Ty Pennington and Amanda Brinkman talk Small Business Revolution Season 4

In an exclusive interview, Amanda Brinkman and Ty Pennington talk about town finalists for Small Business Revolution Season Four and their favorite moments working on the show.

After spending Season Three in the riverside town of Alton Illinois, Small Business Revolution creator and host Amanda Brinkman is revving up for the show’s Season Four with her partner in business crime, Ty Pennington. The town finalists were announced earlier this week and now its the public’s turn to pick a winner.

Brinkman has been the driving force behind Small Business Revolution for the last four years, after spearheading the project in 2015 as part of Deluxe Corporation’s 100th Anniversary celebration. Giving small businesses across North America a $500,000 chance to launch beyond their goals, Brinkman and Pennington hope to not only help businesses in trouble, but spotlight the unique charm and individuality of small towns and their citizens.

With a population of nearly 30,000 people, Alton was the largest town to date that the Small Business Revolution team tackled, revitalizing the town’s beauty shops, music studios, Irish pubs and bait and tackle stores. Brinkman and her team have also helped reboot small businesses in both Wabash, Indiana and Borough, Pennsylvania. But the real question is who’s next?

Hidden Remote interviewed Brinkman and Pennington to talk about what towns are in line for an entrepreneurial makeover and their favorite moments working on the show. Voting is open until next week Tuesday and Ty and Amanda are encouraging anyone and everyone to go to smallbusinessrevolution.org and vote for one of these six communities they want to see get a entrepreneurial makeover in season four.

Hidden Remote: I’m excited to talk to you guys about the new season, having spoken with you last year about season three. Ty, I know fans are super excited that you’re joining Amanda for another season on the show. What are you both looking forward to most with this new season?

Ty Pennington: I have to say, this is one of those shows that you just love being a part of. Look, I love being a part of any show that’s about community really helping itself out but with [Extreme Home Makeover] we’re focusing on one family and the community coming together. But with this, you’re really focusing on more than one family, on several families, that run businesses and this is there livelihood. You really get to see so many things. They go through hope, and then they go through a moment of belief in themselves and then a real belief not only in themselves, but also in the community they live in.

So it’s everything I love, it’s the energy of a small town showing off its pride, but it’s also watching being able to light it up with energy and, in the grand finale, you’ve helped not just one, but so many different families of people that live in this town. There’s nothing not to like. It’s everything I love…It’s like a small town winning a lottery. But, more than that, it’s about a small town believing in itself, and you get a team of superheroes coming in to help you make your town even better.

Amanda Brinkman: We should have Small Business Revolution Capes and little masks.

Pennington: God, that’s a great idea!

Brinkman: Next year.

Hidden Remote: Is there anything unique about this upcoming season that we haven’t seen before in the past?

Brinkman: You know, we really rely on the town that ends up winning to help guide that narrative. So, we’re looking forward to seeing who will emerge as the winner of season four. Right now it’s up to the public to determine where we are headed for season four and who will receive the half a million dollar investment from Deluxe.

Each season we’re revitalizing a different small town’s main street and we’re working with its small businesses to do that, but there’s always this underlying beautiful narrative about what that particular town faces in terms of challenges, and what they have in terms of opportunities. So we’re looking forward to finding out where we’re going to be spending the next year of our lives.

Pennington: And that’s what’s really cool because [February 13] was the day the towns were announced but we don’t really know yet where we’re going to be going because it’s all up to the people and that state really coming together and voting for that town. What’s really interesting is they’re from so many different places all over the U.S., so you really do have quite a variety of choices. And they’re all unique. That’s what’s so great about the show is each town has a different personality, a different set of businesses and we really don’t know where we’re going yet.

Hidden Remote: Do you guys have a list narrowed down at all?

Brinkman: Yes. So the finalist towns were just announced…and we already had 30,000 votes just withing the first few hours. The six [communities] are Camas, Washington; Canyon City, Colorado; Corsicana, Texas; Durant, Oklahoma; Searcy, Arkensas and Washington, North Carolina. Voting is open for one week and the public decides where we’re heading for the next season.

Pennington: And you can vote everyday, once a day, all the way up until February 19. And you can also check out old season, like season three, which I’m on, which is amazing.

Brinkman: Yeah, he was very good.

Hidden Remote: Do you guys have any favorite success stories from season three?

Amanda Brinkman: Yeah, season three was incredible…We worked with a number of small businesses and we really loved helping all of them but the Irish pub, which is run by three incredible women, went from being a in-the-hole, not making any profit, and having put all their retirement into that space and into that business, to now being in the black and making money.

We are very excited to see what a difference this program and this process can make. In each episode we help the small businesses, Deluxe helps with the marketing, we help with them with the finances and their operations so they can get back to doing what they love about their business.

Hidden Remote: Because we’re talking about voting and picking the final town, can you describe what that feeling is like when you get to go to the town and tell them that they’ve been selected and what you look forward to most with that?

Brinkman: It’s incredible. Every year, when we announce the finalists, we put a video out and and all of the towns watch at the same time to find out who the winner is. The last few years, I’ve popped in to surprise the winning town on site, while they’re watching the video, which is very fun. When I pop through the door, they know what that means.

The things we hear in that scream are so incredible. We hear that this town recognizing that nothing is going to be the same again after that moment and that they have just won an opportunity to share their story with the world and we’re honored to be able to do it…We’re just trying to create a movement and inspire more people to recognize the importance of supporting small businesses.

Pennington: And how fun and cool those small towns are.

Hidden Remote: Absolutely. Well, thank you both for taking the time to chat with me and I look forward to season four!

Which town has your vote for Small Business Revolution Season Four? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, but don’t forget to contribute by visiting smallbusinessrevolution.org and casting your vote.