January 15, 2025 • 46 mins
Discover the fascinating journey of Miss Renee Glendenning, a visionary who transformed her career from the dance floor to the construction site. In this inspiring episode, we explore Renee's unconventional path, highlighting her dynamic transition from working with NASA to establishing her own construction business. Her story is all about embracing life's unexpected twists—like a spaghetti disaster—where every turn offers invaluable lessons and connections. Renee's tale exemplifies the power of adaptability and the pursuit of one's true calling, emphasizing how quality and reputation are the enduring legacies of our professional lives.
Join us as we uncover the profound impact of interpersonal skills in quality control roles. Through engaging dialogue, we discuss how "light bulb moments" can transform education and the importance of tailoring communication to fit different learners. By drawing parallels between dance and professional interactions, we highlight the importance of maintaining connection and adjusting intensity for successful outcomes. Listen to how Renee's experience showcases that being approachable and human can significantly enhance effectiveness on site, challenging the notion that rigid, authoritarian approaches are the only way.
Explore the transformative journey of entrepreneurship and personal development in this compelling narrative. We touch on the challenges of managing a business and the pivotal role of emotional intelligence. From navigating federal business landscapes to launching Quality Control University, Renee's journey is filled with lessons on resilience and adaptability. With personal stories and experiences, we emphasize finding fulfillment through service and the rewarding nature of pursuing non-traditional career paths. This episode promises to motivate you to embrace your unique career path and maintain authenticity and a strong reputation.
Connect with Renee at:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/renee-glendenning-87276b2b2/
https://qcuniversity.net/
Make yourself a priority and get more done:
https://www.depthbuilder.com/do-the-damn-thing
Download a PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be
https://www.depthbuilder.com/books
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
My road is a spaghetti disaster and I
wouldn't trade it for anything.
You know, you meet differentpeople, you go different
directions.
You figure out.
I like this, I don't like that.
Nothing you do in yourspaghetti path is ever a waste.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
We can't talk to other business owners.
It's silly, because nobody canhandle all the work that's
available.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
There's so much out there, and why can we not build
each other up right?
We can't control thecircumstances that are around us
.
All we can control is how wereact to them.
There's like a whole careerpath for QCs, and they're
writing their own tickets.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
What is going on L&M family?
I'm back and I got a superspecial high energy, just kind
of a friend having coffee, butwith some like real game.
You're going to get to meetMiss Renee Glenn Denning, who I
beat y'all because I got to havea conversation with her a few
weeks back.
I think I was in California atthe time and said, oh man,
because I got to have aconversation with her a few
weeks back, I think I was inCalifornia at the time and said,
(01:07):
oh man, we got to get you onthe show.
She's been super supportive andengaging on the social media, on
the LinkedIn and stuff.
She has spent some time doingcool stuff with NASA, which is
still that's kind of like wow, Iknow somebody from NASA Rocket
science Rocket.
I mean, I'm telling you I haveno business talking to rocket
(01:28):
scientists, but hey, owned herown general contracting company,
which is no small feat, and nowis changing the construction
world around and in qualitycontrol she has a quality
control university.
Let's get to know Miss Renee.
Miss Renee, how are you doingthis?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
morning, I'm doing good.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Oh, you know, I'm just here having fun talking my
head off all morning today.
So, renee, first question, Iwas stalking you on the
interwebs.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I saw that your tagline is like quality is what
remains when the dust settles.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yeah, that is our thing.
What is the dust?
The dust of construction, thedust of building, the dust of
making, the dust of what we do.
So when that dust settles,quality is what remains and it's
what we build our reputation on.
That's the second part of that.
Saying so, that's on all of ourjackets and our gear and it
just it stuck with me for yearsand years and years and years,
(02:27):
and I stole that from a fellowindividual that is in the
industry and years ago that'swhat he said quality was.
He said quality is what remainsafter the dust settles and it's
what we build our reputation on.
And for me, that hit home.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Oh, I love it.
And yeah, like visually, whenyou think of a job site, there's
a lot of dust.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Even with water trucks, there's a lot of dust,
oh my.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
God, yes, yes, yes.
And then, like you said, ourreputation.
I'm going to go out this isn'ta big assumption, but the
quality of the stuff I doprobably isn't of the highest
quality, but I have a reputationfor that and that's okay.
Like people know, when you dealwith me, it's going to be quick
and dirty, it's not going to besuper polished, but the quality
(03:11):
of whatever it is we deliver,in terms of relationships in
construction and so forth, shapeor inform our reputation.
They shape our reputation.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
And we're only as good as our last job or our last
project.
Whatever you did, you're onlyas good as our last job or our
last project.
Whatever you did, you're onlyas good as the last thing that
you did.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Oh, oh, my goodness.
So there's a ton to dive inthere, especially around the QC
stuff, because that's whereyou're swimming and providing a
lot of value to a lot of folksout there.
But I want to.
Well, I'm not going to takeownership of it, I'm going to
blame it on the L&M family.
The L&M family wants to knowwhere did it all start, like
when you were in middle school,high school, did you plot it out
(03:53):
?
I'm going to go to university,I'm going to get my engineering
degree, I'm going to work forNASA, so what?
Speaker 1 (03:59):
happened.
I was a dance instructor.
That's awesome.
Okay, I was a dance instructor.
That's awesome.
Yeah, I was a dance instructor.
And my mom came to me with ahard truth and she said you're
not going to be able to do thisforever and you're not going to
be able to support yourselfforever doing this.
And so she said you're going togo to school.
And so my head was stuck in thestars and I have always been a
(04:21):
proponent of the space programand the stars and exploration.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And she said no you're not going to make the
frigging money doing that.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
You're not going to be an astronomer.
Get that out of your head, allright, well, I guess I'll be an
engineer.
And she was like all right,good plan.
And I had a helicopter mom,bless her heart, love her to
death.
But yeah, no, she, she steeredme in that direction and so I
went to school and I went towork for THICOL in the space
program and I worked in thefacilities group.
We built the rockets, but I wasin the facilities group.
(04:50):
So that's when I got intoconstruction, because we built
the facilities that built therockets.
And so I got into constructionand I realized this is my gig.
I hated the over the wallengineering.
You know you do something andthen then two years later it got
built.
That's not.
That was not what I wanted.
I wanted to see my impact and Iwanted to see my impact
(05:11):
beginning to end, not throw itover the wall and then never get
to see what it looked like.
So I figured out right awaythat construction is what I
wanted to do.
And no, my road is a spaghettidisaster and it's.
I wouldn't trade it foranything.
You know, you meet differentpeople, you go different
directions.
You figure out I like this, Idon't like that.
(05:32):
I measured in everything forone semester.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
You measured in everything.
Okay.
So first I want to know cause Ilike, I'm into dancing what
you're a dance instructor.
Was it a particular style?
Was it ballroom?
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, no, it was jazz and tap and I will only admit
this to you.
Clog.
Okay, how embarrassing is thatCountry.
Western tap shoes, clog.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
I think it's you know .
I don't tell anybody, sincewe're making confessions here.
I will watch clog videos.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Business Jason's whole podcast making confessions
here I will watch clog videos.
Business podcast deepconfessions with jesse.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
He'll pull it out of you and I've always had this
thing in my mind.
It's still.
It may be it, I wouldn't evensay it's a bucket list item, but
I've always, always admired tapdancing, like just.
There's some super cool folksI've seen out there amazing okay
(06:29):
.
So now you know this, and Ithink the listeners out there
know, there's always these weirdthings that don't seem
connected, but there areconnections and so now you know
you talked about the squigglypath of your life.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
What are some of theconnections to the thinking or
the approach to learning andteaching dance and the things
(06:50):
that you've experienced over theyears?
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Yeah, I think it's understanding how to communicate
on different levels.
If the person or the student isnot getting it, you have to be
able to try to bring it intotheir focus.
Right, and I think that's whata good coach, a good educator, a
good dance instructor, itdoesn't matter Right, you have
to learn how to talk ondifferent levels and don't talk
(07:14):
down to people.
I hate that.
This means talking and meetingsomeone on a level that they're
going to get it.
For me, it's always the joy ofthe light bulb.
Like you, you called out yourfamily member at the beginning,
right, he had a light bulbmoment.
That's what that was.
That's why we do this.
When you see someone get it andfind the satisfaction of I get
(07:36):
it.
Finally, I understand you saidit in a different way and I get
it.
And for me, that's what gets meout of bed every day.
It's finding someone to reachthat's going to get it.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
And for me, that's what gets me out of bed every
day is finding someone to reachthat's going to get it and have
that light bulb moment, becausethose are moments that stick
with them forever and then thatchanges their spaghetti path,
right, so I love that you pointout, like in teaching dance,
like you got to figure out whatis the flavor that the learner
needs and, more importantly, howyou connected it to its value
(08:07):
in the professional space, likeuniversally valuable, when you
have that skill to be able toadjust and say, oh, it's not
them, it's me.
It reminds me of a saying oneof my coaches said if the
learner hasn't learned, theteacher hasn't taught.
Oh, I agree.
Now that's not to say that thelearner doesn't have some
responsibility in the situation.
But in order to hold myself toa high standard of quality, if I
(08:31):
hold myself to that level ofownership to say they're not
learning because I haven'ttaught, I need to augment,
adjust, tweak my communication,whatever it is my delivery, so
that they can consume it andhave that light bulb moment.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Absolutely, I get asked all the time.
oh, you have a piece of paper,yet you're an engineer.
What a waste.
You do construction oh, thatjust drives me nuts.
Education is the one thingthat's never a waste.
Whether it's somebody teachingyou how to insulate a pipeline
in the field, or whether you'resitting in a classroom, it's not
a waste.
And I use my degree every daybecause then I can communicate
with the A kids and I can callthem A kids because I'm one of
(09:08):
them.
I wouldn't be able tocommunicate with them the way I
am if I didn't have it, and Itry to explain that to people.
Nothing you do in yourspaghetti path is ever a waste.
Just pull that out of yourbrain and get rid of that right
now.
Say it again, sister.
Right, I mean even your QCMclass right.
That made it so that you and Ifound common ground.
(09:29):
I understood what you did.
You understood what I did.
You know, that day you might'vebeen like oh geez, this is a
drag, what a wait.
But it's not.
I mean, here you are, you know,decades later going oh yeah,
yeah, I've done that thing, Iknow.
I know what you do.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Yeah, you know I never taught dance, but I was
obsessive about salsa, dancingsalsa and merengue, not merengue
, salsa and bachata.
I was at the studio four nightsa week and then I was at the
club two nights a week, learningwhat I learned from that.
(10:25):
I learned a lot of things, butthe things that are applicable
in the squiggly line of successwas when I'm leading, responding
to the pressure or thelightness or whatever of the
person I'm dancing with makes,for we got to maintain this
connection.
There's some push and pull thathelps us do the maneuver and do
the patterns and the lead, andif my intensity or gentleness is
not tuned to that person, we'regoing to get disconnected and
it's going to be wonky, which isvery similar to what you said,
but what I I think I've done,what I used to do early, early
(10:46):
in my career, was everything wasa fight, everything was a
wrestling match where I wasgrabbing people and throwing
them around.
In working with quality controlprofessionals and I'm going to
expand that even further tofolks that are in support groups
, because I would say thatquality is a support function,
along with HR and safety and allthe other things I've come
(11:09):
across so many folks in thoseroles that are wrestling.
My question to you is howimportant are interpersonal
skills for QC professionals?
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Extremely important and we've about this being human
right and being a good humanand treating people like a human
.
That saying of you get morebees with honey right.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Uh-huh.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
A QC that is a human on a site is useful and they
will be seen as useful, and a QCthat lands on the site as a
dictator is a cancer and it's acancer.
Unfortunately, I have not foundthe magic sauce to change, and
there are some of those folksthat I did a post about this not
too long ago.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
So, before you get to learn more about her, I want to
give the LNM family membershout out.
This one is for Mr Bernard.
Bernard sent me this awesomemessage that lit up my day and I
want to share it with y'all.
Bernard said Jesse, this isawesome.
Thank you very much.
Being a part of this journeyhas made the world of difference
(12:16):
in my professional and personallife.
Glad I'm a part of it and willdefinitely continue to reach out
and spread the word.
So Mr Bernard is talking aboutemotional bungee jumpers, which
he's been a part of for almost ayear, and obviously it's
helping him.
It's not just torture, but hewent out of his way to let me
know that it is having an impacton him.
(12:38):
And so folks out there, lnmfamily members, take the time.
If you give me like stars, Idon't care how many stars, just
give me some stars.
Give me a review, send me amessage.
All of that thing is supermeaningful to me because it
helps me know that, hey, I'm notthe only one listening to my
episodes out there, and it givesme an excuse to celebrate you
(13:03):
on a future podcast.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
They throw around how many years they have in the
dirt.
Right, it's this badge of honor.
I don't need to learn anythingbecause I know it all, because I
have 40 years in the dirt.
Oh, it just drives me crazy.
And I've not yet found themagic sauce to turn all those
folks' mindset around.
That's a mindset that can be sodetrimental for a project.
(13:28):
It's so hard, it's so hard.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
It's got to be hard for the individual as well.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
They're miserable.
If you talk to them they'remiserable.
Most of them have four divorces, they're playing child support,
they don't have enough for abeer in the evening and you just
look at them like you know.
If you just change your mindseta little bit and just be a
human, it'll change.
So no, interpersonal skills areextremely important and
(13:55):
approaching everything withopen-mindedness and with
curiosity like just becauseyou've got 30, 40 years in the
dirt doesn't mean your way's theonly way.
You know, there there may be ayoung buck.
He may have boots that are soshiny clean you just want to go
over there and step on them.
But he may be fresh and he maylook at something and go.
(14:16):
Why are you guys doing thatInstead of doing it this way,
like he may change your wholeworld, like he could rock it.
You know, but you got gottahave that mindset of listen.
You gotta open your ears andlisten because you never know
when you're gonna meet theperson that's gonna light ball
moment for you, and so thatreally interpersonal skills are
very important to a successfulqc manager.
(14:37):
Organization and interpersonalskills.
If you got that, you can do it.
You can do it.
You could do a lot.
I made lead foreman into QCmanagers.
I've made engineers into QCmanagers.
I have made pipe fitters intoQC managers.
Anyone can do this position ifthey have the right mindset and
organizational skills.
(14:58):
The rest of that we can teach.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Now I want to do, maybe, some myth busting here.
Oh yes, because, like youmentioned earlier, when people,
you've had people in your life,tell you, like you have an
engineering degree in yourconstruction, what a waste,
right.
And then the.
So that's myth number one.
Myth number two is engineersdon't have interpersonal skills.
But clearly you do, and youI've worked with a lot of them
(15:23):
that don't, yeah.
And so how do you navigate that?
Because there are a lot ofpeople that are are binary.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yeah, I made more as a quality control manager than I
ever did as an engineer, and sothat's the number one money
talks for a lot of people.
So when people say what a waste.
Yeah well you know, or I've gotfolks in my family that look at
me and go oh, you're inconstruction.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Yeah, it's done really good.
For me and my family it's donegood.
So money talks for a lot ofpeople, and then for some people
it's more than that.
Hopefully for most people it'smore than that.
But normally as soon as I sayI'd make more as a QC manager
than engineer, they go what?
Really that can't be.
So that's usually how I startthat conversation and then it's
(16:11):
just it's what is your jammy jamright, it's what you enjoy
doing, and when I've been in theindustry, the young bucks
always want to be a projectmanager Every time I interview
someone well, my goal is to be aproject manager.
That's what I want to be, and Ialways tell them, even when I
own my own company you'll beback If you go, do that, wear
that hat and then you come backto my office in a year or two
and you tell me you're donebeing a babysitter and that you
(16:31):
want to be a QC manager, andwe'll talk again and I'll tell
you, 95% of those boys and girls, they come back and they want
to be a QC.
I think that's where it's at.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Yeah, there's like an unearned status given to the
title of engineer and projectmanager, Like I would well, I'm
a field guy so one of the jobs Ihad it was a new position to
the company and so they didn'thave it technically in their
system yet and so theyclassified me as a project
manager internally and I waslike y'all need to change that
(17:04):
title because I'm about to quit.
I one thing I never want to be.
I'm not one of those, but itnot that's.
It's because I have a lot ofbiases and I've worked with a
lot of project managers thatmade my life miserable.
But I also appreciate, likethat job, that work.
You got to love it becausethat's not sexy high status.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
No, everything.
Whether you're a super or a PM,or whether you own a company,
it's risk versus reward, right.
You have to weigh what kind ofeffort and risk you're willing
to do for what kind of reward.
And that's a personal choicethat no one can really make but
you.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Yeah.
So on the idea of risk versusreward, why in the world would
you start a construction company, since the reward financial
reward of running a constructioncompany is like pennies in turn
compared to the amount of damneffort and pain and struggle you
have to experience?
Speaker 1 (18:00):
I was young and naive no, just joking.
Ok, let's do this, it'll be fun.
So I did federal constructionat my company.
We did commercial and fed, butwe were mostly federal because
we were in the SBA's 8A programright.
So at the time when I startedmy construction company we had
heard from those on the Hillthat they were going to treat
(18:22):
the girl card or the WOSB likethey were treating the 8A
program of the SBA.
And what that means is thatcustomers could sole source to
you with that kind of federalcontract and it's true they have
the power to do that but thecontracting officers are not
using the WSB or the EDWSB yet.
(18:43):
Started it thinking that it wasgoing to be a really easy
transition.
I had been along the frontrange in Colorado for many years
.
My name was well known alongall the federal bases, thought
that it was going to be likeeverything in life, so much
easier than it really is, and ittook years to get the portfolio
under my flag.
(19:03):
They knew me, but I had notdone any projects under my
company name, my flag.
It was painful and it was hardand it was a lot of learning
curve.
I wouldn't change it.
I have a lot of people ask menow I wouldn't change it.
I did so much personal growthand so much.
I mean I don't think theyshould give companies to people
as much as they allow people tohave their own company.
(19:25):
I started, I was an engineerand I had been in the industry
for a lot of time.
I didn't know profit and lossstatements, I didn't understand
P&Ls, I didn't know what thebank was looking at, what the
bond people were looking at, andI figured out really quick what
I didn't know and I wasfortunate to be surrounded by a
lot of smart people, but Iwanted to understand.
(19:47):
So I went and got a StreetwiseMBA.
But I wanted to understand.
So I went and got a StreetwiseMBA and during that process I
learned all of the stuff that Ineeded before I even started my
business.
And then I realized everythingI was doing wrong and I was able
to steer the ship.
So, yeah, I got into itthinking it was going to be a
better life for me.
I was a sole provider of twoyoung boys at the time and you
(20:10):
know, everybody always says ownyour own business, you have more
family time.
Negative, don't do that.
Don't do that.
If that's your motivator, don'tdo that.
So that's really why I jumpedinto it and a lot of good
lessons meant a lot of goodpeople wouldn't change it for
the world.
But it's a rough road.
It's not for everybody.
It's a rough road.
You burn that candle at bothends in the middle and it'll eat
(20:32):
you up and there's no privacy,right.
So when you're in thoseprograms I called it the Trinity
bank bond in the SBA.
They were my holy Trinity andwhen they called, you picked up
the phone.
It didn't matter what time itwas All three of those people
knew what I spent on groceriesevery month.
You're in a fishbowl.
They know everything right,because you've got to stay
within the confines of theprogram and I was definitely
(20:55):
ready to be out of the fishbowland to give back.
You know you get tired of beingcompetitive with all these
other people and there's so muchstigma around.
You know you can't succeed ifthey succeed and you can't talk
to them.
You're on a bid walk.
You have to put your game faceon and that was never me.
(21:16):
Like I drove my partner insanebecause this was renee.
Hey, how's it going?
Heard you got that job right.
That's what I wanted to be like.
I always wanted to be who I amnow and helping and giving back.
I didn't want to play thoseother games.
That wasn't my game.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
You know there's a whole bunch there Like the idea
that we can't talk to otherbusiness owners.
It's silly because nobody canhandle all the work that's
available.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
There's so much out there, and why?
Speaker 2 (21:47):
can we not build each other?
Speaker 1 (21:49):
up and then I would get dirty looks for my team.
You know like yep you told themour numbers.
I didn't tell them our numbers.
I was telling him good job forgetting the job on another base.
Heaven forbid, I wasn't talking, it's just, it wears me out
like just thinking back to thatand my whole body just goes yes,
yeah, it's.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
You know, I think maybe it's a new era or maybe
I'm just making better friends.
I've seen a trend I foundmyself around more and more
people like that are like-mindedin terms of like.
Why don't we like lift eachother up and support each other
and refer each other and share,because nobody really has some
super magical proprietary thingthat the other competitor isn't.
(22:33):
Like we're all doing the samegarbage.
Like we really are all doingthe same.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
I know, yes, I know, and, like we said earlier,
you're not for everybody, right?
I'm pretty straightforward andI use colorful big girl words.
Some people don't like to hearthat If I'm not your jam, let me
help you find somebody thatmight be.
Don't give up just because I'mnot it.
But then there's some peoplethat are like I really get you.
It's like you're talking to meand I understand it and I want
(23:00):
to learn from you and I'm likeget in the boat, let's go.
But yeah, I was miserableplaying the corporate games and
I'm much happier writing my owndestiny and getting to talk to
folks I want and getting tosurround myself by those people
that help build you up Right.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
So I love that you pointed out like the volume,
intense volume of personalgrowth that happens when you
start your own business.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Like you don't know what you don't know until you
try to start your own business.
And then you're like what?
And they gave me this?
Like the state gave me alicense and then the SBA let me
in their program.
Like what the heck?
I shouldn't be running abusiness.
I went to my first.
I was part of an emergingleaders program.
The first night they had aspeaker come on and they said,
(23:51):
oh, for the entrepreneurs in theroom, you're going to own, on
average, eight businesses inyour lifetime, so this one
really doesn't matter that much.
Like you're going to learn fromthis and move on.
And I'm sitting at this tablewith 15 other emerging leaders
and they start talking about allthese books they're reading to
become better people.
And they're like, oh, I'mreading Tony Robbins and I'm
(24:14):
reading this.
And I'm like, holy crap, Idon't have time to take a shower
.
Like I got dry shampoo in myhair, people.
And I mean like now though youfind time for that personal
development and you learn thatemotional intelligence and
personal development.
Like you can't lead withoutthose things.
And so now I'm one of thosepeople that are like, oh, did
(24:34):
you read this book?
And now people are like, oh, soglad you have time for all that
.
You make time right.
I mean, it's a mindset, so Iwalked into it.
I was in survival mode.
I was like riding the bikethrough hell.
The bike was on fire, my hairwas on fire.
I was just pedaling as fast asI could.
Then I realized I'm not gettinganywhere and I don't know what
(24:57):
I need to know.
My business is running me andI'm not running my business.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
I love that L&M family.
You just got about 90 pounds ofwisdom thrown at you.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
I hate it when people get scared, and they get scared
of the federal world.
The federal world is a game andyou've got to learn the rules
of the game and then you justplay it better than anybody else
, and those rules protect you asmuch as it protects the feds,
and there's good money to be had.
So I'm always trying to helppeople and encourage them.
Please go for it.
Don't not go for it, but don'tjump into that deep and blind.
(25:32):
Keep your eyes open.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Yes, yes, 100%.
But my backup plan if mybusiness fails is to table dance
for money.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
I thought you were going to say dance I was
definitely for that I got someones, jesse.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
I'm going to make it rain and I'm happy to announce
that for 2025, I will not bedancing on any tables, and
that's a good thing for people.
Now the thing, though, is like,in terms of the personal growth
and the self-awareness, likethe rate at what that has
exploded for me.
I've always been a nerd andliked learning things and
(26:08):
reading and whatever Don't tellanybody, but you know, as a
closet nerd, but before Istarted my business, all of
those books and ideas were likethey were great ideas, like, oh,
that's a good thought, that's agood idea, that's a great
thought, that's a good idea.
But they were kind of optional.
It was just like, you know, Icould do it or not.
(26:31):
Now, when I come across a greatidea, and I'm way more
selective and focused about whatI'm learning and what I'm
reading, because when it's makessense, I got to go do that damn
thing, like now because,depending on anybody else, right
, you got to figure it out, yeah.
Yes, yes, a hundred percent.
So that's just to say, startingyour business is going to hyper
accelerate your personal growth, whether you like it or not.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
And then you get employees and then you're trying
to motivate different peopleand people have different
motivators and the newgeneration is so different to
motivate.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Suddenly, I had Gen.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Xers that would be happy playing a guitar on a
street corner.
So like they were motivatedwhen I did community service as
a company.
But when I threw money at themthey were like no, no, and I'm
like what?
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Yeah, so while you were in that corporate space,
there was a certain type ofwe'll say costume that you have
to put on, because I think weall know what that is, and you
also mentioned early in ourconversation about the light
bulbs and seeing your impact.
So what was the transition?
What was the lighthouse thatpulled you from your
(27:38):
construction business to theQuality Control University?
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Yeah, it actually was linked.
So when I started myconstruction business, I talked
about how hard it was to getexperience under my flag and to
get a name, and so, in order totake me off the books, I would
go on other general contractorsites and I would audit their QC
program.
And I actually did QC work forother general contractors and
(28:04):
while I'm trying to get legsunderneath my business because I
couldn't afford payroll right,so I couldn't afford to pay
myself.
And so I'm out there doing thisfor, you know and I did it for
about I don't know eight or ninedifferent general contractors
along the front range.
And then it hit me these guysare suffering, they don't
understand, they don't know thestaff that is needed to meet the
(28:25):
federal requirements forquality control and they don't
have that staff on their payroll.
And so I started a divisionunder my general contracting
company of QC services and then,when I wanted out, I got
through the 8A program and Iwanted to do something different
.
My partner took the company adifferent direction and then I
(28:46):
took the QC with me and I justexpanded it because pre-COVID I
would travel all over the US andI would do audits and I would
be in the dirt with the guys andhelping them out.
And then COVID hit andeverybody shut up and I had to
figure out how to still reachthe guys and helping them out
and then, COVID hit andeverybody's shut and I had to
figure out how to still reachthose people and help them.
(29:09):
We learned all the fancy zoomcalls with the backgrounds and
the lights and how to talk topeople on the internet.
And then I figured out oh, youknow, online training.
Right, because the other, theother problem is nobody wants to
shut a job site down to traintheir staff.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
You know, so if you have online, training.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
They can access it.
Or, you know, they have a snowday and they're on salary right,
so they're already getting paidfor it.
So tell them to log in and dosome more QC training to finish
your certificate right.
So that kind of developed intothe QC university.
Because even after COVID,money's tight, it's hard.
My predominant customer is asmall general contractor just
(29:46):
getting into the federal arena.
That's usually the folks thatneed me the most and they don't
have the money to fly me to go,put me in the dirt.
I mean, every once in a while Iget to go and it's exciting.
But most of know they've got agrand or a couple grand that
they can job cost and get onlinetraining for their whole
company, versus two grand justfor a plane flight to put me up
(30:08):
for a week and then shut theirjob site down.
That's a cost and train theirpeople and they don't have that.
So this really is whatdeveloped in the QC university.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Oh man, okay, so there's a ton and I got to.
I'm going to hit you with asidewinder question at the end
of this, but you already talkedabout being able to see your
impact.
You started the branch of yourof the construction business was
QC, because you saw a painpoint that others, your
competitors, were struggling andyou decided to help them and
(30:39):
you could see the awakening, orthe light bulbs, and then covid
hit, which I think slapped usall in.
Like that's why I started apodcast was because of covid.
Right, pre-covid, I was likeall this online garbage is
garbage.
There's we.
Everything has to be in person.
And then over cold I was likeoh, wait a minute, yeah you're
like it's all t TikTok anddancing.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
And now you dance.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
And now I dance Exactly.
It feels like there was thesecircumstances that happened,
that could have cratered you,but, as they happen, it just
helped you find another path, orclear a path, Right.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
We can't control the circumstances that are around us
.
All we can control is how wereact to them.
So it's oh well, this beat medown.
Well, this isn't going to work,right, I got to find another
door.
I got to open another door.
I got to find another way.
Like I have no problem tryingto reinvent myself and find
another road, you know.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
And what I also picked up on is you talk about,
like the online self-pacedtraining where you're small, gc,
that really resources are thin.
Right, it's a way to providethem some value that is
digestible for them, absolutely.
So.
There's this idea or thread ofservice in there as well.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Yeah, oh, huge, and that's why I do what I do, right
?
So why is service?
Speaker 2 (31:59):
important to you.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
You know I previously talked to you and listened to
you on another podcast and wetalked about your rearview
mirror right, and you get a fewyears in the industry and you
figure out what makes you tick.
I have my forever home, I'msitting in it, I've got 30 acres
out here in rural Missouri andI have chickens and I have a
garden and I have my things.
(32:22):
All, joking aside, it comes downto you get to a point in your
life where you've held all thetitles, you've done half of your
bucket list.
What's priceless to you, right?
What's?
Going to get you out of bedevery single day.
You know I'm not.
I'm not, thankfully.
I'm not chasing a dollar for ahouse and I'm not chasing a
(32:42):
sports car.
Everything's a motivator atdifferent points in your life.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
I got a.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Mustang in the garage .
Don't get me wrong, I lovesport cars.
I don't want to offend thesport car people, but you just
get to that point where whatmeans most to you and what gets
me out of bed every day ishelping a subcontractor or a
general contractor or a smallbusiness owner or a QC manager
that's on a job and no one'sgiven them training except for
(33:10):
the core's one day class right,and they're lost and they're
struggling and I've been thereand every day they think their
butt's going to get fired andthey've got kids that they have
to feed at home, or a wife or adog or a cat or a sports car
they want to put gas in.
I don't care.
Shelter in the occasional beer.
Whatever your motivator is Like, I want to help you get there.
(33:33):
That's what gets me out of bed.
It's just you get to that pointin your career where you're not
chasing a physical objectanymore.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
And that's where I'm at.
Yeah, so ditto, when I figuredout two things, that the secret
was fulfillment.
When I spend more time doingthings that bring me fulfillment
, life is awesome, agreed.
And then now the sub part tothat is how do I get fulfillment
?
It's by doing the things thatI'm designed to best serve at
Key point, service.
Where do I get fulfillment?
From Serving others.
(34:08):
How do I serve others?
Sharing my gifts and talentsthat I've been blessed with.
That's the thing in it.
So totally get it.
I absolutely love food, shelterand the occasional beer because
I'm sober now, but so coffeeright.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Same thing, yeah, whatever your jam is.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Now, what I understand is the business or
the way that you serve thecommunity is not just through
self-paced online training.
You offer other services.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
Yeah, we'll do site audits, but you know bigger
picture, a portion of all of oursales goes back into educating
the youth and I know that's nearand dear to your heart, right?
So we do career fairs at theelementary school, we do at the
middle school, we do at a highschool level and we go and talk
to them about the opportunitiesin the trades.
(34:58):
My husband came up through thesheet metal union and so he
always comes with me.
He did test and balancecommissioning and then I sucked
him into quality control.
He walks the trade route and Italk the engineering route, and
the fun part is to see the lookon the kid's face when we say we
ended up in the same spot andwe both make really damn good
money.
Like you don't have to go touniversity and get a piece of
(35:21):
paper.
Please stop telling the kidsthat we need people that want to
get into the trades, that wantto be the craftsmen.
So anyway, that's near and dearto our hearts, and so a portion
of all of our sales goes backto either programs that educate
the youth or us getting outthere and hitting the street and
helping out at those kind ofprograms.
And I've seen your post.
You do the same thing with thehands-on workshops with the kids
(35:44):
and things.
That makes that lastingimpression, and sometimes we're
the only ones telling those kidsit's okay.
Not only is it okay, it's kickass.
Come do this, this is all.
Come do this.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
You know, I gotta, I gotta brag.
There's a highlight, one of thelast thing, that I was involved
in the Texas ConstructionCareers and it's an annual thing
where we had 900 students there.
Anyways, and I'm just themouthpiece, right, I'm just
there for comedy relief.
So I was the emcee of the event.
I'm interviewing all thevendors, different employers and
(36:17):
all this stuff because, you'reright, it is freaking awesome.
Granted, you got to be able totolerate the, the element, right
, you got to be able to.
You know, there's some thingsthat it's hard work, it's hard
like, it's hard on the if you'resoft.
There ain't no mommies here.
No, you got to figure it outfor sure now.
So I was interviewing this onegroup employer and I'm looking
(36:40):
at the kid.
I'm like I know you and he'syeah, I've been here.
I've been here.
This is my third time here.
I'm like, yeah, but you weren't.
This is your first time behindthe booth with the company.
Oh, yeah, I just I've beenworking with them for nine
months.
I said well, where were youbefore that?
He said high school.
I said no way.
Yeah, I talked to you last timeI was here as I was a student,
(37:02):
and I said no.
He said yeah.
I said okay, how much did thisevent, which is one time a year,
how much did this event playinto you deciding to start a
career in construction?
And he said it was everything.
My first time I came out I hadno idea there was this much
stuff that, like, all I thinkabout is, you know, the guy with
(37:27):
the vest standing with the stopsign.
I had no idea there was so manythings.
Second time I came he's like Iknew that I wanted to get into,
like welding, but just thoseinteractions helped him become
aware of the plethora of careersthat are in the industry.
And so for me, like you, thereason it's so important to me
is because the trades gave me anamazing life, like a life that
(37:49):
I had no idea was possible.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Oh, I would never have what I have without it.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
I've got to travel.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
I've got to see places, I've got to work with
different places, differentpeople.
I hear it all the time, butit's the camaraderie, right,
it's the people.
I miss being in the dirt somuch, and you know, I mean I
love the dirt.
It's not just the dirt, though,it's the people I miss, that oh
same same.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
And so here's the thing, like kind of back to the
oh you're like, you're inconstruction.
I thought you were an engineer,what happened?
You're not passing.
I have a deep appreciation foreducation, whether that's the
formal thing or self-education,but what I'm not okay with and
(38:34):
this is why I'm such a hugeadvocate for the trades or
careers in construction is I amnot okay with forcing kids into
a situation that is not designedto help them thrive.
And I know firsthand that anoffice is not a place where I
(38:55):
will do well, I will do poorlyand I will make it difficult for
everybody around me because Ican't sit still, I'm noisy, I'm
rambunctious, like constructionhad the perfect conditions for
me to learn and thrive.
And that's, I think, thedifference.
We all thrive under differentconditions and when we force
(39:17):
people into, you know if youneed a lot of structure, a lot
of direction, a clear path,education, right.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
Academic touch.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
If you can thrive in ambiguous, uncertain, rough and
tumble kind of experiment tofigure it out, make your own
decisions, learn from failure.
You need to come over here tothis side.
I think for me that's theimportant thing.
There's options.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
So many options and then people get pigeon-tolled,
even within our industry.
I've trained several fieldforemen to be a quality control
manager because they talked tome in the field and they thought
that was all that there was forthem, that's all they're ever
going to amount to be, and Isaid yes, what do you want to do
?
Speaker 2 (39:57):
There's more.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
You can do anything you want to do.
There's no reason why a fieldforeman or a dirt work operator
can't own a company or be a QC,or be a safety guy or be a
project manager.
You just have to forge yourpath, and if the company you're
with is not helping to supportyou, maybe it's time to find
another one.
No one's going to look out foryou but you.
(40:21):
But go do it.
I volunteered to go speak at acommunity college here close to
me and I said I want to talk tothem about construction quality
control.
And he said oh, ma'am, I'llgive you over to the
manufacturing department.
And I said no, you're in theconstruction department and
that's what I want to talk to.
And I mean like he had no ideathat there was such a thing and
(40:44):
it's just that's.
you know when I'm screamingsometimes I feel like I'm trying
to educate people.
There's like a whole careerpath for qcs and they they're
writing their own tickets right,they're getting to travel
overseas, they're travelinganywhere within the us and
they're almost naming theirprice.
This is a career.
People are doing it.
They're making real good money.
(41:04):
They're loving it.
It's a thing.
But yeah, in the end I didn'tget to talk to the community
college because the gentlemanover the construction didn't
think that construction qualitycontrol was a thing.
Still a lot of mindsets tochange.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
If somebody wants to access you, get into the magical
, wonderful world of quality.
Where should we send them?
Speaker 1 (41:26):
Yeah, so qcuniversitynet is our site and
we've got standalone there aswell as our membership.
That has all of our inclusivetraining and it's got all of our
forums.
All the options are sittingthere.
But you can find me on all thesocials.
So we're on the Facebooks andthe Instagrams and the YouTubes
and we even do the TikToks.
I don't dance, though.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
Okay, we'll make sure we have those links in the show
notes when we post this bad boy.
Now you ready for the big heavysidewinder question.
And I'm excited because clearlyyou've learned a ton from the
experiences you've had on yourpath and you've shared it with
so many people and you continueto contribute into other
people's lives.
So my guess is like your answerto this is going to be pretty
(42:11):
profound.
So here's the question.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
All right.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
What is the promise you are intended to be?
Speaker 1 (42:18):
I think the promise I'm intended to be is to be
unapologetic in myself yet alsocompletely straightforward on
what I will provide.
I don't make open promises thatcan be broken.
So when I say I'm going to dosomething, I'm going to do it
and I'm going to do it for 150%and I'm going to give it my all,
and I'm to the point where Iget to live an unapologetic life
(42:41):
giving back.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
Oh, and that takes us all the way back to reputation.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
Right.
Quality is what remains afterthe dust settles, and it is what
you build your reputation onGangster.
We're running on a t-shirt.
We got a t-shirt.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
I'm going to do a t-shirt.
Yes, yes, we'll, we'll figurethat out.
Did you have fun?
Do a t-shirt.
Yes, yes, we'll, we'll figurethat out, did you have fun.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
I had so much fun.
It was so great, my friend,just to get to talk to you Like
we're going to catch up and havea coffee in person.
It's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Coffee as we're cruising in the Mustang.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
It's a date Done.
My road is a spaghetti disaster and I
wouldn't trade it for anything.
You know, you meet differentpeople, you go different
directions.
You figure out.
I like this, I don't like that.
Nothing you do in yourspaghetti path is ever a waste.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
We can't talk to other business owners.
It's silly, because nobody canhandle all the work that's
available.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
There's so much out there, and why can we not build
each other up right?
We can't control thecircumstances that are around us
.
All we can control is how wereact to them.
There's like a whole careerpath for QCs, and they're
writing their own tickets.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
What is going on L&M family?
I'm back and I got a superspecial high energy, just kind
of a friend having coffee, butwith some like real game.
You're going to get to meetMiss Renee Glenn Denning, who I
beat y'all because I got to havea conversation with her a few
weeks back.
I think I was in California atthe time and said, oh man,
because I got to have aconversation with her a few
weeks back, I think I was inCalifornia at the time and said,
(01:07):
oh man, we got to get you onthe show.
She's been super supportive andengaging on the social media, on
the LinkedIn and stuff.
She has spent some time doingcool stuff with NASA, which is
still that's kind of like wow, Iknow somebody from NASA Rocket
science Rocket.
I mean, I'm telling you I haveno business talking to rocket
(01:28):
scientists, but hey, owned herown general contracting company,
which is no small feat, and nowis changing the construction
world around and in qualitycontrol she has a quality
control university.
Let's get to know Miss Renee.
Miss Renee, how are you doingthis?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
morning, I'm doing good.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Oh, you know, I'm just here having fun talking my
head off all morning today.
So, renee, first question, Iwas stalking you on the
interwebs.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I saw that your tagline is like quality is what
remains when the dust settles.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yeah, that is our thing.
What is the dust?
The dust of construction, thedust of building, the dust of
making, the dust of what we do.
So when that dust settles,quality is what remains and it's
what we build our reputation on.
That's the second part of that.
Saying so, that's on all of ourjackets and our gear and it
just it stuck with me for yearsand years and years and years,
(02:27):
and I stole that from a fellowindividual that is in the
industry and years ago that'swhat he said quality was.
He said quality is what remainsafter the dust settles and it's
what we build our reputation on.
And for me, that hit home.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Oh, I love it.
And yeah, like visually, whenyou think of a job site, there's
a lot of dust.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Even with water trucks, there's a lot of dust,
oh my.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
God, yes, yes, yes.
And then, like you said, ourreputation.
I'm going to go out this isn'ta big assumption, but the
quality of the stuff I doprobably isn't of the highest
quality, but I have a reputationfor that and that's okay.
Like people know, when you dealwith me, it's going to be quick
and dirty, it's not going to besuper polished, but the quality
(03:11):
of whatever it is we deliver,in terms of relationships in
construction and so forth, shapeor inform our reputation.
They shape our reputation.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
And we're only as good as our last job or our last
project.
Whatever you did, you're onlyas good as our last job or our
last project.
Whatever you did, you're onlyas good as the last thing that
you did.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Oh, oh, my goodness.
So there's a ton to dive inthere, especially around the QC
stuff, because that's whereyou're swimming and providing a
lot of value to a lot of folksout there.
But I want to.
Well, I'm not going to takeownership of it, I'm going to
blame it on the L&M family.
The L&M family wants to knowwhere did it all start, like
when you were in middle school,high school, did you plot it out
(03:53):
?
I'm going to go to university,I'm going to get my engineering
degree, I'm going to work forNASA, so what?
Speaker 1 (03:59):
happened.
I was a dance instructor.
That's awesome.
Okay, I was a dance instructor.
That's awesome.
Yeah, I was a dance instructor.
And my mom came to me with ahard truth and she said you're
not going to be able to do thisforever and you're not going to
be able to support yourselfforever doing this.
And so she said you're going togo to school.
And so my head was stuck in thestars and I have always been a
(04:21):
proponent of the space programand the stars and exploration.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And she said no you're not going to make the
frigging money doing that.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
You're not going to be an astronomer.
Get that out of your head, allright, well, I guess I'll be an
engineer.
And she was like all right,good plan.
And I had a helicopter mom,bless her heart, love her to
death.
But yeah, no, she, she steeredme in that direction and so I
went to school and I went towork for THICOL in the space
program and I worked in thefacilities group.
We built the rockets, but I wasin the facilities group.
(04:50):
So that's when I got intoconstruction, because we built
the facilities that built therockets.
And so I got into constructionand I realized this is my gig.
I hated the over the wallengineering.
You know you do something andthen then two years later it got
built.
That's not.
That was not what I wanted.
I wanted to see my impact and Iwanted to see my impact
(05:11):
beginning to end, not throw itover the wall and then never get
to see what it looked like.
So I figured out right awaythat construction is what I
wanted to do.
And no, my road is a spaghettidisaster and it's.
I wouldn't trade it foranything.
You know, you meet differentpeople, you go different
directions.
You figure out I like this, Idon't like that.
(05:32):
I measured in everything forone semester.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
You measured in everything.
Okay.
So first I want to know cause Ilike, I'm into dancing what
you're a dance instructor.
Was it a particular style?
Was it ballroom?
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, no, it was jazz and tap and I will only admit
this to you.
Clog.
Okay, how embarrassing is thatCountry.
Western tap shoes, clog.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
I think it's you know .
I don't tell anybody, sincewe're making confessions here.
I will watch clog videos.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Business Jason's whole podcast making confessions
here I will watch clog videos.
Business podcast deepconfessions with jesse.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
He'll pull it out of you and I've always had this
thing in my mind.
It's still.
It may be it, I wouldn't evensay it's a bucket list item, but
I've always, always admired tapdancing, like just.
There's some super cool folksI've seen out there amazing okay
(06:29):
.
So now you know this, and Ithink the listeners out there
know, there's always these weirdthings that don't seem
connected, but there areconnections and so now you know
you talked about the squigglypath of your life.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
What are some of theconnections to the thinking or
the approach to learning andteaching dance and the things
(06:50):
that you've experienced over theyears?
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Yeah, I think it's understanding how to communicate
on different levels.
If the person or the student isnot getting it, you have to be
able to try to bring it intotheir focus.
Right, and I think that's whata good coach, a good educator, a
good dance instructor, itdoesn't matter Right, you have
to learn how to talk ondifferent levels and don't talk
(07:14):
down to people.
I hate that.
This means talking and meetingsomeone on a level that they're
going to get it.
For me, it's always the joy ofthe light bulb.
Like you, you called out yourfamily member at the beginning,
right, he had a light bulbmoment.
That's what that was.
That's why we do this.
When you see someone get it andfind the satisfaction of I get
(07:36):
it.
Finally, I understand you saidit in a different way and I get
it.
And for me, that's what gets meout of bed every day.
It's finding someone to reachthat's going to get it.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
And for me, that's what gets me out of bed every
day is finding someone to reachthat's going to get it and have
that light bulb moment, becausethose are moments that stick
with them forever and then thatchanges their spaghetti path,
right, so I love that you pointout, like in teaching dance,
like you got to figure out whatis the flavor that the learner
needs and, more importantly, howyou connected it to its value
(08:07):
in the professional space, likeuniversally valuable, when you
have that skill to be able toadjust and say, oh, it's not
them, it's me.
It reminds me of a saying oneof my coaches said if the
learner hasn't learned, theteacher hasn't taught.
Oh, I agree.
Now that's not to say that thelearner doesn't have some
responsibility in the situation.
But in order to hold myself toa high standard of quality, if I
(08:31):
hold myself to that level ofownership to say they're not
learning because I haven'ttaught, I need to augment,
adjust, tweak my communication,whatever it is my delivery, so
that they can consume it andhave that light bulb moment.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Absolutely, I get asked all the time.
oh, you have a piece of paper,yet you're an engineer.
What a waste.
You do construction oh, thatjust drives me nuts.
Education is the one thingthat's never a waste.
Whether it's somebody teachingyou how to insulate a pipeline
in the field, or whether you'resitting in a classroom, it's not
a waste.
And I use my degree every daybecause then I can communicate
with the A kids and I can callthem A kids because I'm one of
(09:08):
them.
I wouldn't be able tocommunicate with them the way I
am if I didn't have it, and Itry to explain that to people.
Nothing you do in yourspaghetti path is ever a waste.
Just pull that out of yourbrain and get rid of that right
now.
Say it again, sister.
Right, I mean even your QCMclass right.
That made it so that you and Ifound common ground.
(09:29):
I understood what you did.
You understood what I did.
You know, that day you might'vebeen like oh geez, this is a
drag, what a wait.
But it's not.
I mean, here you are, you know,decades later going oh yeah,
yeah, I've done that thing, Iknow.
I know what you do.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Yeah, you know I never taught dance, but I was
obsessive about salsa, dancingsalsa and merengue, not merengue
, salsa and bachata.
I was at the studio four nightsa week and then I was at the
club two nights a week, learningwhat I learned from that.
(10:25):
I learned a lot of things, butthe things that are applicable
in the squiggly line of successwas when I'm leading, responding
to the pressure or thelightness or whatever of the
person I'm dancing with makes,for we got to maintain this
connection.
There's some push and pull thathelps us do the maneuver and do
the patterns and the lead, andif my intensity or gentleness is
not tuned to that person, we'regoing to get disconnected and
it's going to be wonky, which isvery similar to what you said,
but what I I think I've done,what I used to do early, early
(10:46):
in my career, was everything wasa fight, everything was a
wrestling match where I wasgrabbing people and throwing
them around.
In working with quality controlprofessionals and I'm going to
expand that even further tofolks that are in support groups
, because I would say thatquality is a support function,
along with HR and safety and allthe other things I've come
(11:09):
across so many folks in thoseroles that are wrestling.
My question to you is howimportant are interpersonal
skills for QC professionals?
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Extremely important and we've about this being human
right and being a good humanand treating people like a human
.
That saying of you get morebees with honey right.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Uh-huh.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
A QC that is a human on a site is useful and they
will be seen as useful, and a QCthat lands on the site as a
dictator is a cancer and it's acancer.
Unfortunately, I have not foundthe magic sauce to change, and
there are some of those folksthat I did a post about this not
too long ago.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
So, before you get to learn more about her, I want to
give the LNM family membershout out.
This one is for Mr Bernard.
Bernard sent me this awesomemessage that lit up my day and I
want to share it with y'all.
Bernard said Jesse, this isawesome.
Thank you very much.
Being a part of this journeyhas made the world of difference
(12:16):
in my professional and personallife.
Glad I'm a part of it and willdefinitely continue to reach out
and spread the word.
So Mr Bernard is talking aboutemotional bungee jumpers, which
he's been a part of for almost ayear, and obviously it's
helping him.
It's not just torture, but hewent out of his way to let me
know that it is having an impacton him.
(12:38):
And so folks out there, lnmfamily members, take the time.
If you give me like stars, Idon't care how many stars, just
give me some stars.
Give me a review, send me amessage.
All of that thing is supermeaningful to me because it
helps me know that, hey, I'm notthe only one listening to my
episodes out there, and it givesme an excuse to celebrate you
(13:03):
on a future podcast.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
They throw around how many years they have in the
dirt.
Right, it's this badge of honor.
I don't need to learn anythingbecause I know it all, because I
have 40 years in the dirt.
Oh, it just drives me crazy.
And I've not yet found themagic sauce to turn all those
folks' mindset around.
That's a mindset that can be sodetrimental for a project.
(13:28):
It's so hard, it's so hard.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
It's got to be hard for the individual as well.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
They're miserable.
If you talk to them they'remiserable.
Most of them have four divorces, they're playing child support,
they don't have enough for abeer in the evening and you just
look at them like you know.
If you just change your mindseta little bit and just be a
human, it'll change.
So no, interpersonal skills areextremely important and
(13:55):
approaching everything withopen-mindedness and with
curiosity like just becauseyou've got 30, 40 years in the
dirt doesn't mean your way's theonly way.
You know, there there may be ayoung buck.
He may have boots that are soshiny clean you just want to go
over there and step on them.
But he may be fresh and he maylook at something and go.
(14:16):
Why are you guys doing thatInstead of doing it this way,
like he may change your wholeworld, like he could rock it.
You know, but you got gottahave that mindset of listen.
You gotta open your ears andlisten because you never know
when you're gonna meet theperson that's gonna light ball
moment for you, and so thatreally interpersonal skills are
very important to a successfulqc manager.
(14:37):
Organization and interpersonalskills.
If you got that, you can do it.
You can do it.
You could do a lot.
I made lead foreman into QCmanagers.
I've made engineers into QCmanagers.
I have made pipe fitters intoQC managers.
Anyone can do this position ifthey have the right mindset and
organizational skills.
(14:58):
The rest of that we can teach.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Now I want to do, maybe, some myth busting here.
Oh yes, because, like youmentioned earlier, when people,
you've had people in your life,tell you, like you have an
engineering degree in yourconstruction, what a waste,
right.
And then the.
So that's myth number one.
Myth number two is engineersdon't have interpersonal skills.
But clearly you do, and youI've worked with a lot of them
(15:23):
that don't, yeah.
And so how do you navigate that?
Because there are a lot ofpeople that are are binary.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yeah, I made more as a quality control manager than I
ever did as an engineer, and sothat's the number one money
talks for a lot of people.
So when people say what a waste.
Yeah well you know, or I've gotfolks in my family that look at
me and go oh, you're inconstruction.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Yeah, it's done really good.
For me and my family it's donegood.
So money talks for a lot ofpeople, and then for some people
it's more than that.
Hopefully for most people it'smore than that.
But normally as soon as I sayI'd make more as a QC manager
than engineer, they go what?
Really that can't be.
So that's usually how I startthat conversation and then it's
(16:11):
just it's what is your jammy jamright, it's what you enjoy
doing, and when I've been in theindustry, the young bucks
always want to be a projectmanager Every time I interview
someone well, my goal is to be aproject manager.
That's what I want to be, and Ialways tell them, even when I
own my own company you'll beback If you go, do that, wear
that hat and then you come backto my office in a year or two
and you tell me you're donebeing a babysitter and that you
(16:31):
want to be a QC manager, andwe'll talk again and I'll tell
you, 95% of those boys and girls, they come back and they want
to be a QC.
I think that's where it's at.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Yeah, there's like an unearned status given to the
title of engineer and projectmanager, Like I would well, I'm
a field guy so one of the jobs Ihad it was a new position to
the company and so they didn'thave it technically in their
system yet and so theyclassified me as a project
manager internally and I waslike y'all need to change that
(17:04):
title because I'm about to quit.
I one thing I never want to be.
I'm not one of those, but itnot that's.
It's because I have a lot ofbiases and I've worked with a
lot of project managers thatmade my life miserable.
But I also appreciate, likethat job, that work.
You got to love it becausethat's not sexy high status.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
No, everything.
Whether you're a super or a PM,or whether you own a company,
it's risk versus reward, right.
You have to weigh what kind ofeffort and risk you're willing
to do for what kind of reward.
And that's a personal choicethat no one can really make but
you.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Yeah.
So on the idea of risk versusreward, why in the world would
you start a construction company, since the reward financial
reward of running a constructioncompany is like pennies in turn
compared to the amount of damneffort and pain and struggle you
have to experience?
Speaker 1 (18:00):
I was young and naive no, just joking.
Ok, let's do this, it'll be fun.
So I did federal constructionat my company.
We did commercial and fed, butwe were mostly federal because
we were in the SBA's 8A programright.
So at the time when I startedmy construction company we had
heard from those on the Hillthat they were going to treat
(18:22):
the girl card or the WOSB likethey were treating the 8A
program of the SBA.
And what that means is thatcustomers could sole source to
you with that kind of federalcontract and it's true they have
the power to do that but thecontracting officers are not
using the WSB or the EDWSB yet.
(18:43):
Started it thinking that it wasgoing to be a really easy
transition.
I had been along the frontrange in Colorado for many years
.
My name was well known alongall the federal bases, thought
that it was going to be likeeverything in life, so much
easier than it really is, and ittook years to get the portfolio
under my flag.
(19:03):
They knew me, but I had notdone any projects under my
company name, my flag.
It was painful and it was hardand it was a lot of learning
curve.
I wouldn't change it.
I have a lot of people ask menow I wouldn't change it.
I did so much personal growthand so much.
I mean I don't think theyshould give companies to people
as much as they allow people tohave their own company.
(19:25):
I started, I was an engineerand I had been in the industry
for a lot of time.
I didn't know profit and lossstatements, I didn't understand
P&Ls, I didn't know what thebank was looking at, what the
bond people were looking at, andI figured out really quick what
I didn't know and I wasfortunate to be surrounded by a
lot of smart people, but Iwanted to understand.
(19:47):
So I went and got a StreetwiseMBA.
But I wanted to understand.
So I went and got a StreetwiseMBA and during that process I
learned all of the stuff that Ineeded before I even started my
business.
And then I realized everythingI was doing wrong and I was able
to steer the ship.
So, yeah, I got into itthinking it was going to be a
better life for me.
I was a sole provider of twoyoung boys at the time and you
(20:10):
know, everybody always says ownyour own business, you have more
family time.
Negative, don't do that.
Don't do that.
If that's your motivator, don'tdo that.
So that's really why I jumpedinto it and a lot of good
lessons meant a lot of goodpeople wouldn't change it for
the world.
But it's a rough road.
It's not for everybody.
It's a rough road.
You burn that candle at bothends in the middle and it'll eat
(20:32):
you up and there's no privacy,right.
So when you're in thoseprograms I called it the Trinity
bank bond in the SBA.
They were my holy Trinity andwhen they called, you picked up
the phone.
It didn't matter what time itwas All three of those people
knew what I spent on groceriesevery month.
You're in a fishbowl.
They know everything right,because you've got to stay
within the confines of theprogram and I was definitely
(20:55):
ready to be out of the fishbowland to give back.
You know you get tired of beingcompetitive with all these
other people and there's so muchstigma around.
You know you can't succeed ifthey succeed and you can't talk
to them.
You're on a bid walk.
You have to put your game faceon and that was never me.
(21:16):
Like I drove my partner insanebecause this was renee.
Hey, how's it going?
Heard you got that job right.
That's what I wanted to be like.
I always wanted to be who I amnow and helping and giving back.
I didn't want to play thoseother games.
That wasn't my game.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
You know there's a whole bunch there Like the idea
that we can't talk to otherbusiness owners.
It's silly because nobody canhandle all the work that's
available.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
There's so much out there, and why?
Speaker 2 (21:47):
can we not build each other?
Speaker 1 (21:49):
up and then I would get dirty looks for my team.
You know like yep you told themour numbers.
I didn't tell them our numbers.
I was telling him good job forgetting the job on another base.
Heaven forbid, I wasn't talking, it's just, it wears me out
like just thinking back to thatand my whole body just goes yes,
yeah, it's.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
You know, I think maybe it's a new era or maybe
I'm just making better friends.
I've seen a trend I foundmyself around more and more
people like that are like-mindedin terms of like.
Why don't we like lift eachother up and support each other
and refer each other and share,because nobody really has some
super magical proprietary thingthat the other competitor isn't.
(22:33):
Like we're all doing the samegarbage.
Like we really are all doingthe same.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
I know, yes, I know, and, like we said earlier,
you're not for everybody, right?
I'm pretty straightforward andI use colorful big girl words.
Some people don't like to hearthat If I'm not your jam, let me
help you find somebody thatmight be.
Don't give up just because I'mnot it.
But then there's some peoplethat are like I really get you.
It's like you're talking to meand I understand it and I want
(23:00):
to learn from you and I'm likeget in the boat, let's go.
But yeah, I was miserableplaying the corporate games and
I'm much happier writing my owndestiny and getting to talk to
folks I want and getting tosurround myself by those people
that help build you up Right.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
So I love that you pointed out like the volume,
intense volume of personalgrowth that happens when you
start your own business.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Like you don't know what you don't know until you
try to start your own business.
And then you're like what?
And they gave me this?
Like the state gave me alicense and then the SBA let me
in their program.
Like what the heck?
I shouldn't be running abusiness.
I went to my first.
I was part of an emergingleaders program.
The first night they had aspeaker come on and they said,
(23:51):
oh, for the entrepreneurs in theroom, you're going to own, on
average, eight businesses inyour lifetime, so this one
really doesn't matter that much.
Like you're going to learn fromthis and move on.
And I'm sitting at this tablewith 15 other emerging leaders
and they start talking about allthese books they're reading to
become better people.
And they're like, oh, I'mreading Tony Robbins and I'm
(24:14):
reading this.
And I'm like, holy crap, Idon't have time to take a shower
.
Like I got dry shampoo in myhair, people.
And I mean like now though youfind time for that personal
development and you learn thatemotional intelligence and
personal development.
Like you can't lead withoutthose things.
And so now I'm one of thosepeople that are like, oh, did
(24:34):
you read this book?
And now people are like, oh, soglad you have time for all that
.
You make time right.
I mean, it's a mindset, so Iwalked into it.
I was in survival mode.
I was like riding the bikethrough hell.
The bike was on fire, my hairwas on fire.
I was just pedaling as fast asI could.
Then I realized I'm not gettinganywhere and I don't know what
(24:57):
I need to know.
My business is running me andI'm not running my business.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
I love that L&M family.
You just got about 90 pounds ofwisdom thrown at you.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
I hate it when people get scared, and they get scared
of the federal world.
The federal world is a game andyou've got to learn the rules
of the game and then you justplay it better than anybody else
, and those rules protect you asmuch as it protects the feds,
and there's good money to be had.
So I'm always trying to helppeople and encourage them.
Please go for it.
Don't not go for it, but don'tjump into that deep and blind.
(25:32):
Keep your eyes open.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Yes, yes, 100%.
But my backup plan if mybusiness fails is to table dance
for money.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
I thought you were going to say dance I was
definitely for that I got someones, jesse.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
I'm going to make it rain and I'm happy to announce
that for 2025, I will not bedancing on any tables, and
that's a good thing for people.
Now the thing, though, is like,in terms of the personal growth
and the self-awareness, likethe rate at what that has
exploded for me.
I've always been a nerd andliked learning things and
(26:08):
reading and whatever Don't tellanybody, but you know, as a
closet nerd, but before Istarted my business, all of
those books and ideas were likethey were great ideas, like, oh,
that's a good thought, that's agood idea, that's a great
thought, that's a good idea.
But they were kind of optional.
It was just like, you know, Icould do it or not.
(26:31):
Now, when I come across a greatidea, and I'm way more
selective and focused about whatI'm learning and what I'm
reading, because when it's makessense, I got to go do that damn
thing, like now because,depending on anybody else, right
, you got to figure it out, yeah.
Yes, yes, a hundred percent.
So that's just to say, startingyour business is going to hyper
accelerate your personal growth, whether you like it or not.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
And then you get employees and then you're trying
to motivate different peopleand people have different
motivators and the newgeneration is so different to
motivate.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Suddenly, I had Gen.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Xers that would be happy playing a guitar on a
street corner.
So like they were motivatedwhen I did community service as
a company.
But when I threw money at themthey were like no, no, and I'm
like what?
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Yeah, so while you were in that corporate space,
there was a certain type ofwe'll say costume that you have
to put on, because I think weall know what that is, and you
also mentioned early in ourconversation about the light
bulbs and seeing your impact.
So what was the transition?
What was the lighthouse thatpulled you from your
(27:38):
construction business to theQuality Control University?
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Yeah, it actually was linked.
So when I started myconstruction business, I talked
about how hard it was to getexperience under my flag and to
get a name, and so, in order totake me off the books, I would
go on other general contractorsites and I would audit their QC
program.
And I actually did QC work forother general contractors and
(28:04):
while I'm trying to get legsunderneath my business because I
couldn't afford payroll right,so I couldn't afford to pay
myself.
And so I'm out there doing thisfor, you know and I did it for
about I don't know eight or ninedifferent general contractors
along the front range.
And then it hit me these guysare suffering, they don't
understand, they don't know thestaff that is needed to meet the
(28:25):
federal requirements forquality control and they don't
have that staff on their payroll.
And so I started a divisionunder my general contracting
company of QC services and then,when I wanted out, I got
through the 8A program and Iwanted to do something different
.
My partner took the company adifferent direction and then I
(28:46):
took the QC with me and I justexpanded it because pre-COVID I
would travel all over the US andI would do audits and I would
be in the dirt with the guys andhelping them out.
And then COVID hit andeverybody shut up and I had to
figure out how to still reachthe guys and helping them out
and then, COVID hit andeverybody's shut and I had to
figure out how to still reachthose people and help them.
(29:09):
We learned all the fancy zoomcalls with the backgrounds and
the lights and how to talk topeople on the internet.
And then I figured out oh, youknow, online training.
Right, because the other, theother problem is nobody wants to
shut a job site down to traintheir staff.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
You know, so if you have online, training.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
They can access it.
Or, you know, they have a snowday and they're on salary right,
so they're already getting paidfor it.
So tell them to log in and dosome more QC training to finish
your certificate right.
So that kind of developed intothe QC university.
Because even after COVID,money's tight, it's hard.
My predominant customer is asmall general contractor just
(29:46):
getting into the federal arena.
That's usually the folks thatneed me the most and they don't
have the money to fly me to go,put me in the dirt.
I mean, every once in a while Iget to go and it's exciting.
But most of know they've got agrand or a couple grand that
they can job cost and get onlinetraining for their whole
company, versus two grand justfor a plane flight to put me up
(30:08):
for a week and then shut theirjob site down.
That's a cost and train theirpeople and they don't have that.
So this really is whatdeveloped in the QC university.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Oh man, okay, so there's a ton and I got to.
I'm going to hit you with asidewinder question at the end
of this, but you already talkedabout being able to see your
impact.
You started the branch of yourof the construction business was
QC, because you saw a painpoint that others, your
competitors, were struggling andyou decided to help them and
(30:39):
you could see the awakening, orthe light bulbs, and then covid
hit, which I think slapped usall in.
Like that's why I started apodcast was because of covid.
Right, pre-covid, I was likeall this online garbage is
garbage.
There's we.
Everything has to be in person.
And then over cold I was likeoh, wait a minute, yeah you're
like it's all t TikTok anddancing.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
And now you dance.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
And now I dance Exactly.
It feels like there was thesecircumstances that happened,
that could have cratered you,but, as they happen, it just
helped you find another path, orclear a path, Right.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
We can't control the circumstances that are around us
.
All we can control is how wereact to them.
So it's oh well, this beat medown.
Well, this isn't going to work,right, I got to find another
door.
I got to open another door.
I got to find another way.
Like I have no problem tryingto reinvent myself and find
another road, you know.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
And what I also picked up on is you talk about,
like the online self-pacedtraining where you're small, gc,
that really resources are thin.
Right, it's a way to providethem some value that is
digestible for them, absolutely.
So.
There's this idea or thread ofservice in there as well.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Yeah, oh, huge, and that's why I do what I do, right
?
So why is service?
Speaker 2 (31:59):
important to you.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
You know I previously talked to you and listened to
you on another podcast and wetalked about your rearview
mirror right, and you get a fewyears in the industry and you
figure out what makes you tick.
I have my forever home, I'msitting in it, I've got 30 acres
out here in rural Missouri andI have chickens and I have a
garden and I have my things.
(32:22):
All, joking aside, it comes downto you get to a point in your
life where you've held all thetitles, you've done half of your
bucket list.
What's priceless to you, right?
What's?
Going to get you out of bedevery single day.
You know I'm not.
I'm not, thankfully.
I'm not chasing a dollar for ahouse and I'm not chasing a
(32:42):
sports car.
Everything's a motivator atdifferent points in your life.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
I got a.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Mustang in the garage .
Don't get me wrong, I lovesport cars.
I don't want to offend thesport car people, but you just
get to that point where whatmeans most to you and what gets
me out of bed every day ishelping a subcontractor or a
general contractor or a smallbusiness owner or a QC manager
that's on a job and no one'sgiven them training except for
(33:10):
the core's one day class right,and they're lost and they're
struggling and I've been thereand every day they think their
butt's going to get fired andthey've got kids that they have
to feed at home, or a wife or adog or a cat or a sports car
they want to put gas in.
I don't care.
Shelter in the occasional beer.
Whatever your motivator is Like, I want to help you get there.
(33:33):
That's what gets me out of bed.
It's just you get to that pointin your career where you're not
chasing a physical objectanymore.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
And that's where I'm at.
Yeah, so ditto, when I figuredout two things, that the secret
was fulfillment.
When I spend more time doingthings that bring me fulfillment
, life is awesome, agreed.
And then now the sub part tothat is how do I get fulfillment
?
It's by doing the things thatI'm designed to best serve at
Key point, service.
Where do I get fulfillment?
From Serving others.
(34:08):
How do I serve others?
Sharing my gifts and talentsthat I've been blessed with.
That's the thing in it.
So totally get it.
I absolutely love food, shelterand the occasional beer because
I'm sober now, but so coffeeright.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Same thing, yeah, whatever your jam is.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Now, what I understand is the business or
the way that you serve thecommunity is not just through
self-paced online training.
You offer other services.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
Yeah, we'll do site audits, but you know bigger
picture, a portion of all of oursales goes back into educating
the youth and I know that's nearand dear to your heart, right?
So we do career fairs at theelementary school, we do at the
middle school, we do at a highschool level and we go and talk
to them about the opportunitiesin the trades.
(34:58):
My husband came up through thesheet metal union and so he
always comes with me.
He did test and balancecommissioning and then I sucked
him into quality control.
He walks the trade route and Italk the engineering route, and
the fun part is to see the lookon the kid's face when we say we
ended up in the same spot andwe both make really damn good
money.
Like you don't have to go touniversity and get a piece of
(35:21):
paper.
Please stop telling the kidsthat we need people that want to
get into the trades, that wantto be the craftsmen.
So anyway, that's near and dearto our hearts, and so a portion
of all of our sales goes backto either programs that educate
the youth or us getting outthere and hitting the street and
helping out at those kind ofprograms.
And I've seen your post.
You do the same thing with thehands-on workshops with the kids
(35:44):
and things.
That makes that lastingimpression, and sometimes we're
the only ones telling those kidsit's okay.
Not only is it okay, it's kickass.
Come do this, this is all.
Come do this.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
You know, I gotta, I gotta brag.
There's a highlight, one of thelast thing, that I was involved
in the Texas ConstructionCareers and it's an annual thing
where we had 900 students there.
Anyways, and I'm just themouthpiece, right, I'm just
there for comedy relief.
So I was the emcee of the event.
I'm interviewing all thevendors, different employers and
(36:17):
all this stuff because, you'reright, it is freaking awesome.
Granted, you got to be able totolerate the, the element, right
, you got to be able to.
You know, there's some thingsthat it's hard work, it's hard
like, it's hard on the if you'resoft.
There ain't no mommies here.
No, you got to figure it outfor sure now.
So I was interviewing this onegroup employer and I'm looking
(36:40):
at the kid.
I'm like I know you and he'syeah, I've been here.
I've been here.
This is my third time here.
I'm like, yeah, but you weren't.
This is your first time behindthe booth with the company.
Oh, yeah, I just I've beenworking with them for nine
months.
I said well, where were youbefore that?
He said high school.
I said no way.
Yeah, I talked to you last timeI was here as I was a student,
(37:02):
and I said no.
He said yeah.
I said okay, how much did thisevent, which is one time a year,
how much did this event playinto you deciding to start a
career in construction?
And he said it was everything.
My first time I came out I hadno idea there was this much
stuff that, like, all I thinkabout is, you know, the guy with
(37:27):
the vest standing with the stopsign.
I had no idea there was so manythings.
Second time I came he's like Iknew that I wanted to get into,
like welding, but just thoseinteractions helped him become
aware of the plethora of careersthat are in the industry.
And so for me, like you, thereason it's so important to me
is because the trades gave me anamazing life, like a life that
(37:49):
I had no idea was possible.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Oh, I would never have what I have without it.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
I've got to travel.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
I've got to see places, I've got to work with
different places, differentpeople.
I hear it all the time, butit's the camaraderie, right,
it's the people.
I miss being in the dirt somuch, and you know, I mean I
love the dirt.
It's not just the dirt, though,it's the people I miss, that oh
same same.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
And so here's the thing, like kind of back to the
oh you're like, you're inconstruction.
I thought you were an engineer,what happened?
You're not passing.
I have a deep appreciation foreducation, whether that's the
formal thing or self-education,but what I'm not okay with and
(38:34):
this is why I'm such a hugeadvocate for the trades or
careers in construction is I amnot okay with forcing kids into
a situation that is not designedto help them thrive.
And I know firsthand that anoffice is not a place where I
(38:55):
will do well, I will do poorlyand I will make it difficult for
everybody around me because Ican't sit still, I'm noisy, I'm
rambunctious, like constructionhad the perfect conditions for
me to learn and thrive.
And that's, I think, thedifference.
We all thrive under differentconditions and when we force
(39:17):
people into, you know if youneed a lot of structure, a lot
of direction, a clear path,education, right.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
Academic touch.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
If you can thrive in ambiguous, uncertain, rough and
tumble kind of experiment tofigure it out, make your own
decisions, learn from failure.
You need to come over here tothis side.
I think for me that's theimportant thing.
There's options.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
So many options and then people get pigeon-tolled,
even within our industry.
I've trained several fieldforemen to be a quality control
manager because they talked tome in the field and they thought
that was all that there was forthem, that's all they're ever
going to amount to be, and Isaid yes, what do you want to do
?
Speaker 2 (39:57):
There's more.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
You can do anything you want to do.
There's no reason why a fieldforeman or a dirt work operator
can't own a company or be a QC,or be a safety guy or be a
project manager.
You just have to forge yourpath, and if the company you're
with is not helping to supportyou, maybe it's time to find
another one.
No one's going to look out foryou but you.
(40:21):
But go do it.
I volunteered to go speak at acommunity college here close to
me and I said I want to talk tothem about construction quality
control.
And he said oh, ma'am, I'llgive you over to the
manufacturing department.
And I said no, you're in theconstruction department and
that's what I want to talk to.
And I mean like he had no ideathat there was such a thing and
(40:44):
it's just that's.
you know when I'm screamingsometimes I feel like I'm trying
to educate people.
There's like a whole careerpath for qcs and they they're
writing their own tickets right,they're getting to travel
overseas, they're travelinganywhere within the us and
they're almost naming theirprice.
This is a career.
People are doing it.
They're making real good money.
(41:04):
They're loving it.
It's a thing.
But yeah, in the end I didn'tget to talk to the community
college because the gentlemanover the construction didn't
think that construction qualitycontrol was a thing.
Still a lot of mindsets tochange.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
If somebody wants to access you, get into the magical
, wonderful world of quality.
Where should we send them?
Speaker 1 (41:26):
Yeah, so qcuniversitynet is our site and
we've got standalone there aswell as our membership.
That has all of our inclusivetraining and it's got all of our
forums.
All the options are sittingthere.
But you can find me on all thesocials.
So we're on the Facebooks andthe Instagrams and the YouTubes
and we even do the TikToks.
I don't dance, though.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
Okay, we'll make sure we have those links in the show
notes when we post this bad boy.
Now you ready for the big heavysidewinder question.
And I'm excited because clearlyyou've learned a ton from the
experiences you've had on yourpath and you've shared it with
so many people and you continueto contribute into other
people's lives.
So my guess is like your answerto this is going to be pretty
(42:11):
profound.
So here's the question.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
All right.
Speaker 2 (42:14):
What is the promise you are intended to be?
Speaker 1 (42:18):
I think the promise I'm intended to be is to be
unapologetic in myself yet alsocompletely straightforward on
what I will provide.
I don't make open promises thatcan be broken.
So when I say I'm going to dosomething, I'm going to do it
and I'm going to do it for 150%and I'm going to give it my all,
and I'm to the point where Iget to live an unapologetic life
(42:41):
giving back.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
Oh, and that takes us all the way back to reputation.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
Right.
Quality is what remains afterthe dust settles, and it is what
you build your reputation onGangster.
We're running on a t-shirt.
We got a t-shirt.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
I'm going to do a t-shirt.
Yes, yes, we'll, we'll figurethat out.
Did you have fun?
Do a t-shirt.
Yes, yes, we'll, we'll figurethat out, did you have fun.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
I had so much fun.
It was so great, my friend,just to get to talk to you Like
we're going to catch up and havea coffee in person.
It's going to happen.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Coffee as we're cruising in the Mustang.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
It's a date Done.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com