Rich Lindblad

Rich Lindblad taught entrepreneur workshops on the East Coast at the undergraduate and graduate level for 15 years. His interest in small businesses led him to launch, run and sell several small businesses himself, including a Christmas tree farm in New Jersey, where picking out hand-trimmed trees was a festive experience, not just an errand.

Rich currently teaches the Next Level Leading Edge program in Pagosa Springs and, as a business advisor, spends a fair amount of time with “business owners and people who think they want to go into business but are not sure,” he says. “It’s a coaching exercise, and if you can do it right, you can help lots of people.”

He describes his advising areas as having “no limit.” “You never know what you’re getting into when you provide advice to people – restaurants, cafes, retail stores, private businesses. To be able to turn them around and have them see what they don’t see – that is my job,” Lindblad states. He also offers what he terms as “an environmental scan” of a business. “If you trust me long enough to let me come and hang out with you, I’ll notice things about your retail establishment that customers see that you don’t see because you are too close to it. That is the fun part.” Rich also enjoys working on financials and sharing the concept of utilization.

A self-proclaimed “wannabe chef” who has taken close to 40 cooking classes, Lindblad gives cooking classes in the winter for seniors at the Pagosa Community Center. His favorite cuisine to cook? “Southwestern – not too hot but with a lot of unusual flavors.”