrepreneur, creating this type of thing.

- Yeah.

There was no like breadcrumbs.

There was no like trails, you know what I mean?

It was kind of like you're just going into uncharted territory and waters.

(upbeat music) And came in sixth, you got Denise.

(crowd cheering) -[Denise] I love the people.

I love the community.

And Marcey's incredible.

Like incredible.

- Why he's just he exudes this coolness and confidence.

And he can take over the room in seconds and make it feel cool, make the event feel cool, whatever he's doing.

- One, two, three.

(group cheer) -[Che'Marquis] He's part of Omaha.

He's part of the struggle.

He's part of the, you know, the voice of, you know, us people, you know, the ones that are underrepresented.

-[Claire] He's just doing it all.

And it's just really inspiring because there's not really anybody else in Omaha that I know of anyway, that's like doing all this like he is.

(gentle music) -[Marcey] It was me doing something for the community, the neighborhood that my grandparents and my mom lived in.

right?

Being a part of that fabric.

(gentle music) Everything else is going to work itself out.

This to get to the artist, this to get to the creators.

Right?

But the mission is being down here on 24th Street and providing something that's not here.

♪ I used to early rise now I own my own business ♪ ♪ Built it from the ground.

A lot of that was effort-giving ♪ -[Mike] You can learn a lot about Marcey from the music that led to all this.

♪ Complicated, made them envy ♪ -[Mike] What kind of stories are you trying to tell with your music?

-[Marcey] I'm trying to tell stories of like, my life.

Stories from like my peers.

Stories I've heard.

♪ Had to plant more seeds so the vision grow ♪ -[Mike] That vision is a unique, community focused place he calls a gateway for so many things.

(upbeat music) What do you hope that impact is (upbeat music) -[Marcey] like, that rose that grows out of the concrete, but it becomes like a bouquet.

(upbeat music) - Marcey Yates and Mike Smith have a lot in common.

Both are guys who think big.

We first met Mike a few years ago during a What If story about a unique summer camp involving The Bay, one of the many things he's created.

We're going to talk about that and a lot more now with Mike Smith.

So in addition to The Bay, which we'll talk a little bit more about later, I'm going to go through all the stuff that you've done because it's crazy.

- Cool.

- You launched a nonprofit that empowers skateboarders to support to the homeless.

You travel the world as a leadership and motivational speaker.

You just did a movie about motorcycling across Western Nebraska.

A radio show.

You're an author.

Am I missing anything?

- A dad.

I think being a dad.

- A dad.

- Yeah, that's number one.

Yep.

- Which what occupies more of your time right now?

- Being a dad, for sure.

Being a... When you speak for a living, you get a chance to to travel and then be home.

And so when I'm home, I get to really just kind of lock in on dad mode.

- Yeah.

Where does all your drive come from?

(tongue clicks) - I think at first I always used to say the line, "I work for the kids" and there was never like a I don't work for a board.

I don't work for a brand.

I don't have a hypothetical boss.

I kind of made like youth, the the sort of like, who do I work for and where do I want to put my energy and my time?

And I think that that has really served me well is like just being someone who sort of is an advocate for youth and youth culture and youth opportunities.

And so I think my drive really comes from, I feel like I have the opportunity and the experiences now, especially to make impact not just in our community here, but around the globe.

And so I think my drive really comes from sometimes people, like the more, you know, the more you notice, you know, and I think that I notice opportunities and ways to help.

And so I just feel like it's kind of a responsibility or it feels like a calling now, I guess.

- Have you always been that, that guy, that, that creator, were you, were you that person back in Imperial when you were a kid?

- I think I was, I really I always wanted to have fun and do fun things, you know, like academics was never my focus.

I played sports, but I was never like the best on the team.

And so I think for me, I was always probably like a social glue or social butterfly, but I always was like into making things happen and coming up with creative things and doing new things and trying exciting things.

And so the thing about growing up in Imperial is you have so much space and land and opportunity to do that.

And a small community always gets behind kids big ideas.

And so if we wanted to do something, we typically had support to do it.

And I think I got really accustomed to like having a big idea, pitching it and then just trying to make it happen.

- What was one of those things you did when you were a kid back there?

- I think my favorite thing back in Imperial when we were kids was we would always, you know, in Western Nebraska, we had Enders Lake.

And so at New Year's, we would always try to like camp on New Year's.

And so sometimes you were like, it was the best idea of all time.

And sometimes nobody would make it through the night because it was so cold and freezing.

But I can vividly remember like every year being like, we're gonna make it, we're gonna make it.

And then everybody getting in the car at 3 a.m.

and driving home.

And it was things with your friends where it didn't go as planned.

Like we would come up with some crazy idea that we were going to do out at the lake or something we were going to do on someone's property or build something, and the thing completely fell through and didn't work out.

It's almost those experiences that you remember more than like the fun stuff that you did that worked.

But this was Pre-cell phone day.

pre-Internet day.

Pre-texting like you had to drive up and down Main Street to figure out what was going on that night.

And so things moved slower.

But it was also things felt like a bigger deal when they happened.

- Yeah.

And that's interesting because, you know, over time when we've talked to people for, for the What If project, a lot of the people we talked to are wired that way.

You know, at a very young age, they were experimenting with things and doing crazy things and sometimes driving people nuts, right?

- Oh, sure.

Yeah, absolutely.

I was never I saw a bunch of my report cards from a kid.

My mom saved a bunch and it was like, you're immediately embarrassed at your grades.

Like I was, it was just like straight C's and everything, but it would the comments from the teacher would always be like, Mike's great.

He just talks too much in class.

And then it turned out to be my job, like getting to go talk in class.

And so it's kind of funny.

But yeah, I think I was always like the personality hire, if you know what I'm saying.

Like I was there for the, the to be the, the life of the party and kind of the class clown more than probably the guy that took it super serious.

- Right.

But you built on that.

- Yeah.

- Right.

At some point you knew that, right?

- Yeah.

You know, you know what your skills are.

I tell kids this all the time, like some of you are really good at talking.

Some of you are really good at creating.

Some of you are really good at organizing.

You're probably going to find yourself in a career where you lean into some of those strengths more and more and more.

So if you're more charismatic or if you can be in front of people and you can talk, especially in today's world, I tell kids all the time to lean into that because it's a, it's becoming less and less common that people are good at having conversations.

And because we're so locked into our phones.

And so for me, it became kind of a superpower, the ability to just talk to anybody.

- Yeah.

Well, I'll talk a little bit about The Bay, which you launched in 2010.

- Correct.

- Right.

- Yep - Um, what's that all about?

- The Bay is, it's, I like to call it a third place.

So it's a, you know, your first place is home, your second place is work or school.

And then we all need that third place that we can go.

And The Bay is this incredible third place for youth that's home to skateboarding, music, fashion, content creation.

There's a partnership with Lincoln Public Schools.

So Bay High, a focus program, happens in that space.

Now it's scaled to Omaha.

And so it's currently in the Benson Community Center.

So we're running the same programming in Omaha that happens in Lincoln.

And the next Bay facility opens in 2027.

And so The Bay is this expanded space where young people can do the things that they get excited about.

And so some kids love to skate, some kids love music, some kids love fashion, some kids just need a place to go.

And I think The Bay is really home to a lot of those things.

- And it wasn't easy, was it?

Because I think I'd seen you talking about this someplace where every time you added something to it, people were like, uh, no.

-[Mike S.]

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

The skateboarding was not excited about adding coffee.

And then once you added music, it was like everybody looked at it like it was taking away from itself.

Like if you raised money for music, you didn't have money for skateboarding, or if you didn't focus on this, you couldn't focus on that.

And then when we opened the high school and we really took a youth education focus, that meant that adults weren't going to be in the space as often.

And so there is a there is always a sacrifice that comes with growth and scaling.

And I think that as we continue to listen to the kids and as The Bay continues to listen to the kids now, there's always going to be those decisions you have to make that aren't easy and aren't always popular, but you got to do what's best for kids.

- But it's worked, right?

- Absolutely.

- Yeah.

- Absolutely.

The it's, I think the impact is there every year.

The funding has continued to be there every year.

Most nonprofits don't last for 15 years.

And The Bay is definitely on a trajectory where it's continuing to grow.

And so yeah, it's worked.

And I think the coolest part about The Bay will always be the amount of kids who work there now that grew up there.

Like that reinvestment loop of I grew up at this place.

I was in the mall when it first started, and now they're teaching skate school.

And so I think that that's been the coolest part of this story is like, how many kids have gone on to work there, create, become the mentors, become heroes to the next generation because we've got kids at The Bay that have a couple million followers on TikTok who are on staff.

And when I think of them, they're like five and eight to me, but they're 25 and 23 now, and they're the heroes to the kids down in the space.

- And it's kind of it's, it's a great example of how entrepreneurship can be community building, right?

- Yeah.

I think that where nonprofits often struggle nonprofits and entrepreneurship, unless it's the founder who created it.

I think a lot of times those two things are very separate.

And the mindsets can be very different in the nonprofit world.

It's very scarcity mindset.

How much money can we raise?

There's only so many foundations.

There's so many nonprofits asking for money.

There's all these competitive fundraising days that we all have to do.

And so there can grow to be this sort of scarcity mindset in the nonprofit world.

But I think one of the things that made The Bay so special is if you listen to your customer and you approach it just like a real company would, where your customer has wants, needs, and you build on those things and you let them sort of drive how you grow.

I think that's where a lot of nonprofits, they chase the funding.

What does the grant say?

What do our founders say?

What does this what is if these five foundations give to everybody and we sort of have to fall in line with them?

The Bay really didn't participate in that mindset.

It just kept listening to the kids and building something that culture needed.

And then those foundations jumped and got on board.

And I think that's what makes The Bay special is it took an unconventional route to get there, but the route we took was constantly listen to the kids and build what they want and build what they need, and then the funding will follow.

- Have you always thought of yourself as kind of a community building innovator or entrepreneur.

I don't I never thought of myself as an entrepreneur.

I remember the first time I got called that.

I was like, I can't even spell that.

Like, I still can't spell that.

But, uh, I think what I like to do is I really enjoy the creating something process built the "there was nothing" it was an idea and launching this thing and making it happen.

But I think what I've gotten really good at is creating the human experience, either the place, the physical place where it can happen, or like the radio show you mentioned, like it's a two hour show once a month, but we turn the coffee shop into a skate spot and there's vintage vendors and there's always, we have everything from a barber come in to dice getting thrown.

So there's always like some sort of human experience.

And people always walk away from that like, wow, that was, that was fun.

Like that was really cool.

That was really interesting.

And so I, I've always wanted to create things, bucket lists of things and these adventure stories that you can always look back on and have a real experience with.

And so I think I'm kind of an expert at the human experience and creating these like very memorable moments.

-[Mike] Yeah.

The, what you just said about not wanting to be an entrepreneur and not knowing how to spell it.

I found that article that was a Forbes article.

- Yeah.

- Right.

Which also.

How cool is it that some skater kid from way out in western Nebraska is all of a sudden in Forbes magazine?

Right?

- Absolutely, yeah.

- But you said something else in that too.

You said you don't build companies to make money.

You do them because you get really excited about some issue, right?

- Yep.

- Talk about that.

- So I and people like me, motivational speakers, people who talk to kids, we always say to people, oh, go follow your passion.

Well, for most of us, we don't know what we're passionate about.

We might have a hobby, we might have like an identity of sorts, but passion and obsession are very much linked.

And so when we tell people, go follow your passion, a lot of times they're like, I like video games or I like basketball.

Like they don't have a true passion.

So I think that if there's a problem you get excited to solve.

Chase after that.

And the problem I get excited to solve is kids need somewhere to go, something to do, people who care.

They need this sort of third place that they can go do the things that they're excited about.

There's a lot of basketball courts, there's a lot of soccer fields.

There's a lot of tennis courts and baseball fields, but there aren't a lot of places for kids to do skateboarding, music and fashion.

And so that was a problem.

I got really excited to create.

And so.. -Solve.

- I got excited to solve.

-[Mike] Hopefully you're not creating that problem.

- Right, exactly.

But that was a problem I got really excited to solve.

And so I want to create as many solutions to that as I can.

And I think that for me, a good example of it is, is scaling the impact of skateboarding.

We were talking about this earlier was instead of building buildings in other cities, I'm just helping them create mobile pop up skate parks.

These live in these enclosed trailers.

They can attach it to a truck or a van, and it can go to any after school program they need or any summer camp location they want.

But you just need a flat parking lot.

And every school has an empty parking lot at 3:00.

And so being able to take the magic of skateboarding to the first one we did was in Inglewood.

The next one I'm doing is in Brooklyn.

And so to take it from Lincoln to Inglewood and Lincoln to Brooklyn is this incredible opportunity.

But I'm really excited about solving that.

Kids need something to do, and they're locked into school until 3 to 5 sometimes, and it's like, I want to get it right to where they are, as simple as I can.

And so I think for me, it's, that's a problem I get excited to solve If that makes me an entrepreneur or a businessman, whatever.

Like I'm gonna go solve that problem and figure out how to get it funded.

And that's the way I've always kind of approached.

- It is that kind of when you're I mean, you speak all over the world, it's crazy.

Just even when we were talking before this interview, listing off the number of places you're here, you're here, you're here.

We were lucky to even get you.

Is that a lot of what the message that you're taking out to kids, you're talking to in all these different places.

- A big part of the message is you're the designer and the end user of your life.

So if whatever you design isn't something that you love, like you've got to own that.

And so it's trying to get kids to have this mentality of treat your life like it's a creation, treat your life like it's an invention.

Try things, fail, grow, iterate, get 10% better, like move the needle.

But I also teach kids to break the rules inside the lines.

Like sometimes there's this box that exists and you've got to be willing to push the margins.

You mentioned, uh, skateboarding and giving back Skate for Change is what that was called.

And that started in Lincoln, where we would skate around and give out socks and beanies and bottles of water to the homeless folks in our community.

And that expanded all over the world.

But what people don't realize is it used to be illegal to skate in Lincoln, Nebraska.

So I would get a ticket for doing Skate for Change.

And we just had yesterday the grand opening of the downtown skate park and where we used to get tickets to do Skate for Change.

There's now a skate park and so like, it's not a law anymore.

We helped get that taken away.

And so there's certain areas where I tell kids, sometimes you have to push the envelope.

Innovation and disruption looks like what is the boundary and how can I test it and push it and grow?

And sometimes you have to do that with your own life.

And I think kids are scared to fail.

They're scared to try.

They're scared to get excited about things today because they don't want to look like they're trying too hard.

-[Mike] Right.

- And I tell kids all the time, like, if you want a life that you love, it's going to come with a ton of failure, but you got to take the 5% that worked and can continue to move forward with it.

And so I get to use things like The Bay and skateboarding and some of the crazy things I've done as examples to show kids like it's not always going to work, but you have an opportunity to create things.

- You have so much good advice.

One sentence.

What would be the one thing you would tell young Mike Smith?

Young innovators, young entrepreneurs.

Even though you don't want to be an entrepreneur.

- Sure.

Yeah.

- One sentence.

What would that be?

- Uh, I think it's chase a problem that's meaningful to you.

Like, truly like a meaningful problem that you complain about, you think about it bothers you, you figure out what that is and go chase after that for a while.

And I always tell people, if you want to ask someone for advice, go try the thing you're thinking about for two years and then go ask for some advice.

You'll realize how much you learn in the process.

But best advice is like chase a problem you get really excited to solve.

- Good place to end.

Mike Smith.

Thank you.

- Yeah, man, thanks so much.

(smack) I appreciate you, bro.

(upbeat music) What If, guys.

(upbeat music) (gentle music) - You just heard Mike Smith's advice.

That leads us to another part of our what if project called Innovator Insights.

Short web videos with advice for young innovators created with the help of Nebraska Public Media's education team.

Here's a sample.

(electric music) - Hi, I'm Jacob.

Talk about pursuing your passion.

(electric music) - It's the ultimate, You know, it's very important.

The reasons why is you're not left with any questions, not wondering what if, if you could have done it, if you could do it, you know, following your passion is a tricky thing.

You know, you got to have support behind you, but you got to believe in yourself 100%, you know, especially when no one else does.

(electric music) - Hello, my name is Leo.

How do you know when you've arrived at a good idea?

(electric music) Ideas can come from many different places to know if it's a good one, it's usually one that sticks around with you.

So maybe you just came up with it.

And later it'll come to mind again.

It's that feeling that just keeps coming back to you that maybe this idea should come to life.

(electric music) - Hi, my name is Rodrigo.

And how do you learn from failure?

(electric music) - Failure is actually probably the best way to learn anything, because I can't think of a single thing I did perfectly that I learned something from.

So failure gives you a direction to move and something to work toward.

So I actually like it when I fail so I can make a really big improvement the next time.

(electric music) - Hi, my name is J'Ovie.

Talk about the importance of risk taking.

(electric music) - Risk taking is really what makes possibilities happen.

So I think it's important to think about risks in two categories.

One is when they're really obvious and they're really big risks.

But another part is just thinking about the little tiny things that kind of look like more risky behavior.

And when you're in innovation and creativity, you really have to change the status quo.

And so instead of going along with all the things that are kind of your normal, you instead take a step back and think about what's possible and what change can happen.

(electric music) - Hi, my name is Macy.

What's your best advice for young innovators?

(electric music) - My advice for a young innovator would be to stay involved as much as you can in what you're interested in.

For me, that was a robotics program that my dad set up.

But there could be anything, whether it's school or non-school related, and just get involved as much as you can and find out those passions that you have deep down.

- Do things and when we talk about doing things, I'm talking about building and tearing apart and making circuits and testing things.

It's the skills that you actually build while you're tinkering that become extremely important when you want to become an innovator.

(electric music) - Don't stop believing in what you're trying to do and you achieve all the work that you can have.

Number two is make sure you have like-minded people around you to help you see your goals and to achieve your goals.

And then number three, don't worry about the obstacles.

You have obstacles.

You have things, roadblocks.

Don't let them distract you.

Just move around them.

And then four manifest it until you can't anymore.

And don't stop believing in what you're trying to do.

And you achieve all the work that you can have.

- So you can dream big, but then you have to work just as hard as you dream big to make something happen.

I've had so many wonderful ideas.

A lot of those ideas have never come to fruition because I didn't work on them.

But the ideas that I did have that I ended up working on, and I was able to collaborate with others and use my skill set and my education to try to help things come to fruition.

Those things have turned into amazing projects, so don't let the constraints of society hold you back, dream big, and then work just as hard to make it happen.

(upbeat music) -[Mike] Want to binge the hours of What If stuff we've created since 2018?

It's all on the What If website and Nebraska Public Media's YouTube channel, and you can follow us on social media at #WhatIfNebraska.

Well, by the way, the music you hear on all our stories, all from Nebraska creators and composers.

Learn how your music can be featured in our project at our website.

Well, speaking of music, let's listen to another Marcey Yates song as we wrap things up for this episode of What If.

Thanks for watching.

(groovy music) ♪ Don't get caught in the details.

♪ ♪ You said you want it, but ♪ ♪ you ain't checking emails.

♪ ♪ Quickest way to contact.

♪ ♪ Always accessible.

♪ ♪ Hand me downs.

♪ ♪ Turn to money, now that's extra dough ♪ - This is the least dirty clothes I could find.

♪ now that's extra dough ♪ - I'm in that mode right now.

-[Mike] I like it.

♪ Hand me downs, turn to money, ♪ ♪ now that's ♪ (groovy music) (yelling) -[Mike S.]

The weirdest thing I ever thought about creating was turning my property into a Airbnb spot with trailers.

But then a friend told me, you can't create a trailer park in your yard.

(groovy music) That's so dumb because it's a trailer park.

And I didn't realize that I was building a trailer park.

(laughing in background) (groovy music) (upbeat music)