Lunch in La Junta means entrepreneur Rod Stambaugh is meeting a potential employee at the Rattlesnake Bar & Grill at the local golf course for an interview over a burger.
The small-business owner doesn't have much time to play golf these days because he needs to hire more workers. The owner of Sprout Tiny Homes started his business in a vacant, city-owned warehouse in La Junta in February 2014. Stambaugh leases the 14,000-square-foot manufacturing space, a former fabric company, at about one-tenth the rate he priced in Boulder County.
"I moved (to La Junta) because, being a startup, you need to spend your capital on things that matter rather than on expensive buildings and...