Leading With Service | Katie Throckmorton of Distinct Builders

Meet Katie Throckmorton, owner of Distinct Builders in Charleston, South Carolina. Katie is a passionate leader with a heart for serving others and helping contractors embrace technology to grow their businesses. In this episode, she shares her journey from starting out in the industry to building a thriving business focused on support, education, and intentional service.

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How a service-first mindset can transform customer relationships
• Ways to help team members adopt new technology with less resistance
• Simple tips for entrepreneurs just getting started
• Why leading with value is the key to long-term success

 

Own a construction company and want to share your story? Apply to be on an upcoming episode of Builder Stories at https://www.builderstories.com

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to the podcast where we take a deep diveinto the stories behind construction business
leaders. We will share how they got started, howthey found success, and the lessons
learned along the way. I'm your host, EricFortenberry.
Welcome to Builder Stories.
How's it going everybody? Welcome back.

(00:20):
I am very excited to have
Katie Throckmorton, who is the owner of DistinctBuilders.
They are located in Charleston, South Carolina.
You got a great episode ahead of you, so thanksfor tuning in. Katie, welcome to Builder Stories.
I'm excited to have you here.
Oh, well, thank you. I'm excited to be here.Thanks so much.
Yeah, so why don't we just open up, kind of giveus a little bit of your background.

(00:41):
Ho- how did you, you know, get, even get intoconstruction, start this, uh, Distinct Builders, what do you
guys do? Kind of give us all that.
Okay. So I've been in real estate since 2002.
Um, I've done a lot of jobs before that. I'veowned a lot of companies before that.
But, um, in real estate, I was, I had theopportunity to work with builders, and I've
seen a lot of new construction, and I honestlyjust thought it didn't look great.

(01:05):
I just thought people cut a lot of corners, es-
I'm just gonna watch what I say.
(laughs)
People who try to do a lot of volume sometimes
scrimp, and I thought, "You know, I think I can dothis better. I think I can offer a better product.
I think I can, I think I can
follow the golden rule." So my husband's been inbuilding for about,

(01:26):
oh, maybe 45 years. He's excellent. He's a trimcarpenter, which in the
scope of things is a very highly trained carpenterwho does, uh,
th- the trim and the
intricate work.
And I thought, "Well, between the two of us, Ithink that this will be great." I'm a good boss and he's a good
worker. (laughs) And I told him, "Okay, here we,here is my paradigm.

(01:49):
We're gonna do the right thing all the time. We'renever gonna cut corners.
We'll back up everything we do, full disclosure,and, um,
no drugs, no alcohol, you show up on time, youdress appropriately, you don't listen to
offensive music, you don't speak offensively,
and that's it. That's what we do." And he said,"We won't have anybody working for us.

(02:10):
You should cut out everybody." (laughs) And, and Isaid, "That's fine. Put on your toolbelt.
We're a one-man shop. That's great."
We do have great people. It's taken us
six years. I did fire three people on the firstday,
but that wasn't their paradigm, and that's fine.I, I understand.
My way of doing things is to offer excellence.Some people want production.

(02:34):
I want excellence.
So, um,
I, I like to think of myself as going through themost expensive university in the world.
It's cost me
hundreds of thousands of dollars to learn whatI've learned,
and right now I have subcontractors that are
just top notch. Um, they are

(02:55):
e- excellent. The, um, my husband is a projectmanager.
I
have a supervisor who's gonna be moving up.
I even told my supervisor at one point, "I amgonna retire someday." I say that again.
I'm 65, so I'm not sure if I'm gonna retire, butin my mind,
one day, I'll probably just travel.
And, uh, I said, "I'll help you get your license."And he's like, "Why would you do that?"

(03:17):
"Because I want to pay it forward. I want you tobe able to help
somebody else later."
And so, "Let's get you qualified. Let's get you ina position where you can have your own
business
down the road."
So that, that's kind of what's happened.
I really,
I really just didn't like what I saw.

(03:38):
Yeah.
So...
No, I, I love that. I mean, you saw an opportunityand, you know, you, you seized the moment and, uh, you know,
started your own business, and, you know, I thinkthat's, uh, that's what, what every entrepreneur,
uh, you know, uh, strives to, to be able to do is,you know, when, when the time comes, you gotta be able to jump
on it and, you know, it's, it's a risk though,right?
I mean, you, you took a risk and, you know,didn't, didn't know what the future would hold, and, you know, I'm

(04:00):
sure you've, you've had lots of, uh, you know,challenges along the way, but, you know, at the end of the day,
you know, you, you, you did it, and you got itgoing.
And it's kind of interesting. So I do get a- askedto speak a good bit right now, and I always wonder if it's
because I'm old or because I'm a woman and I'm inconstruction.
(laughs) I'm not qu- I'm not quite as sure which.
Either way, I think, "I'm not limited by being awoman.
That doesn't limit me."

(04:22):
I have skilled people that work for me.
I don't have to know how to build a house myself,and if I do, then I probably don't need the other people.
What I need is highly skilled people.
Um, and I
am supported by them. I sell them for what theyare, and I,
I
encourage them and I provide for them, and, um, Itreat them the way I wanna be treated.

(04:42):
I treat our cli- clients like I wanna be treated.
I've had people, um, do work on my house before Idid this, before I met my husband, and
they did poor jobs or they stole from me. No. Thatisn't gonna fly.
That isn't gonna fly.
No.
Um, so
I feel really great about where we are and thedirection we're going.
And this isn't really an ad for you, but I havedone, uh, three other,

(05:08):
uh, project management softwares and
JobTried has really opened so many doors for me.
It's opened my communication with mysubcontractors,
um, with my, um, I, or I call my guys mysubcontractors, but other companies that I
work, uh, that I have work under us.
Um, I just think it's fantastic. I just, I didn'tdream of the things that I've been

(05:31):
able to
look at and
try to incorporate
before. No one else ha- has done that, and I'mjust really thankful that you look at life like that, so
thank you for that.
Yeah, absolutely. I love, love hearing that it'smaking an impact.
Um, you know, b-
Good for me.
(laughs) Before we were, uh, you know, kind oftalking, you know, i- it sounds like you've,

(05:53):
you've seen a lot of different types of projects.
So, you know, y- you've done, you know,residential, home builds, commercial.
You know, kind of tell us a little bit about, youknow, kind of all the different types of work you've done and
sort of where, you know, where do you gravitatetoday? Like, what's, what's the ideal project for you?
So here's the interesting thing. When I decided toget my license, like I said, my husband's been in

(06:13):
construction a long time.And I thought, "You knowwhat? What's the hardest test?
What's the one I can do the most with? I don'tknow that I'm gonna use it all, but I wanna have the ability to do
whatever I wanna do."
So I took the NASCLA General CommercialContractors license, and it's that,
that license qualifies me to work in either 18 or19 states.

(06:33):
I have to take the state exam, but it's really a,a,
it's really a freaking hard test. (laughs) It's,and I'm a good test taker, but it was,
it was really tough. Um, and I thought, "Now whatI wanna do?
Do I wanna do residential? Do I wanna stay incommercial?" And then
I started this business, I think, in 2019, soCOVID hit the very next year and I thought, "Oh no,

(06:56):
we need to do renovations.
Everyone wants renovations. People are stayinghome, they need comfortable places to work,
and I can provide that." So we did that.
We did, um, additions, renovations, also withcommercial buildings
that weren't being used very much, but it was atime when the office was empty, we were able to do that.
Um, and I liked that.

(07:17):
So
in that time I thought, "Oh, I'll go ahead and
get my ED, economically disadvantaged woman-ownedsmall business," um, with the federal
government. I took an SBA, uh, Thrive course,which is also amazing.
Um, it's like an MBA in six months or less.
I'm, I'm a nerd. And (laughs)

(07:39):
so I thought I'd do federal work,
because they need a certain number of women-ownedsmall businesses. Well, not really.
They need to get quotes from a certain number(laughs) of women-owned small businesses, but they don't
really have to hire those businesses and they wantyou to carry the materials, and I'm a small company.
All right, so that d- it wasn't so great, and Ithought, "Well, maybe I'll work for these, maybe I'll be a
subcontractor for these larger companies, becausethey have their

(08:01):
quotas also."
But they didn't want to pay me like I wanted to bepaid.
I'm, "What, what's your payment schedule?" "Well,I pay you when I get paid."
You're a multi-billion dollar company. I don'tthink that's gonna be okay for me.
So I
decided I wasn't gonna go that way. I've done...
I, I like to participate in our community, so I'vedone things for the city of Charleston.

(08:23):
Um, they have a program for people who areeconomically disadvantage, um, where they have a loan program
and
they go fix their houses to make them livable.
Um, so we've done some of those.
I've, I'm on the
board of, um, the Women's Business Center, whichactually helps women start small businesses, buy their
first house.
So I'm involved in the community as well.

(08:44):
But I, but as far as work goes, I really came downto the
final decision, even kind of lately, that
things are changing. That's not the direction Iwanna go.
Right now, I want to do
excellent work in a small
focused field. So we're doing,
which we've also done, medical offices, veterinaryoffices, dental offices,

(09:09):
and, um, luxury home renovations. All renovations,
all outfits, medical offices, change, changetheir, um,
their concepts about every five years.
Okay,
great.
(laughs)
We'll be known as the people who do that reallywell.
And, um, yeah, and I let some people go that justis, I did get rid of all the drugs, all

(09:31):
the alcohol, but then I ended up with some peoplewho were just excellent people, but not good at their jobs.
Cool.
And because I back everything up,
we had to go back and fix it, which means I paidfor it twice.
And I thought, "I'm, no,
no," they, they do show up,
they do their best, their best just isn't gonnawork for my company.
Yeah.

(09:51):
So I, I said, "This isn't the company for you."(laughs)
(laughs)
Because lots of other people-
Yeah.
... are gonna want you. You have knowledge."
You know, I think that's one of the hardest thingsas, as a business owner is to, to make those tough
calls when, you know, it's, it's, it's easy to,you know, if someone is, is not doing good work or just
doesn't treat people right, doesn't live up toyour core values, it's, it's easier to, you know, to, to

(10:13):
separate those people. But man, when you gotsomebody who just is, you know, great, you know-
Mm-hmm.
... great person, great, you know, values, youknow, they, they, they, they check all the boxes from a
cultural fit, from a, you know, just a good humanbeing, but man, the work just isn't
there. It's just not their cup of tea.
You know, those are the hardest ones to, to haveto let go.
It took me years. (laughs) It took me years,really.

(10:35):
I had somebody with him fixing things all alongbecause he just-
(laughs)
... tried his best and he just had the rightparadigm.
Yeah.
He just is a good person.
And, uh,
that's, uh, honestly my biggest heartbreak
is that, uh, and I've had to let other people gotoo, but like you said, there, it's one thing if
people are, are doing the wrong thing or stealingor something like that. That's one thing.

(11:00):
When they're just good people and they show upevery day-
Yeah.
... but this is, construction is an art.
(laughs)
Um, this is not the field for them. They need to
be somewhere else where their wonderful attributes
will work for them.
Sure. You know, I see, I see that too when peoplehire family members who, you know, they're, they're just
trying to help 'em out, but, you know, again,they, they don't necessarily have the right skillset.

(11:23):
You know, it's like e-
y- you're, you're, you're trying to do good,you're trying to help, but, you know, at the end of the day, it,
it does, it causes more challenges for you downthe road, you know, and then having to clean up and fix
the mess and, and, and do right by the customercan,
you know, leads to double work. And, and it's morecostly to have those people who just aren't the right
people for the business. I, I think it's soimportant and sounds like you really put a big focus and emphasis

(11:45):
on
making sure that you're building the right teamwith the right people, and ultimately, that's what will
help you deliver excellence. And, you know, I, I,I love your focus on, on, on excellence.
I mean, I just, I think it's so important and, andI do, I, I see a lot of contractors these days who, they, they
are, they're willing to cut corners and they'rewilling to, to, to low ball, you know, a price just
to, to win it, because they think that's, that'sgonna help them kinda keep going and progressing forward.

(12:08):
But it's like, you know, then, then you get intoit and you do shoddy work, and now, you know, your reputation
takes a hit and you didn't, you know, you got abad review, and it's like, it, this whole thing, it compounds
on itself. And it's like, if you just, you know,maintain your, your, your values from the very get-go
and don't ever, you know, sacrifice that and justalways, you know, live up to your expectation, I mean,
th- that, that's how you build a great businessthat brings repeat customers and that, you know, helps you

(12:32):
just to continue to thrive. Even in the toughestmarkets, you know, you gotta protect that reputation.
Yeah.So we did a, we did a really nice house on anisland.
Um, I live in Charleston, South Carolina, and it'sIsle of Palms.
I don't know if you know where that is or haveheard of it, but it's a
place where a lot of people vacation, but there'salso residences there.
So there's an older couple, and they wanted us toenclose, um, a porch into a livable

(12:55):
space, which is great, but they had a second storyporch that they, we needed to, um, we need to
water seal.
Um,
someone
missed a spot. (laughs) Someone missed the entiredeck.
Mm-hmm.
And they didn't put the fabric down before theyput the, um, HydroStop up there.
That was three years ago. We have a one-yearwarranty. They called. Of course I'm paying for that.

(13:16):
Of course I'm fixing it. It doesn't really matterwhen it was. We missed it.
Even if they didn't know we miss it,
I would go there and say, "Yeah, let us take careof that.
Doesn't cost you anything. This is just the rightthing to do." And my husband, as I said, has been
in construction for a long time, so he's saying,"What are you saying?" And I'm saying, "It's the

(13:36):
right thing." Always, always, always, always dothe right thing.
It will always come back to you. And I sleep wellat night.
I never stress about anything at night. Regardingthat, now do I sleep at night?
Hmm.
Well-
(laughs)
... I'm a business owner. (laughs)
Yeah.
There's a, there's a whole lot more to businessthan
showing up and telling somebody, "We're gonna do agreat job."

(13:57):
Yeah.
There's a whole lot more. And again, that's, Ithink I, I emailed you last
night and I said, "I, I'm so excited about theopportunities and the integrations that you have
available to us, and I loved seeing you, um, whenI was in Dallas in January.
Um,
I'm super excited about
two in particular. One is the, um, HighLevel, GoHighLevel, and the other one

(14:21):
is the Render.
The Go HighLevel, I thought, you know, I asked my
web designer, I said, "Can you,
can you create these funnels so that I get moreinformation? I have a specific...
I'm going for a market, a specific market, and canyou help
me help people who visit my website define whatthey want?" Because maybe I have

(14:42):
to refer to somebody else. And I do refer businessto other people.
Um, a- again, that's the right thing to do.
So,
um, she said, "No, I can't do that." And I'm-
Sure.
... sitting, actually. I texted her while I was inthe class with you and the owner
of, um, HighLevel, and I'm like, "Can you dothis?" And she said no, and I said, "Okay."
(laughs) I got on ChatGPT, explained to me how Icould do it, and I said,

(15:06):
"I guess I don't need you."
(laughs)
(laughs)
I have somebody who, who is willing to do the workto find the things that will help me,
uh, have a better company, and to offer myservices in a better way.
Yeah, yeah.
So
I bought that. I'm not expert at it yet. Um, Ididn't grow up with a computer.
I did go to college where Mark Cuban went tocollege, and there was one big computer in the

(15:29):
School of Business at Indiana University when wewere there.
So (laughs) I'm... But I love that, I love the
opportunity, and I, I should a- ask myseven-year-old grandson to help me
figure out HighLevel. (laughs)
(laughs) Yeah, I mean, you know, again, wh- wherethere's a will, there's a way.
Right.
And I, I think wh- you know, when, when, you know,when entrepreneurs, business owners such as yourself are

(15:53):
willing to, you know, not accept status quo andsay, "You know, look, I, I know I need to do
something different." You know, "Look," you know,go, you know, go, go understand the challenge that
you're having so that you can find the rightsolution.
And then, you know, once you do, like, you know,again, "H- how am I gonna get it implemented?
How am I gonna make it happen?" I mean, you know,using ChatGPT, going to trainings, listening, you know,
and finding experts that can help you.

(16:14):
I mean, that, that, that is how you continuallyovercome any challenge that comes your way.
And, and, you, you know, you're clearly doing itright. That's, that's the way to do it.
So Dan Zidell, um, was my success, uh, manager,and he's moved on to another
position, but he has been also fantastic. Um,he...
Yeah.
And Stephanie is now as well. I just haven't had achance to talk to her as much, but

(16:36):
you, you've set your business up so that I can domy business better.
I think that's, I think that's the huge differencebetween what I tried before, the other three project
management
programs before, and what I'm feeling and, andseeing now.
It takes a little while to train these,
uh, older tradespeople
to

(16:57):
document anything, upload pictures. They havepictures. I see their phones.
Yep.
They just can't figure out how to upload them. I'mlike, "Oh my gosh, it's so easy.
It's right here." (laughs) You can do it in the,in the project management tri-
software. It's on your phone.
That's okay. You know what? As long as I'mbuilding the right team, I have the right people with me,

(17:18):
um,
then
all the other things are details.
Yeah.
And all those details can be taken care of.
I, I know I asked somebody about a virtualassistant.
I said, "I'd like to hire a virtual assistant thatunderstands JobTread."
I'm a huge advocate.
I need somebody for this. So I put it in the chatand I don't, I didn't get anything back, but I'm gonna

(17:39):
continue with that because
your program offers a lot more. So I need somebodywho can actually help me-
Mm-hmm.
... implement the things that I need to implementwithout me having to do it during the day 'cause,
you know, we don't sleep.
Sure.
Business owners don't really sleep.
Well, you know, I'm, I'm curious. You touched onsomething really interesting there.
You know, l- I, I hear all the time, you know,when you have older, you know, workers, they can, they can

(18:00):
sometimes be more prone to, to sort of resistingthe
technology and, and, you know, again, they're,they, they can be, you know, set in their ways and they don't
always wanna learn, you know, new things.
So h- how do you approach that with, with thoseworkers who, who you may be getting more
pushback and, and, you know, it's a little bitharder to get them to adopt? I mean, do you...
Is there, is there something that you do to, youknow, to, to try to help them understand or learn?

(18:24):
Like, do you sit down with them more? Like, what,you know, what, what does that look like?
Um,
so my husband is 61 and he's been doingconstruction since he was a teenager.
He's a perfect case example. Actually, several ofthem h- are, but i- in
particular, he's not comfortable with technology.
He has a really, uh, 16... iPhone 16 Pro Max thathe doesn't know how to

(18:45):
use.... that's fine. Just take the pictures.
I, um, I will have somebody help you.
You know, I will have a VA that will work justwith you, so that they have access to your photos,
and they can upload, and all you have to say is afew words.
He-
in the notes section of the phone, you canactually speak to text.

(19:06):
So, he can do that and he can upload it intoJobTread. So, it really...
So, it's the simple things. Yes, does it takeyears for him?
Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. I just told you, I'm anerd, so learning is my thing.
I have a passion for it. Learning is the lastthing he wants to do, ever.
(laughs) "I know how to do construction, this iswhat I do," and

(19:27):
he's exactly like every other older tradesperson Iwork with,
every other tradesperson that I know.
And they are excellent. I just look at thepositives and I
figure out how to help them with the rest. Arethey ever gonna get it? I doubt it.
(laughs)
I don't even have that expectation.
Yeah.
My expectation is that
we're a team, and where they have deficits, wefind people or

(19:51):
I h- I help them and we fill in the blanks.
Well, it sounds like you also, you, you know, you,you, you narrowed down the
scope of what you want them to know, and you cameup with, "Here is the, the, the, the very
simple workflow."
Yes.
"I want you to, to take the photos,
put a, you know, a one sentence of note and justupload it," and it's like, you know, I, I think, again, it

(20:12):
is, it's- it's about kind of, you know,understanding where, you know, your people
are and what are their strengths and what aretheir weaknesses?
And then, you know, developing, you know, those,those workflows around them to help support them.
You know, because, I mean, again, if he's aphenomenal, you know, at his, at his trade, and he, and he gets the
work done beautifully, like, yeah, the last thingyou want him to do is be bogged down with, you know, the

(20:33):
things that aren't gonna, you know, unleash histalents and, and, and they could lead to more frustrations
for him. So, you know, I think it's-
And they're afraid.
... you know-
I mean, they're afraid, honestly. Technologyscares them.
I was in a meeting,
I was in a board meeting the other day, and theywere saying...
No, I wasn't, I was at church, at a Bible studyand they were saying, "AI is gonna be the ruin of the world." I'm
like, "Oh my gosh, it's the greatest thing ever."(laughs) "We're, we don't see this at all."

(20:57):
It... You have to ha- you have to use yourdiscretionary mind here.
No.
You
ask what you wanna know about. Don't go into thenegative stuff. You'll be fine.
Use the, use what we have. Um, and I was readingsome time ago,
uh, probably Reader's Digest or something, wheresomeone wrote something in the 1800s, early 1800s,
I think, "We're running out of oil. How are wegonna exist?

(21:19):
We don't, we won't have anything to use." Turnedout to be whale oil. You know what?
We figured it out, right?
Yeah.
We-
That's the whole idea of, of being able to pivot.
In life, it's all about pivoting. When thisdoesn't work, when working for the federal government doesn't
work for me, I pivot.
You know, when working for larger contractors, whoI thought would be great,

(21:42):
didn't work.
We pisit- we pivot, and I, I have gotten to theplace where I think, "I know for
sure we do
really great remodels."
I know we do, and the truth is that people arealways gonna need to have remodels.
Great.
Yeah.
I know that medical offices are something we'vedone really well.
Okay, let's do that. And we've also done theveterinary clinics and

(22:06):
their knowledge base
is greater than what we're doing, but all I wannado today
is do a really great job. We can expand past thatlater.
For today,
I really want to be great at
this, and I want to be able to, to sell that.
We've done
three high-end homes. I mean, before I made thisdecision, I thought, "I'm working on

(22:29):
a three-story house that had water damage on thethird floor, and it went all the way to the floor."
It was there, I just didn't see it, and then whenI saw it, I thought, "I'm already there.
We're already doing this." This is...
All I'm gonna do now is advertise that this is allwe're, this is what we're doing.
So-
What do you, what do you think it was that...
You know, 'cause, 'cause I see a lot ofcontractors who, you know, they're, they're not...

(22:50):
They haven't really figured out their, kind oftheir, their passion and where they wanna focus on.
I mean, it, it kinda reminds me of, like, youknow, when, when, when, you know,
kids, you know, go to college for the first timeand you have no idea what major you want, but you
gotta pick something, and then you go trysomething.
Like, I went into mechanical engineering first andI was like, "Man," like, "I do not like this."
(laughs)
You know, ended up coming back and went, you know,withdrew and went to the business school.

(23:13):
You know, much better fit, you know, and then Iget my master's in software engineering.
It's like, "Man, I just chose the wrongengineering," but, like, it takes so much time to kind of really
figure out. So, like, h- like, what, what drewyou?
I mean, like, you know, to, to go and, and, andlook at, you know, government type work and huge
commercial projects, you know, w- was it just,like, the, the large, you know,
scope? The, you know, the huge contracts?

(23:35):
Like, kinda what, what sort of led you down thatpath, but then ultimately you decided...
I mean, obviously sounds like kind of payment, youknow, terms and sort of being treated like, you know,
not,
not highly respected. More like a, you know, justa, you know, just another, another, you know,
sub-vendor. Like, kind of how, how did you kind ofgo sort of through that phase of learning?
So, I've only been in construction now for...

(23:56):
This is the seventh year of my business, but Ireally had them do my house first 'cause I wanted to see who I
wanted to fire.
And when I said no drugs and alcohol, I, I'm notkidding. You don't show up and that...
You don't carry that on to other people's worksites. You don't... You show up and you show respect, period.
So, I fired three people.
Not a problem for me, but in that year,
I learned about the kind of

(24:18):
tradespeople that I needed to bring on. I, uh,just their...
I had to find... I give them personality tests.
I need their paradigm right off the bat, and Idon't mind saying, "I'm not the
company for you. There are plenty of companies outthere that'll want you."
Yes.
"You're a good person. There's nothing wrong withyou.
This is my way of doing business."
Mm-hmm.
So-
So then I, um... When I started, um, doing workfor other people,

(24:43):
I set my own scale. When I started to...
When I saw that there were opportunities forwomen-owned small businesses, I was like, "Oh, great.
I'll go to work..."
... and will be subcontractors for largerbusinesses who have already figured all this out.
I'm new to this. I'm still new to this.
I'll probably always be new to this until Iretire, but the, but I thought, they
already walked this walk. I know, I'm not- I'dlike to have mentors

(25:07):
who have figured out how to offer more to morepeople. Yes.
And I think that they have reputations for beinggood companies,
which they do.
When it comes to the way that they want to runtheir business and how they want to treat their people, I, I,
we were going to do the city garages in Charlestonand a larger contractor from Florida was

(25:28):
up here.
I, I literally
worked until
wee hours in the morning multiple nights puttingthings together because of the way that they wanted them.
I'll do that for anybody. I wanna do, I want tooffer what they need.
We go to meet the project manager downtown, and
his subcontractor that was currently doing the jobwas behind him, and he said, "They

(25:51):
don't pay." (laughs) "They don't pay." I'm like-Hmm. ...
"Not the good quality contractor I want tofollow."
And I- Yeah. ... turned around to the guy andsaid, "We're not working with you."
(laughs) "We're out." So I, I, I think I justdon't want to be big
today. I don't, I want to be able to, um, I wantto be able to

(26:12):
grow a business that, um, fits with my paradigm.
I want, I want to be able to, um, bring the barup, and I want to be able to do
that in a way that is consistent. So I'll, uh, Iwill attract other people. I do attract other people.
They just have to be
where I want th- where I see things. I, they don'thave to do it just my way, but they have to have the paradigm

(26:34):
that, that is, "We're a service-oriented businessand we're offering the best service
we can." Will there be better companies? Sure.
Do, uh, d- do I have to be that large? No.
Like I said, uh, even to begin with, I'm tellingmy husband, "You might be the only worker.
If I can only trust one person to do the rightthing, then, well, I'll have one person." Yeah.
But I'm not gonna have- B- ... more people just tofill up my time sheet. I'm not gonna...

(26:56):
I don't need that. I don't need that. Well, Ithink- And, and, uh, being a woman-owned small business, I will
say this. Being a woman in construction,
I, I,
I actually just, um, probably convoluted, but Inever really thought I had any limits.
I didn't, I thought I could do anything I wantedto do, and if I wasn't good at it, I just stopped.
It wasn't about being a woman.

(27:18):
People do look at women differently inconstruction,
and
so my husband was an 82nd Airborne ranger sniper.He looks like G.I. Joe.
I take him with me to SAME and they all talk tohim, and I don't care.
(laughs) You know? (laughs) You, you think he'sthe boss? I'm fine with that.
He's- No. ... he's brilliant at what he does.

(27:38):
I write the checks, so in the end-
(laughs) ... I getta make the decisions, but,
uh- Yeah. ... but
if the paradigm is that I'm the secretary,
in the end they're going to get the service theywant, and in the end they'll
understand that I'm the one that writes the check.So it doesn't, I don't need to prove anything. Sure.
I, I just really want to have, I just want to domy best, and I want them- Yeah. ...

(28:00):
and I want them to do their best. I have, soyou're talking about
(laughs) ha- about,
uh,
being in college. I have a, I have six kids.
My oldest is 41, 39, 37, 25, and twin22-year-olds.
And I always insist that my kids work.
I mean, I just thought, if you want to spend anymoney or if y-

(28:22):
when you work, you'll understand the value ofworking.
Um, when they went to college, I'm like, "I'm notpaying for your college.
I'll reimburse you when you get done,
but I'm not paying for it. Or maybe I won'treimburse you, but you'll show up for class."
I'm not sure how I'll do it.
And
my, uh, with my oldest kids,
they understood that they were gonna have to paytheir own way. My son has 13 businesses.

(28:44):
He's phenomenally successful. My daughter's a hairstylist and she's got a
20-year-old and a 5-year-old. My next child whodoes concrete is doing wonderfully.
And then I get to my 25-year-old and my twin22-year-olds, and I'm like, "What do you want to do?" Yeah,
"You, you are so young and you don't have anyexperience.
What would you like to do?" "We want to be richand take a lot of vacations."

(29:06):
(laughs) (laughs) "Okay. How are you gonna dothat?" They said, "Mom, we don't want to be
your age, working as hard as you do." "Stillfine." (laughs) "Still f-
How are you gonna do that?"
They, they don't know either,
but they do have a, uh, an idea of what they thinkis successes.
Uh,

(29:27):
to be successful, for me, means to, to provideexcellence.
The idea for them is money. And I still, I'm finewith that, and they
still don't know, but they still want to be theCEO. And I said- (laughs) ...
"You don't know what you're talking about."(laughs) "You're, you, you think you're the boss.
Wait till you're the boss. You'll see where youpay people when you don't get paid.

(29:48):
You'll see how it is to, to back up
what, what people do that are mistakes." It, it's-
Yeah. ... being the boss is fun because I can setthe bar.
It's also a challenge. Anybody who says, uh,"Construction's an easy business," or they think
they, people live in big houses and have nicecars,
oh my gosh, there's so much work that goes withthat.

(30:10):
Yeah. And,
I mean, I still- So- ... live in a, a modesthouse.
Uh, it's
four bedrooms, two and a half baths, but I have alot of kids.
Yeah. And (clears throat) I drive a Tesla, love myTesla, but it's just
that
it's
not that I don't work hard.
So
between the older people who are set in doingthings just one way and the younger kids who think they need all

(30:34):
the money without the work, it's an interestingtime.
I told my boys, my youngest kids, all three ofthem, I said, "Hmm, get a trade.
If you want to make consistent money, get a trade,go to trade school."
So right now,
I have a friend who is a professor at MIT
and at Harvard, and I have another friend who's,um, a brilliant

(30:54):
man. He's a Native American.
And we are collectively, um,
gonna be starting-... uh, some education, sometraining programs for people to
enter the trades.
Not like getting licenses, but teaching them basicskills so they can go
be tradespeople on, on work sites.
They should all start cleaning up the trash, butthat's, that, we wanna give them some basic skills so they

(31:18):
have some way to, um,
move into the trades.
That's awesome.
And do a great job. That's the thing. And we'regonna teach them business too.
We're gonna teach them blueprint reading.
It won't be just, "Here's a hammer."
Yeah.
We wanna set them up for success too, um, becausethere's gonna be a lot of displaced workers pretty soon.
Yeah. That's, that's awesome. So h- uh, is that,like, gonna be, like, a

(31:41):
program where it's, you know, they're-
Yeah.
... gonna be working part time?
Oh, don't worry.
I mean, that, like-
I'm gonna get you involved. (laughs)
(laughs)
I'm du- you're totally, you're totally on my, onmy checklist.
Once we get this, once we... We're actually gonnabe working with some OIT students.
I'm going to, um, Boston in, uh, May,
and we're gonna be

(32:01):
developing a super great program that will servethe needs of the
construction industry,
um,
quickly.
Yeah.
That's the goal. Yeah. These, these people thatare teachers, that
are in the education system that are beingdisplaced,
you were project managers.

(32:21):
You sh-
Mm-hmm.
You ha- have already managed lots of projects.It's just not construction.
How about we give you-
Yeah.
... some tools?
How about-
Well, that's-
... we give you some opportunities? And, uh, and
I don't, I, I mean, I...
Dallas was scary to drive around in, but thatplace is still growing
and everywhere I go is still growing.
So,
why not give people the opportunity to have skillsthat are gonna work in a construction field?

(32:45):
It doesn't have to be all these older people whoare retiring.
Sure. So is that d-
Mm-hmm.
I mean, are you kinda seeing sort of the, thelabor, the workforce that's probably one of the biggest
challenges for, for most construction companies?
It
really is. It really is because the
construction's hard on the body,
um, and so they are, they're wearing out.

(33:06):
The
guys in their 60s
have shoulder problems, back problems, kneeproblems. I understand. Look what they've done.
They, they-
Yeah.
... carry these enormous loads. They are on theirknees, or
everything they do is hard.
Yeah.
Um, and, uh, young kids somewhere along the linedecided that college was the best route.
I have a college degree. I get it. When I wa- I, Iget why you wanna go to college, but the truth

(33:30):
is, learn a trade and you'll always be employed.
Yep.
Um, we, that we, if we can help change thatparadigm for, for
younger people,
I think, I think that the HVAC people around here,
the company owners make at least 250,000 a year.
They don't have college degrees.
They got a license.

(33:51):
Why don't you wanna do that? (laughs) Uh, yeah.
It, it take, it's a great skill, and you're gonnaget better for a long time, but you will always be
needed.
Yep.
Yeah.
I mean, it's, you know, and, and I think it's,it's also what you also sorta touched on, the, you know, the,
the, the younger generations. They, they're,they're, somehow they skip the whole lesson on the

(34:11):
importance of hard work, and, you know, putting inthe effort and, you know, the, the, just being
determined to, to accomplish your goals and, and,and to, you know, make things happen.
I mean, uh, uh, h- how do you, how do you addressthat with, you know, with, with, with these younger, uh,
younger kids coming outta college thinking theyjust, you know, wanna work part time and sit at home and
somehow collect this huge paycheck?

(34:33):
Well, I was up till midnight last night talking tomy 22-year-old who wanted to do day trading for a
business. (laughs)
And he,
he's, he also went to Florida with his twin andcouldn't get a job for
two months, and I'm like, "Did you apply atMcDonald's?
Did you, did you
go to a construction site and offer to clean up?

(34:54):
There's so many ways to get work." And he said-
Yeah.
... "I applied online," and I said, "No. That,that's just...
You ha- you don't understand." "You," he said,"Everybody tells me I should love what I do." I said,
"You don't even know what you wanna do now. You're22.
You just got outta college."
Yeah.
"You really need to understand that you need tostart at the bottom somewhere," and I'm, they're going to

(35:17):
work for my son, who's very successful inNashville,
and I said, "Before you leave every day, you askhim, 'Is there anything else I can do?
What can I do for you?" If he says go clean thetoilets, go clean the toilets.
If he says scrub the floor, go scrub the floor. Ifhe says go pick up my kids, go pick up his kids.
They're my grandbabies. But d- you know, don'tever leave without doing more."

(35:39):
And then-
Yeah.
... when you learn what it takes to be
a successful person, it doesn't matter what you'redoing.
You can s- He owns several furniture stores aswell as other things, but I said, "It doesn't matter
what you're selling.
Do it the best way you can. If you go work at thisvirtual golf place, do the best you can, whatever you
do, and before you leave, make sure you say, 'Isthere anything else I can do for you?'"

(36:02):
Hmm.
Yeah.
I'm hoping. I don't know. My, I, like I said, I, Idid something right with some of the, with the older ones.
It's a different generation. I think somethingabout
the COVID and
when the kids were home, uh, they're twins,
and everything's virtual,
and we have a screen, we have a screened porchwith

(36:22):
a dining room table and all that, and
they're saying, "Mom," they were taking dualcredit classes.
They said, "Mom, these classes are so hard." I'mlike, "Okay."
(laughs)
They're out on the screened porch with theirshirts off, Snapchatting their friends, showing their abs,
'cause of course, you know, they have to lookgood-
(laughs)
... (laughs) while their
hard classes are going on.
(laughs)
So I said, "You know what? I'll make this easierfor you.

(36:45):
Give me your phones."
They had to slide their phones in under my doorfirst thing in the morning.
I checked their work at noon, and if they werefinished, I gave them their phones back.
Parenting is hard.
Yeah.
You know, it, helping people
is hard, but the reward is great.
The, there...... there, the... I just

(37:08):
love it when people
figure it out.
Yeah, absolutely.
And I, I love... Uh, I mean, you really inspiredme.
Um, I didn't have a chance to really talk to youvery much, except one night when I was trying to find a hotel
room for that one guy... (laughs) who had ended upin the hotel room.
Um, but
you,
you... When you told your story about helping thelandscaper

(37:31):
and
then progressing past that and helping... I feellike you...
I, I don't know if it's true, but I feel like yourgoal is to offer more all the time and to be-
Yep.
... able to help more people. Um, when you speak,I...
That's what I hear you say, and that's just inline with my paradigm.
When I leave this world, if all I've done is a fewgood things, then I'm happy.

(37:52):
If I've, if I impacted anybody in a positive way,then I'm happy.
And
again, that's why I expect excellence.
Yeah.
People make mistakes. I make mistakes every day.That's fine.
And what I tell my guys is, "When you makemistakes and you discover it, just tell me.
We're still gonna fix it. Just don't walk away."

(38:13):
Yeah.
Don't, don't ever walk away. I'm still gonna payyou. I'm gonna pay you to fix it.
Never walk away.
Yeah. No, I, I, I can't agree more. And I mean,I... You know, you're, you're absolutely right.
I mean, uh, at this point, you know, in, in, in mycareer, in my life, I mean, I, I've,
you know, I've, I've sold the company. You know,financially, we're good to go.
I, I, I can tell you, like, you know, having moneydoes not, you know,

(38:36):
make you happy. It doesn't, like, fulfill you.
I mean, it's, it's obviously a lot easier to havemoney than to not have money.
But like, you still have that, like, that itch,that desire to do more.
And, you know, I, I think at, at the end of theday, like, I mean, my goal with JobTrit is, you know, create
this, this platform that I can help as manyothers, you know, be able to
achieve that same level of success. Like, this ishow I pay it forward, is, is by hopefully, you know,

(38:59):
again, doing this podcast, recording people'sstories, documenting the things that, that have, you
know... that, that they've struggled with and howthey've overcome them and what's worked, what wasn't
worked. Mm-hmm.
Like, you know, how do we help as many others tobe successful?
And a lot of times, it, it comes down to,
you know, the, the, the information that youconsume, the people that you surround yourself with, the

(39:20):
tools that, that, that you bring on, the, youknow, the teams that you build.
Like, y- e- everyone only has so many waking hoursin a day.
And if you can spend those hours, you know, doingthe absolute best job that you can do-
Yeah.
... and even better if you can focus on doing thethings that you can make the biggest impact on...
You know, and that's why it's, you know, so, sointeresting in, in seeing how you've really...
You know, yo- you could do anything that youwanted to do right now, you know, from, from the whole, you know,

(39:43):
gamut of, of construction. But you've, you'venarrowed it down to, we wanna help, you know, with, with,
you know, r- high-end luxury remodels, you know,with medical facilities, with, you know, dental,
veterinarians. Like, you, you know
where you want to spend your time and where youcan make the biggest impact, and you've
gone all in on that, and that's- Right.
... that's what I think is so important.

(40:04):
And, and, and it's just the same thing with allthe young, younger people who don't yet know what their
passion is. Like, well, you gotta get out thereand you gotta try things and you gotta get involved and you
gotta go figure out what do you love doing.
And eventually, you'll find that, and then-
Yeah.
... that's, that's how you know what to doubledown on and that's how you know where, you know, to, to, to
focus your energies and your efforts in the thingsthat you can make the biggest impact.

(40:25):
But again, like, once people learn, like, uh, uh,you know, the, the world, it's, it's not all about
you, you know?
No. Oh my gosh, yeah.
There's so much more to, to being fulfilled inlife.
And when you learn that you can get so much moreby giving to others,
like, it, it comes back, you know, in, in, in...
in magnitudes greater when you just kind of can,can find that joy in helping other

(40:45):
people. It's... You know, if, if, if you don't...
You know, I'm not saying, you know, kind of, youknow, neglect yourself.
You gotta take care of-
Right.
... yourself and your health and, you know, makesure-
And your family and-
(laughs)
Yeah, you... for your community. Yeah, but...
And-
Yeah.
But what you do for a job
is, is help other people. And I don't really carewhat job it is. I mean, I...
my best friends are medical doctors, and theystill have to serve.

(41:09):
You know, their-
Yeah.
... their job is to serve. If they're... allthey're worried about is making money...
I don't know any of my friends that are doctorsthat actually do that.
I, I mean, they, they don't do the five-minutething. They actually get to know you.
Um, and I was telling my twin again, I said, "Y-
h-..." I said, "Whatever you do,
do it with joy," 'cause he's an... I understandthat I'm supposed to love what I do.

(41:32):
Well, there's gonna be parts of it you don't love,but you know what?
In everything, have gratitude. In everything, havejoy. See what you can do to help somebody else.
There was a, there was a Hispanic lady that workedfor my son,
and
he has several people, but when this lady walkedin the door...
I happened to be at his store one day when shewalked in the door, and it was just the feel of her walking
in.

(41:52):
You could just see that she was there to serve.
It's... uh, it was an energy. And you actuallyhave very similar energy when, when you're, when
you're walking,
you... I mean, you're not like Tony Robbins wherehe's all over the place, but you, you know, you, you, you
have a s-... You have a feeling of serving, andthat's the way I live my
life too. It's, uh, it's whatever I'm doing a- andmaybe I can only help this small

(42:16):
group, but when we help this small group,
it needs to be excellent. I could have chosen anyarea. I really did... I'm unlimited.
I'm unlimited in my license. I'm, uh...
I just chose the biggest thing, and I didn't thinkI could serve the government
as... the way that they wanted me to serve.
I didn't think I could serve a larger company theway that they wanted me to serve them.

(42:37):
Okay, not my fit. I tried.
(laughs)
I have... I have... My walls are covered withdesignations. I just am...
I'm really a screwball with that stuff. I justfeel like ed- uh...
I feel like knowledge is power, and the more Iknow, I know what I do wanna do and what I don't wanna do.
Yeah.
Um, but when it comes down to it,
no matter what I do,

(42:58):
I want it to be excellent. No matter-
Yeah.
... who I bring in to work with me,
I want them to understand I appreciate them, thatthey bring value, and that I
want that value to also be shared with everyonethat works with us, everyone
we work for. It's, it's just......
it's service-
Yeah.
... and it's gratitude. And I s- I, w- as youtalk, I see that that's why I

(43:22):
feel like I'm so aligned, um, because
I hope you make a lot of money. I, uh, I have totell you that in the people that I've
contacted or had communication with in yourcompany, they all seem very much like you.
Um, so you attract what you put out, and that's,
that's my goal too. I wanna attract the people whowanna do what I wanna do, whether I make a lot of

(43:43):
money or not.
Of course I wanna make a lot of money. I'd like toretire.
I've raised a lot-
(laughs)
... of kids. They cost a lot of money-
Yeah.
... (laughs) for a long time.
Yep.
40 years of paying for kids.
Whatever a lot of money is to me. My, my really,my needs at this point are low.
Um, I don't have to-
Well, f-
... pay $500 a week for food anymore. (laughs)
Yeah. But, but Katie, I mean, what-

(44:03):
Except the, except for my career.
... what, what is the... You know, I'm, I'mcurious like, so what is the, kinda the, the, the bigger vision?
What's the goal, you know, for, for DistinctBuilders?
Like, where do you wanna take it and at, you know,what point?
I mean, obviously, you, you've kind of talkedabout some point you'll, you'll look to retire.
Like, what, wh- when will you know when that timeis, and, and what will you, what will you do with the
business?
Oh, I'll sell it. Um, right, I'm on, I'm, um, partof, uh, Women Construction

(44:27):
Business Owners & Executives, um,
and it's a group. We have a lobbyist inWashington. I was in Washington last week.
And
I will want to, um, have a business that people
can, will talk about and will use as, um, as a

(44:47):
template for how they build their business. That'swhat I would like.
And I would like to do that in a way that, um,
that elevates the construction industry at h- uh,um, in total, and also
that helps people feel good about what they'redoing, that I, I want to give
opportunities. A lot of people have skills. Imean, artists have skills.

(45:11):
I think of these people as artists. They reallyare willing to create, um, something.
And I want them to have a, I want the tradespeopleto have a platform where they can
provide excellence and they'll be recognized forthat.
So if I-
Yeah.
... can do that, and if I can help other peoplebuild businesses like that, if somebody wants to buy my
business,
that's great. That's,

(45:31):
that's what I want. I wanna have a positiveimpact.
That's awesome.
Like I said, if I, if I help... Uh, so my twins, Ididn't give birth to.
Um, they were my husband's, and he was marriedbefore and his wife was a drug addict.
And when I met them, I thought, "I can't... Yeah,this life is bad for them.
This isn't a good life for them.
So they're mine." So they, they wanted to comelive with me, and I said that'd be fine.

(45:55):
Yeah.
And, and I really, I think if I,
I have, I gave birth to four kids, but I thoughtif I, if I, if I did something
in the world to change the world a little bit
by helping these two little boys live a life thatthey couldn't live otherwise,
then, then God has blessed me and I've been ableto do something positive.
I feel the same-
Yeah.
... way about this business. If I can-

(46:15):
I love that.
... just do something, even if it's small, if I'mwith the right people and I can offer something,
in the end, yes, I'd, I'd like for it to be,
I'd like, I'd like for it to be
global. If I can set a bar that people say, "Thiswas done right."
Yeah. That's great.
Then I'd feel happy. If I don't, that's fine too.

(46:36):
I love it. So, you know, as, as we kinda wrap uphere, I'm, I'm curious.
Uh, is there any, you know, anything that, youknow, if, if, if, if you think back about, you know, the
last six, seven years that you've been doing this.
I mean, you know, what do you wish you would'veknown when you were starting that, that you now
know, that, that might have helped you?
Like what, what advice would you give to otherswho, you know, are very early in their journey.

(46:58):
They're, they're, they're trying to decide whetherthey wanna start a business.
Maybe they've got, you know, some, some challengesand things that are kinda causing hesitation for them.
Like, is a- any, just any advice that you wouldgive for others who are, who are early on trying to, trying to
make that leap or, or trying to get going?
I would honestly first tell them to find a goodbookkeeper.

(47:19):
Don't do it yourself. Find somebody who knows whatthey're doing.
Two, I would tell them to sign up for JobTread, doall, do all-
(laughs)
... of the (laughs) trainings. Go to Dallas.
Um, that was, I have been to, I don't know, 5,000trainings or something.
I've been to s- so many conferences. I told you,I'm a nerd.
That was probably the single best conference I'veever been to.
Oh, thank you.

(47:40):
Um,
I would tell them to,
if they're in construction, I would say,
start cleaning up the mess. (laughs) You know,start at the, start at a job site.
Follow some people who, you can tell who's goodand who's not.
You can s- you can tell the grouchy ones who areonly gonna give half effort and the ones that are gonna go
above and beyond.
Find those people and, and even if you're justthere a week, get a sense of what they're

(48:04):
actually doing. Um, I,
my husband wanted to have people
available all the time.
I ended up paying
two times more than the market rate for some ofthese people that weren't working
at two times the market.
Understand your market. Understand, understandthat you are gonna pay more for excellence.

(48:26):
You are.
Just understand it doesn't have to be twice,(laughs) twice what somebody's worth.
I would, I truly, I think the first thing I woulddo is get a good bookkeeper. I would start with JobTread.
Eh, I mean, if you're just one person, it's veryaffordable.
If you just start with the training, it's veryaffordable.
Um,
so learn, learn what you need to learn, 'causethat's an encapsulation of what it takes to

(48:52):
have a good business, a good constructionbusiness.
Yeah.
And
seriously, don't even hire anybody until you go dosome work.
No, that's, uh-
Start from the beginning.
... that's great advice, Katie. I, you know, I, I,I really appreciate you sharing all that.
And, you know, I think as, as, as everyone, youknow, likely took away from this, I mean, it's, you know,
you've, you've helped people see that it's soimportant to build a great team.

(49:15):
You know, you, you, you have to have your own-...
you know, core values defined and, and know whatyou're striving for.
And, and, and if you wanna build excellence, thenyou have to lead by example.
You have to build the team that also shares thatdesire and embodies that.
And then, you know, you, you gotta, you know, yougotta do right. Treat, treat your subs right.
You know, make sure that you find the rightcustomers and that, that you're getting treated right, that

(49:37):
your employees, your team's getting treated right.
Like, you know, and, and, and when you find thoseopportunities to, you know, to, to really kind of dig
in and, and just double down on the things that,you know, are your strengths and where you can make the
biggest impact, I think that's how, that's how itseems like th- that you've been able to really set this,
this blueprint out for... You know, for otherbusinesses, is, is by, you know, learning and

(49:58):
continually learning, continually improving. Youknow, never just accepting the status quo.
Like, there's always more that you can do. There'salways, you know, something that you can improve on.
And, and when you have that mindset, you know,that's how you keep growing, that's how you build a great
business. And, you know, I'm, I'm excited to see,you know, what the future holds for you, Katie.
And, you know, I have no doubt that, that you'llhave a very, uh, you know, successful next several years,

(50:19):
just like you have in, in, in the previous years.
And, and hopefully, you know, one day when thetime is right, you, you know, you have a very successful exit
and can, can hand the reins over to someone elsewho can keep, can keep going and building on that momentum.
You know, it's, uh, it's just really exciting tosee what, what you've been able to do.
And, you know, I know it's, it's, it's not beeneasy.
You've, you've done a great job though, and, youknow, I appreciate you, you coming on and sharing your
story here with all of us.

(50:40):
Well, I really appreciate that, like I said, thatyou're always looking for ways to add to the,
to your program. I, I appreciate the fact that youhave so many ways to integrate good opportunities for
businesses. Um,
one other thing I would say is make sure you payyourself. (laughs) Make sure...
Business owners sometimes get confused aboutmoney.
Make sure you pay yourself. It's easy to think youhave to pay everybody else, but if you're not taking care

(51:03):
of yourself, you're not
taking care of anybody else. You really do need totake care of yourself and your family.
Um-
Absolutely.
Don't sacrifice that.
Yeah.
But also,
times have changed a lot in my life.
A lot. Like I said, one room in a school businessat Indiana University, and
my kids went to school with Chromebooks. It is sodifferent.

(51:26):
What you're doing, what your company's doing isoffering us a way to
incorporate the latest, um, of what's going on.
My son was talking to, uh, one of his...
He owns a
furniture store in, um, Jacksonville, Florida,also, and he was talking to the guy who is a partner with
him, and he was talking about

(51:47):
some CRM stuff, some customer service informa-things that they haven't really
incorporated and talking about a website andtalking about some social media.
(laughs)
And I'm like, "Have you looked at, Go High Levelyet?" And he's like, "What's that?" Oh, I'm so glad.
You guys are like 35. (laughs) And look at me.
(laughs)
(laughs) Look at me because I went to Dallas, andI learned about, uh, something that really

(52:08):
is an excellent tool for a business person fromyou.
So thanks for always giving us the opportunity tohave, um, cutting edge technology and to be aware
of things that can help us,
um, uh, stay ahead.
Yep.
Yeah.
Absolutely. Well, that's, that's the goal. That'sthe mission.
So, you know, I'm glad to, glad to hear it'sworking out for you.
And, uh, yeah, again, I, I really appreciate youcoming on and, and sharing everything here today, Katie.

(52:31):
Well, I appreciate you so much too. Thank you somuch.
All righty. Have a good one.
You too. Bye-bye.
Bye.
Thanks for joining us for this episode of BuilderStories.
We hope you enjoyed the conversation and gainedvaluable insights that can help you in your
journey along the way. Don't forget to subscribeto this show and leave us a review.
And as always, if you or someone you know has astory to share, please contact

(52:55):
us at builderstories.com. We'd love to hear fromyou.
I'm Erik Fortenberry, and remember, every builderhas a unique story.
Keep building yours.