Apr 5, 2021
When you meet today’s guest, Charissa Rubey, you’ll likely be
charmed by her salt-of-the-earth friendliness and unassuming
nature. But don’t let that fool you—named North Dakota’s Small
Business Person of the Year in 2020, Charissa, alongside her
husband, Dave—whom she affectionately refers to as her favorite
person in the world—run a manufacturing company with 25 employees
and a global dealer network over 700 worldwide.
And they do it all from a town of less than 50 people that no
longer even has a post office.
She joins us to share her incredible story.
About Charissa
Charissa Rubey is a business owner, artist, graphic designer,
photographer, wife, mother, hunter, gardener, beekeeper, and serial
hobbyist who makes sure all the soup cans are always facing labels
out in the kitchen cabinet. Originally from southern California,
Charissa moved to North Dakota at the age of 20 with her husband
Dave to take over the family farm. In 2002 they started Dakota
Micro, Inc., a business that manufactures the AgCam and EnduraCam
camera lines. Charissa’s most recent endeavor of acrylic painting
allows her passion for the rural countryside to shine
through.
In July of 2019, Dakota Micro, Inc. had the honor of being invited
to the White House to represent US Manufacturing for the State of
North Dakota. When asked about the experience, Charissa shared
that
“…it
was so amazing! To be able to set up our products IN the White
House, who gets to do that! We got to meet so many amazing people,
VP Mike Pence and Dr. Ben Carson, just to name a few.”
Charissa and Dave have two children whom they are incredibly proud
of. Alexander is currently serving in the US Army in the 25th ID,
and their daughter Christina has joined the ND Army National Guard.
She will begin basic training in the winter of 2019-20 with plans
on attending Nursing School afterwards. When elaborating on her
kids, Charissa also shared
“plans
change, you never know what their, or our future will bring, and
that’s the adventure.”
In this episode, we cover:
-
How to discern
“good”
advice from
“right
for you” advice
-
What it means to say
“a
change that’s easy isn’t all that meaningful”
-
How Charissa’s original goal of creating extra grocery money turned
into a full-blown business
-
How a neck fusion surgery and a rock sucked into a combine header
created the idea that sparked the start of her business
-
Why people need to
“hear
the hard stuff” about starting and running a business
Links + Resources Mentioned
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