Justin Harlan:
Hey, I'm Justin, Managing Director of Tulsa Remote, and I'm sitting down today with Trae, who's going to tell us a little bit about his move to Tulsa and the impact that he's had on the community, as well as ways that the community has given back to him. So Trae, thanks for being here with me today.
Trae Sjogren:
Thanks for having me.
Justin Harlan:
All right. Well, excited to be here with you, Trae, and learning a little bit about you.. Why don't you just start from what you were up to before Tulsa? What were you doing? Who were you? Tell me a little bit about your upbringing. I know you have an interesting path to, let's call it career life. So maybe walk me through that portion of your life, kind of your pre-Tulsa life. Who were you and what were you up to?
Trae Sjogren:
Wow, how far back do I go?
Trae Sjogren:
I was born in Idaho. And then I moved around a lot as a kid, ended up in Oregon eventually where most of my childhood was. I was very big into outdoors and just exploring and just doing new things which definitely bled into my professional career. By 18, I didn't have a chance to go to college and so, you know, with a couple hundred dollars I decided to move down to San Diego for some reason, one of the most expensive cities to live in, and tried to just do something. And literally had no idea what I was doing. And I just jumped out of my hometown and just lived there.
Justin Harlan:
Let's start with kind of some of your childhood. Like, what do you think was unique about your upbringing or even moving around and all of that that kind of pulled out that creative nature within you that I know exists? Are there aspects of looking back on your life that kind of cause you to say like, oh yeah, that's where I really felt like I was good at this specific thing that you've later kind of untapped?
Trae Sjogren:
Yeah. Two things come to mind though. The first thing is just spending a ton of time in nature and just constantly exploring new areas. So we'd always go camping and then I would spend nine hours in the woods climbing trees and building forts and throwing rocks at my cousins and stuff. So I think growing up I had a natural exposure to so many different environments where I was with different people, we'd come up with games, and just a lot of exploration. And I think that created some type of desire and seed in me to just keep pursuing that kind of like lifestyle and I just had a never-ending appetite of curiosity.
Justin Harlan:
Yeah so almost like not having a specific playbook in place which then caused you to kind of write your own.
Trae Sjogren:
Yeah I think that's the story of my life is I just had no playbook given to me and kind of explored a lot. Then I had two older brothers and so they were always doing things that I wanted to do. Classic story. And they got into video making early on when there was like VHS tapes on camcorders and I'd watch them do jackass stunts and music videos and skateboard videos. And so like early on, I was exposed to like what multimedia looked like before it was really much of a thing in everyone's hands, how it is like today.
Justin Harlan:
So, when did you find out about Tulsa Remote and what was life like at that time?
Trae Sjogren:
Oh, man. I was traveling professionally for like three years around the country. And I first heard about Tulsa Remote the first year it was advertised. I was kind of obsessed with this remote lifestyle. I was living it for a long time and I was like, well someone else has to be doing this somewhere. And I knew people did it, whatever, but it was like, oh they live in Bali. I stumbled upon it on LinkedIn just randomly. I can't remember if it was Tulsa Remote official or someone was writing about it. And I was like, oh wow, this is approachable this feels like my group of people. And I applied, I didn't get in the first year. I think that's too overwhelming of a response. And so I just kept traveling, kept doing remote work. I was an animator and I just was hopping around from city to city. At one point I bought a van. I started living in that and spent like four or five months, just cruising around the West.
Trae Sjogren:
Ended up in Boise, got like a W-2 job. And then Tulsa Remote came back up again and I said well why not I'll try it again and I got in this time and I was already in the mindset of like, I'm going to different cities. I want to just see what's new what's out there and so I just decided to go.
Justin Harlan:
So it sounds like you were truly living like the digital nomad life that many people– that's how a lot of people would describe that today. But yet there was something about Tulsa that was kind of pulling you in. Even just a minute ago, you described it as like, it felt like these were my people. What was it about Tulsa at that time that felt like your people?
Trae Sjogren:
I think two big things. I knew personally that I liked these middle city environments. There's some kind of mix there that's cool. It's like, okay, there's stuff, there's big stuff happening here with small town personality like welcomeness here. I grew up in a tiny town so that's kind of like a kind of a calling back to home for me is I need people who are welcoming, I don't know what the word is there, but but I need a city that has things going on. And then the other part was just finding people who knew what it was like to either move a lot or to change their life a lot. There's like a unique, I think– there was a disconnect I was having with a lot of my friends elsewhere because they weren't constantly changing their life whereas I always was. So I knew if I come here people are willing to take at least a risk to come here to a place they may not have ever decided to come to. So I knew I was like, okay these people have guts.
Justin Harlan:
You were attracted to the type of adventurer that you thought that people were that were willing to kind of pick up and just move to a new place.
Trae Sjogren:
Yeah. And I really liked a different type of adventure. So it wasn't like, oh, we're going to go live remotely somewhere. We're going to do like– you always have this extreme in mind where you're like, oh, these people are adventurous. I think you can be adventurous in a lot of different ways. And Tulsa Remote opens that door where you can be adventurous. And what's it like to be in a new community? What's it like to just go somewhere completely new that's not necessarily exotic?
Justin Harlan:
Yeah. So you moved here in 2020. What month was it?
Trae Sjogren:
August.
Justin Harlan:
Okay. So we're five months into the pandemic. What role did that play in your decision to come?
Trae Sjogren:
It was pretty big. I was in Boise and I was working remotely and the pandemic hit. And so I literally knew no one there. So I had like two friends and it took me nine months to get those friends. And I'm a really sociable guy. So you think that wouldn't be a challenge. And I knew coming here, at least that door would open up a bit. And I like to tell people being in Tulsa was probably the best city to be in during the pandemic. You could choose your own risk. There was a lot of safety procedures and there's a lot of coverage there, but like I could still meet new people without risking.
Justin Harlan:
So there was something about where you were that you were being drawn to community, the type of community that you thought you were walking into with similar minded people. It's kind of the assumption. And then also Tulsa as a city was attractive to you is what I'm gathering there.
Trae Sjogren:
It's kind of like when you go to a party and if you show up alone you're like, wow, I feel really uncomfortable. I don't even know anyone here. I'm gonna have to break the ice somehow. But if you show up with one friend, you could meet 10 people instantly. Tulsa remote was kind of that catalyst there where we all had something in common. It was almost felt like a little bit of a college experience, which I never had. I actually never went to college. So I think that was a little bit of missed nostalgia for me was having somewhat of a camaraderie that we're like, why are we tied together? We don't, we don't work together. We kind of have a stake, but we don't have a stake.The mix was pretty, pretty cool.
Justin Harlan:
That's a great analogy. I love that. So what was your mindset when you came? Like, was this a, I'm going to stick around for a year and then just kind of see where life brings me next? Cause it seemed like you were very much on the move pretty consistently throughout your upbringing and even up to the point where you were choosing to move to Tulsa. So I'm just curious, what was your mindset when you moved here and you knew that it was only a year commitment? How were you thinking about, I guess, the longer term and as it relates to community roots?
Trae Sjogren:
Yeah. I moved a lot as an adult out of survivability. So it wasn't that I was just forcefully being like, I need to mix it up. It was more like job hopping or finding my next place to live. Now I saw this as more of an opportunity to go somewhere with maybe a little more grounding. And I was going in pretty blind. You know, I had hopes. And what I was met with was it just exceeded my expectations on those levels where I saw I could buy a home. And I bought this house on a local income. I could know my neighbors immediately. I know every single one of my neighbors. I have their phone numbers and they say hi all the time. They come over, I go see them. And, you also had an influx of new and interesting people coming into the city.
Justin Harlan:
So how has the Tulsa remote program kind of brought some of those things out for you? Like, what has your experience been like with Tulsa remote? Obviously you've seen a lot of different phases of the organization's life. So I'm just curious, you obviously showed up with some expectations of what you'd get out of this. I also know the latter half of what we want to talk about is ways that you've given back. But I'm just curious, how did Tulsa Remote set you up to be successful in Tulsa?
Trae Sjogren:
It acted as a catalyst over and over and over and over. So you only get out as much as you put in into the community here. Well, I would say anywhere really, but Tulsa Remote is a very good catalyst for that. So if you put an ounce of effort in, you're gonna get 10 ounces back of return. That's partially due to how Tulsa remote is oriented, all the programming they do. And then also due to the people they bring in here, because these people are open to meeting new people, to doing new things, to going out, you know, they're curious. And so Tulsa remote really accelerated that. And I think people are like, what do you do there? And I'm like, well, I hang out with people every single day of the year and I do all these events and they're like, that's crazy. I was like, I'd never had a richer social life than I have in Tulsa and I've lived in big cities.
Justin Harlan:
That's awesome. So let's talk about some of the things that you've accomplished here. So let's start with SkillFund. So talk to me a little bit about where the idea for SkillFund came from. What was it? I know it's evolved over time, but maybe just take me back to the roots. Like where did that idea come from? Where did the passion to give back to the Tulsa community come from. Yeah, walk me through that.
Trae Sjogren:
SkillFund was a grant and mentorship program for young adults to help them learn a creative skill. So we removed barriers like buying a computer for them or buying a course or connecting them to a mentor or just giving them a sense of direction. There was a lot of different areas we could help do that, but our key goal was to just accelerate this path in an alternative way to college. Not as a fight against college, but as like a, hey, there's a lot of other pathways you can take, especially if you're underprivileged. A lot of that came from just who I was, my experience. I couldn't go to college. I was in that weird space where we didn't have enough money to afford it and we didn't have enough money to qualify for any aid. And so I'm like, this is a weird spot to be in. I'm not going to go and spend 40 grand on school when I don't know what I'm going to do.
Trae Sjogren:
I mean, I was dirt poor for like eight years of my life, and I just worked as hard as I possibly could and learned as many skills as I could and realized how empowering that was for me. I didn't care I didn't have money. I was doing what I wanted to do, and I took charge of it. And that was before YouTube was really even as rich as it is now or any other online resources. And so now you have this crazy amount of online resources. And so, I just wanted to help Trae out again. You know, people who are in my position. And Tulsa was such a giving community. You know, I've said this to you before and I say it to other people, like, it's such a giving community. And if you come here to take, you're not going to last long here. So, if you give back, it's really going to multiply here. And that's not just on the philanthropic institution side. It's on the day-to-day person and neighbor side. It's not just what people see in the news.
Justin Harlan:
What you just described is not normal. You know, like people don't just show up and they're like, okay, now my first orientation is how can I give this $10,000 back to this amazing community that you've only been in at this point for like a year or two whenever you started a SkillFund. So like go a little bit deeper there. What was it in you that caused you to want to say, hey, I've just been given $10,000. I'm in this new place. It's striking a chord with me, and now I'm ready to return the favor. What was it in your soul that was causing you to do that? We shouldn't understate the fact that that's a very rare quality in somebody. So I'm just curious, what sparked that for you?
Trae Sjogren:
I think I just felt the pain for a long time, what it was like to just, I don't know, like this, I feel like I'm at this weird point of seeing so much opportunity and having experienced the pain of that gap there and how close that gap can be. I think I just like, I'm kind of mad at it sometimes. And so I wanted to do something about it and I wanted to be serious about it. I wanted to be taken serious. I figured if I put this much effort into it, other people will consider the fact that they can do, they can accomplish things.
Trae Sjogren:
It's that give and get in return. Like, as much as you're gonna give, it'll come back tenfold. And that was kind of the mentality.
Justin Harlan:
So I know you've done a couple other things too. You're involved in the Tiny Porch concerts. You've converted your house into a co-working space. Maybe talk me through some other ways that you've been involved in the community and things you've gotten involved in here.
Trae Sjogren:
If you want to do something in Tulsa, you can do it. And it'll be received well, or, if you want to entertain an idea, it'll be received well. So, I just went ham and I just keep trying a bunch of different things and half the time I just want to do it just to do it. So the house we're in now, it's my house. I bought it. And I thought, well, it's my first house. Why don't I open it to all my friends or whoever wants to live here? And so one of my closest friends, Maria, she moved in pretty quickly. She's been here the whole time. At one point, we had a local entrepreneur that moved here for an investment program. She lived here while she was building her startup.
Trae Sjogren:
And I really only need like 300 square feet of space. I actually kind of prefer that. So I would rather have a full house and share it with people and live an interesting life and learn from them. So, that was the reasoning behind co-work house. Along that, it wasn't just people living here, people coming over here to work. It was kind of more of this emphasis on, okay, how do we get more of the personal side of coworking? Because you have the professional side, which is fantastic. We have a lot of resources here, but what is like the personal side where people aren't going to be pressured to show a face. You can show up in your pajamas if you want or whatever. And so we'll have like birthday parties here. We had a wedding reception here. We had a concert here. We had like a hundred people for a concert in the backyard.
Trae Sjogren:
And, you know, part of it was in just, it was like, let's just do it. It's cool. None of that was charged. To me, the value was, if I started charging for it, the value was weakened. So I was kind of trying to compete in a different area where it was more like a persona side.
Justin Harlan:
Aare there organizations you've gotten plugged into or other ways you've contributed to the community as a whole?
Trae Sjogren:
Yeah. So I actually, I've spoken at a lot of high schools here locally. And that's probably my favorite thing to do. So I've been invited, I think four or five times now. I've spoke to an entire school at one point. I hate public speaking. So that was kind of scary. And I've done some workshops with high school. So kind of in the vein of SkillFund, how do we keep this moment going with me even if the organization isn't there? This last weekend, I just had coffee with a director of tech school at Holland Hall. It was awesome. We had like an almost two-hour conversation about how do we encourage kids to like learn? How do we set up the environment for them to exceed our expectations? And how do we challenge them creatively, entrepreneurially. And so literally everything I do and go learn, I try to tell and talk to other people and say, how can we like get this in the hands of other people? If I can learn it now, then my theory is a high schooler who has the structure and the time, they can also learn it as well. So that's probably one of my favorite things that I do on a more consistent basis is go out to high schools and stuff. Yeah.
Justin Harlan:
Very cool. So you mentioned kind of Tulsa being a place that you've been able to try new ideas and throw a bunch at the wall and kind of see what sticks. What is it that you think is unique about Tulsa that sets it up to be that way?
Trae Sjogren:
You'll hear a lot that it's low cost of living. And I hate that that's the main feature. It's a factor. I'm not going to deny that. I'm a freelancer, so I can buy my own time in the future. I can work for a month and take a month off. So there's a reality to that there. But more so, like 80% of it is the type of people you're around want to do new things, want to try new things. I'm always challenged by my friends because they're either growing their business or they're launching something new or they're trying to learn a new skill. So the type of people I'm around really challenges that and I just want to win at that game. I want to do more. I want to learn more things. I want to live a richer life. So it's kind of this, I don't know if you want to call it competition, but you just have this environment of people are just doing things and they're receptive to hearing your idea and actually helping you out. The amount of times I ask someone to go meet for coffee or something, I don't think I’ve ever heard a no from anyone in the city.
Justin Harlan:
And what would you want Tulsans to know about you as a Tulsa Remote? Tulsa Remote's obviously in the news a lot there's 2500 people that have moved here every one of them is incredibly different but what do you hope tolson's like see in you that is representative of like who we are as an organization?
Trae Sjogren:
I hope that they realize that a lot of us want to be here. We want this to be our home. We're not just trying to come here and take. We want to be as part of this community as much as anyone else. We took a risk to move here. We had help, we had incentive, but we changed our lifestyles, we left part of our community. So, we moved here for an opportunity and I think a lot of us are looking for ways to get deeper connected and more invested here.
Justin Harlan:
I love it. And what's next for you? I know you said you bought a house. What's the next couple of years hold? Or are you taking it a day at a time? Like it seems like you have your entire life. What's next for Trae?
Trae Sjogren:
I like to take it, you know, a day at a time and 10 years at a time all at once. Right now, so in lieu of SkillFund and learning things, recently I learned how to build software so I have built a software around a particular pain point I've seen for entry-level skills which is like mobile content capturing. So that's my biggest focus right now professionally. Build something new that can scale, that can impact a lot of people. Everything I've done before has been like very piece by piece. It's been, you know, I'll be an animator, I'll make a video or I'll do a program and it'll be done. This one's something that can continue in scale at a larger size. So that's kind of the main focus.
Justin Harlan:
Well, Trae, thanks so much for sitting down with me. You know, you have just contributed to this community in amazing ways, but also come in with a mindset that you're ready to give and as opposed to take. And I look up to you a lot for that. And you're certainly the type of person that we're trying to attract to Tulsa through Tulsa Remote. So with that, we'll close out this conversation with Trae and we appreciate everybody tuning in.