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I'm a 28-year-old crypto-startup founder who got paid $10,000 to move to Arkansas. More than 66,000 people applied to relocate here, and only 100 got accepted — here's why it's worth it.

A headshot of Dimitri Love
Dmitri Love moved to Arkansas in 2021. Dimitri Love

  • Dmitri Love, 28, moved from Dallas to Cave Springs, Arkansas, in 2021.
  • Love took advantage of a program that paid remote workers $10,000 to move to the area.
  • Love said he hopes Arkansas can become a tech hub by luring remote workers.
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This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Dmitri Love, a 28-year-old software developer and entrepreneur who moved from Texas to Arkansas in 2021 through the Life Works Here program.

It offers $10,000 to remote workers who move to northwestern Arkansas, home to Walmart's headquarters, in Bentonville; the chicken processor Tyson Foods, in Springdale; and the trucking giant J.B. Hunt, in Lowell. From November 2020 to September 2022, more than 66,000 people from all 50 US states and 115 countries applied for the program. A total of 100 people have moved through the program.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Moving back home to Arkansas was not something I expected to do with my fiancée during a pandemic.

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I grew up in Arkansas and have spent almost my entire life here, except for the seven years that I lived in Texas. ("Wooo pig sooie!" to all my Razorbacks fans out there.) There's a lot of value in being able to move to somewhere new and being able to immediately plug yourself into an ecosystem like the one that's here.

Most of the time when I tell people that I live in Arkansas, they're like, "Where the heck is that?" But I think many businesses are missing an opportunity to attract talent that is often reserved for the coastal cities like Los Angeles and New York. I want to change that. It would be a win-win for literally everyone that lives here.

There's a lot of money in Arkansas, but not many tech companies

I'm living in Cave Springs now, and my mom and family are nearby so they can help with our baby.

There's also a lot of money here in Arkansas. We have the Waltons and Walmart, J.B. Hunt, Tyson Foods, and many other companies.

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A landmark in Blanchard Springs State Park in north Arkansas, USA. This spring flows underground through famous Blanchard Springs Caverns.
A waterfall at Blanchard Springs park in northern Arkansas. Getty Images

However, we don't have many tech companies. Sure, I could have moved to a bigger city with more economic opportunities. But I want to bring tech back to northwest Arkansas.

That goal really started when I enrolled at the University of Arkansas as a biochemistry major in 2012. I was a soccer player and suffered a significant knee injury that left me on crutches for about two years. During that time, I spent most of my days playing video games.

One day, one of my friends who was a computer-science major came up to me and said, "Dude, do you want to learn how to make these games instead of playing them all day?" And I was like, "Sure, why not?" I didn't really have much else to do at the time. I'm also a naturally inquisitive person, and I love building new things.

So he started teaching me how to build websites and applications. I had a pretty powerful computer back then, and that's really how I fell in love with technology.

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I wanted to make a difference in my home state

After getting that initial education in coding, I moved to the Dallas area in 2017 and spent about a decade in software development, UI and UX design, product strategy, and product development at places like Daystar Television and Lockheed Martin.

While I was in Texas, I also founded my own company, Bundil, which helps people invest spare change from everyday transactions into cryptocurrencies. For example, if you buy a coffee for $3.45, you can round up the transaction to $4 and invest the $0.55. The company appeared on "Shark Tank" in 2018 and has grown from about 1,000 daily users to over 20,000 since we appeared on the show.

Texas is very business-to-business-focused when it comes to startups, but I decided to move Bundil back to Arkansas because the company was not getting the financial support that we needed.

It also wasn't the best situation for me personally. My fiancée and I rented a 3,000-square-foot home in Dallas at the time. We always had a dream of building our own home, which we are now able to do now in Arkansas with the money we're saving on rent.

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Dimitri Love and his fiancee
Love and his fiancée. Dimitri Love

In Texas we were paying $4,000 per month for a home on a 0.2-acre lot. Now we're paying $2,000 per month and live on more than 2 acres, which is a lot more manageable with my $250,000-per-year salary.

We're also a lot more centrally located to bars, restaurants, and events than we were in Texas.

One of my friends told me about this program, Life Works Here, that would give me $10,000 and a free mountain bike to move — and I had to apply. I was one of the first 30,000 applicants and was very surprised when I learned I had been selected.

I was also surprised to learn that so many people were interested in moving to Arkansas. It tells me that there are a lot of other people like me that are looking for ways they can come in and make a difference.

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Rural America has more surprises than meets the eye

Coming back home to Arkansas has also done a lot for my business. I was lucky enough to not need to spend the $10,000 on moving expenses. So I ended up spending it on marketing for Bundil.

The Northwest Arkansas Council, which runs the Life Works Here program, also invited me to some of their mixers and networking events for new residents. It was there that I learned of their plans to offer people crypto as an incentive to move to Arkansas. I told them about Bundil, and we started building a partnership from there. Since January 2022, Bundil has processed the council's $10,000 relocation grant awards that are offered in bitcoin.

Bentonville, Arkansas
Walmart defined Bentonville, Arkansas, for decades. Now the small town is ready to rebrand itself as a tourist destination for the young and outdoorsy. Visit Bentonville

Most people think that Arkansas is just a collection of small towns, sticks, and trees. But there are a lot of things here that people don't know about.

For example, we have one of the world's largest dirt-bike tracks. We also have world-class museums and some of the country's best dining. To this day, people still come up to me and say, "Hey, did you know Arkansas had this?" I just laugh and say, "Yep!"

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Entrepreneurs should find new places to live and provide value

Personally, there were no drawbacks for me moving back to Arkansas. But I'd like to see this program expanded significantly. If I had a chance to talk to policymakers, I'd tell them to make the program permanent.

Right now we're processing about three $10,000 awards per month, which is pretty good. If we had 20, 40, or 50 awards per month, however, that would be really good for the ecosystem here in northwest Arkansas.

This program is incredibly competitive, so I think it would be really good to give people more access to something like this.

If you have the ability to move across the country, I say don't pick the regular spots like New York City or LA. Explore some other areas — because there are a lot of cool places that can provide value.

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