Young, Local, and Building Something Real: Meet McCallsburg's New Wave of Entrepreneurs

The story we usually hear goes something like this: talented young person grows up in a small town, gets restless, moves to a city, builds something great. It's practically a genre at this point. But spend a little time with some of McCallsburg's under-35 crowd and you'll find a different narrative taking shape — one where the small town isn't the place you leave, it's the place you bet on.

From custom woodworking shops to online boutiques to food businesses with serious Instagram followings, a new generation of McCallsburg entrepreneurs is rewriting what it means to run a business in rural Iowa. They're scrappy, they're creative, and they've figured out that a zip code in the middle of the state doesn't have to limit what you can build.

Sawdust and Social Media: Jake Reinhart's Furniture Business

Jake Reinhart is 27 years old and he smells like cedar. That's not a complaint — it's an occupational reality for someone who spends most of his days in a workshop behind his family's property, turning raw lumber into custom furniture pieces that ship to customers across the Midwest.

Jake started making furniture in high school, mostly as a hobby. After a couple of years working construction after graduation, he decided to take the hobby seriously. "I had a truck payment and not much else to lose," he says with a shrug. "So I built a few pieces, posted them on Instagram and Facebook Marketplace, and within two weeks I had more orders than I could handle."

His business, which he runs under the name Reinhart Woodcraft, now has a waitlist that stretches three months out. He makes dining tables, bed frames, shelving units, and the occasional custom piece — like the bar top he recently built for a restaurant in Ames. He's never paid for advertising. Every order has come through word of mouth or social media.

"People see the work and they reach out. That's it. I don't have a website that's anything fancy. I just post what I'm making and let it speak for itself."

He has no plans to move his operation. The low overhead of working in rural Iowa, he says, is a genuine competitive advantage. "My shop costs me almost nothing compared to what it would cost if I was renting space in Des Moines. That savings goes into better materials and into my prices staying reasonable. Being here is part of the business model."

From Etsy to a Local Following: Marisol Vega's Handmade Goods Shop

Marisol Vega, 24, started selling hand-poured candles and small-batch skincare products on Etsy during the pandemic, mostly out of boredom. Three years later, she's got a loyal customer base that spans several states and a growing presence at regional craft fairs and farmers markets.

"I didn't think of it as a business at first," she admits. "I was just making things I liked and figured I'd see if anyone else liked them too."

They did. Her candles — scented with combinations like cedar and black pepper, or lavender and clove — developed a following that surprised even her. She's since expanded into lip balms, body scrubs, and a line of seasonal products she drops a few times a year. Each launch sells out within days.

Marisol is candid about the role social media has played. "TikTok changed everything for me. I did one video showing the candle-making process and it got like 80,000 views. My Etsy orders doubled overnight. It was kind of terrifying."

She still makes everything herself, out of a spare bedroom she's converted into a production space. She's thought about scaling up, but she's cautious. "I want to grow, but I don't want to lose the quality. Right now I can control everything. The second I start outsourcing, I have to trust other people with something that has my name on it."

For Marisol, staying in McCallsburg is partly practical and partly personal. "My family is here. My community is here. I don't need to be in a city to run this business. The internet is everywhere."

Taking Over the Family Business — and Shaking It Up

Not every young entrepreneur in McCallsburg is starting from scratch. Some are inheriting something and figuring out how to make it their own.

Brady Scholl, 31, recently took over the day-to-day operations of his family's small engine repair shop, which his father has run for over two decades. The shop has always had steady work — lawn mowers, ATVs, farm equipment — but Brady saw room to grow.

"My dad's business was built entirely on repeat customers and referrals. Which is great, but it's also kind of fragile," Brady explains. "I wanted to make it more visible."

He built a proper website, set up a Google Business profile, and started posting repair tips and before-and-after videos on Facebook and YouTube. Within six months, they were getting calls from customers an hour away who had found them online.

"We went from being a local secret to actually showing up when people searched for small engine repair in the area. That's not complicated stuff, but it made a real difference."

Brady has also expanded the shop's services to include outdoor power equipment sales — something his father had considered but never pursued. It's still early, but the initial response has been strong.

"My dad built something solid. I just want to make sure it's still here in another twenty years."

What This Generation Is Getting Right

Spend enough time with McCallsburg's young entrepreneurs and a few themes start to emerge. They're comfortable with technology in a way that removes a lot of traditional barriers. They're realistic about what small-town life offers — and what it doesn't — but they've found ways to make the tradeoffs work in their favor. And they genuinely seem to like it here.

"People ask me if I'm going to move eventually," Jake Reinhart says. "And I get why they ask. But honestly? I've got a thriving business, my costs are low, I know my neighbors, and I'm not sitting in traffic for an hour every day. What exactly am I supposed to be missing?"

It's a fair question. And if the momentum in McCallsburg keeps building, it might be one that more young people start asking — before they ever think about leaving.