Building Connections, Solving Problems: Julie Tennyson Reflects on Six Years at Sprocket

In this episode, we sit down with Julie Tennyson, an attorney and outgoing Sprocket board member, to reflect on her impactful six-year tenure. Julie shares stories from Sprocket’s early days in a boiler room, the evolution into a thriving innovation hub, and the values that drive the community. From fostering optimism to solving problems and connecting entrepreneurs with resources, Julie dives into what makes Sprocket a vital part of Western Kentucky. Tune in to hear her insights on mentorship, collaboration, and what’s next for this dynamic leader.

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Transcript

Kaylan: 0:47

Julie tell us a little bit about yourself and your role here at Sprocket.

Julie: 0:52

My name's Julie Tennyson. I'm an attorney. I've been on the board of Sprocket for the last six years, but I just finished my term.

Kaylan: 1:01

You've been here for six years. That's been before this space was even as it is now. Tell us about that time, when you first got started. What was it like in the beginning stages?

Julie: 1:11

So, we were in this sort of rustic boiler room that had always been used as storage or a mechanical room and had not been really a place where people came. And so we were over there in that room. It had 3d printers, it had a cnc router, it had a lot of maker space equipment in it. And it had some, some tables and chairs and that was about it. It was a very small space and we would have meetings there and classes for kids and so I got attracted to it because of the children's programs and the entrepreneur programs. They would have tech on tap and have a speaker that would talk about a entrepreneurial type topic.

Kaylan: 2:00

Why was that so important for you? What was it about the mission at that time that you believed in and thought you needed to take part in what was being built?

Julie: 2:11

So I first got involved with Sprocket when it was doing a lot of children's educational programs and I have two kids, they're currently twelve and fourteen, at that time they were probably five or six and seven and eight. I wanted them to learn about technology and be prepared for the workforce. And I really have a love and passion for education and making sure that children are educated to go into the workforce. That was what initially Sprocket is to think about technology. My son loves computers. He loves to program. He loves being on a computer. And I thought that might be a career path that he wants to take. And I still think it might be a career path that he wants to take.

Kaylan: 3:00

How have you seen things grow since then from meetings in the boiler room, from being a maker space, offering kids workshops to where we are now? What are some of the big ways that you've seen us evolve?

Julie: 3:15

It was a big step to go from being in a boiler room to the beautiful space that we have now. And it's It took a lot of optimism and determination, connection to get there, to get it done, to see this vision through so that we have this space that the community can come and learn about entrepreneurship, but also the community can connect with each other.

Kaylan: 3:40

So connection, community, optimism, what are some other building blocks of values come together to make Sprocket what it is?

Julie: 3:51

Well, I think the knowledge. Having a knowledge base here where people understand why it takes a start to run a business to make it successful. Having mentors in our community connect with Sprocket is really important to help other people to start businesses and be successful and problem solving. Sprocket provides a place where people can go and ask questions and get a problem solved and no question is out of bounds. or not seen as valuable.

Kaylan: 4:27

I think it's hard when you're outside of Sprocket to identify as an entrepreneur because it's, you don't necessarily have any template to go off of. So you don't necessarily know, am I an entrepreneur? Do I have what it takes? Do I have the resume or the, the characteristics to make it and succeed? But then when you walk in here and you get plugged into the community, you kind of fit right in. There's no dumb questions. Everyone's got an answer and everyone's got a question and that's the value of the community here.

Julie: 4:59

And being able to get different perspectives and opinions. If you talk to the same three people all the time, then you're not going to get the diversity of opinion that you might need to make your business successful. You might not get that spark or that idea. If you're just talking to the same three people all the time, but everyone comes with their own perspective, their own lens, their own way of doing things that may be your way, then It may not be your way, but you can take that and learn from it.

Kaylan: 5:33

What are some of your favorite things that Sprocket does for the community?

Julie: 5:39

So, having the community coffee hour I think is a great opportunity. It's a big favorite. It's just such a random selection of people that will show up on any given Wednesday and someone from almost every neighborhood in Paducah shows up on a regular basis to the community coffee hour. And some beyond Paducah. There's often times people come from Murray to be a part of the community. and see what it's all about. And just being able to meet, network, get support, get ideas from other people. It's so important.

Kaylan: 6:15

One of the core values that you started off with was optimism. We talked about this before is That is one of the driving, energies, I guess, for successful entrepreneurs. Tell us more about that optimism piece and what role it plays in the life of business and entrepreneurship.

Julie: 6:35

You first have to believe that you can do something before you actually can do it. If you don't believe you can do it, you're never going to be able to do it. And having that optimism that, hey, it may be a temporary problem, or, hey, this is just, Just a little bump in the road, I'm going to be able to solve it, I'm going to be able to get over this little bump and get to the next spot is so important. And looking to other people who are optimistic to help build you up, to help push you along is so important also.

Kaylan: 7:09

I can tell that that's special. It's probably one of the driving forces behind Sprocket itself as it's grown over the years. Tell us a little bit more about how community members came together to go from boiler room to co working space, innovation hub.

Julie: 7:26

We looked at models of successful entrepreneurships in other areas of the country And we found that having a centralized place where people can go and connect was important. Now, there have been co working spaces tried in Paducah before, but I don't think it was successful because one, this is a beautiful space and two, people have found a place where they can connect and, and the staff here and Monica. Make people feel at home, make them feel like this is a place for them, make them feel welcomed. And all of those things are important. Like being in a space that's pretty is important to people.

Kaylan: 8:18

Yeah. There's an energy here. I think all these small details go into making this big feel of energy and focus.

Julie: 8:27

Then having a synergy of having other businesses located around, you know, like having dry ground and Mellow Mushroom and Piper's and socially present has been here from the beginning. Having all of these businesses co located here has caused there to be a synergy and more energy into the space. A

Kaylan: 8:49

rising tide lifts all ships kind of thing. And we certainly have that vibe and that focus here as a community too. Looking back over the past six years, what are some of the ways that you hope you have infused some of your own impact onto the trajectory of this community?

Julie: 9:12

Well, it's so important to have good, sound legal advice. for all businesses. There, there's a legal component that goes into day one. Maybe it's that you need a trademark to protect your brand. So other people, when you get successful, aren't trying to ride your coattails and trying to take your customers by tricking people into thinking they're you. So that's, that's one issue that I've talked to a lot of entrepreneurs about. I've also talked to a lot of entrepreneurs about just the basics of. How to form an LLC, basics of contracts, what kinds of things you need to look for in your contracts, review contracts with them and go over them, employment law also could be an, an issue if you have employees. And so those are kind of the things that I've talked to people in this space about, over the years. Some of'em have become clients, some of'em haven't, but I've given several talks just on basics of starting up a company through Sprocket over the years. So that's what I've contributed. And just thinking about the problem. That people have, like I could come up with a solution to almost any problem. Now, whether it's the one you wanna go with or not, that's a different matter, But I always have like some ideas and some ways to fix problems. they may not work out for whatever reason, but everybody needs that. Everybody needs somebody to bounce things off of. Everybody needs someone to help them solve their problems. We're not going through life alone and we have a community and we should. Use that community to help each other.

Kaylan: 10:58

And that probably also ties in that op, the optimism piece, because like you said, if you believe that it can be done, then it can be done. And then outside of these walls, I think all these entrepreneurs. We're surrounded by other people who just may not get it or see things in the same way that we do. They're not necessarily pessimists, but they don't necessarily have that strong optimism, that belief that sometimes they hit obstacles. Entrepreneurs might share their struggles and people might say, Oh, well, it just can't be done. And here you talk with somebody like you and we say, yes, it can. You just haven't found the answer yet. And we connect with people like that and we realize. Oh, we can't keep going. There's an answer out there. We just got to figure out which door to open. One thing that you've said before that I really appreciated was when you walk in the door and you make a connection, your support system exponentially increases.

Julie: 12:00

When you connect with people, then you connect with all the people in their network and they connect with all the people in my network. And so every single person increases that, increases that network that you have access to. How I see Sprocket growing and changing is to expand that network. potentially grow our network all across the country so that we're not just regionally located in Paducah. We're making connections with Louisville, Lexington, Northern Kentucky now, but we also want to make connections with Nashville, St. Louis, and then keep going out till we're making connections all across the country. That's, that's definitely a goal of Sprocket is to increase our network, especially to increase our network so that we have more access. to venture capital in this area.

Kaylan: 12:52

Looking back over the past six years, are there any moments that stick out to you now, when you like stepped back and you were like, this is why I do this work. This is why Sprocket is here.

Julie: 13:04

Well, when we went from being in a small boiler room to this beautiful space, that's like, Oh, we've arrived, you know? Yeah. But the work isn't done. I mean I Our next frontier is really getting more capital in this area, focusing in on targeted areas so that, we can train students in our school system up to have technological jobs and they have a place where they can work in the Paducah community, in western Kentucky communities, and so that they stay in our area. So as a community, we're working to build our education systems so that we are, we have kids that are ready for jobs and so that companies can locate here either start up here or they can move here and have a location here and employ kids that are ready for technology jobs and the jobs of the future.

Kaylan: 14:08

Leaning into that, what are some I guess changes or evolutions that you've seen in the community that Sprocket has impacted or helped to bring about, especially when it comes to entrepreneurship, innovation, what role has Sprocket played here in Western Kentucky?

Julie: 14:26

It's played a role in every single person who has a dream believing that they can start their company, they can build a business that no matter their They're socioeconomic group that they can get started. Sometimes people think that only, only wealthy people have businesses and they've always been wealthy, but there are lots of people that come to our meetings that are starting up on a shoestring and then growing their business from almost nothing. No matter where you start, you can start a business and you can grow the business. It's just one little step. And sometimes it's just taking back to this step, to this step, to this step, and instead of seeing it as a whole. Sometimes that's a little easier for people starting a business. Well, today I have to do this in this journey and not thinking about what they're going to be in five years. You've got to take those individual steps to get there. What's next for you? What's next for me? I have gone on the board of Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation, which gives funding to Sprocket. So, trying to connect Sprocket to statewide resources, trying to make more networking connections between Sprocket and people around the state is one thing that I'm working on. And hopefully from that position on the statewide board that I make connections across the country to help. community to help sprocket to help individual entrepreneurs in their journey.

Kaylan: 16:11

Awesome. Julie, thank you so much for spending time with us today. All right. Thanks. Thank you.