July 15, 2025 • 29 mins
Stefanie Couch shares her journey as a proud millennial in the construction industry and reveals how "competitive greatness" drives success in business and leadership. She discusses the three qualities that create exceptional teams: curiosity, resilience, and authenticity.
• Growing up in a family lumber business provided foundational industry knowledge
• Being labeled a "unicorn" for breaking millennial stereotypes in corporate America
• The power of owning who you are instead of trying to fit conventional molds
• Why standards can never be too high when building a legacy business
• How solving one problem at a time creates exponential growth
• Strategies for attracting and retaining Gen Z talent in construction
• The importance of speed as "the ultimate leverage" in business growth
• Building trust with clients by focusing on their perceived problems first
• Using a 12-week goal system to maintain focus and drive results
• Creating a brand that attracts people who want to be part of your vision
Check out gritblueprint.com to learn more about how we can help you grow your construction business with our specialized branding and marketing services.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Stefanie Couch (00:02):
Welcome to the Grit Blueprint Podcast.
I'm your host, stefanie Couch,and what you're about to hear is
a conversation I recorded as aguest on another podcast.
We're sharing it here to bringyou a fresh perspective on
building, leading and simplynavigating the real world.
Grit it takes you to moveforward, whether you're running
(00:22):
a business, building a career orfiguring out what's next.
I hope this episode gives yousomething new to think about and
something you can use today.
Let's dive in.
Steve Doyle (00:33):
Welcome back to Blue Collar BS, Brad.
How are you doing today?
Brad Herda (00:36):
I am fantastic, Mr Stephen Doyle.
How is Detroit City today?
Steve Doyle (00:39):
You know Detroit City, it is rocking, it's
rolling.
We're in a couple weeks intoJanuary already.
We're looking at the playoffs,with the Lions at the number one
seed.
Brad Herda (00:53):
Stop.
I mean, I'm aware.
Steve Doyle (00:56):
I know you're aware .
Brad Herda (00:57):
I'm waiting for the big disappointment.
That's what I'm.
Steve Doyle (00:59):
Oh, come on, You're a lifelong fan.
I'm not necessarily a lifelongfan, but you can't help but get
involved.
Brad Herda (01:06):
Have you been disappointed your entire life,
Steve?
Probably.
Steve Doyle (01:09):
Well, I haven't been a Lions fan my entire life,
so no, Exactly.
Brad Herda (01:12):
So there you go.
So we got that happening.
Steve Doyle (01:16):
So, brad, who do we have on the show today?
Brad Herda (01:19):
On our show today we have the amazing Stefanie Couch
Born into a family lumberbusiness.
Why matter?
She's telling me her originstory.
What's all going on like?
Wow, she has.
She is the real deal in theconstruction world.
Um, she's led a startupdivision of a fortune 500
company, 10 years, regionalsales.
Uh, she's the founder of buildwindman and the grit blueprint,
(01:41):
specializing in branding andmarketing.
I was so happy that she showedup today with her hat, which is
part of her brand because it'sit's so cool to see and it
stands out and it's there.
And, stefanie, we are happy tohave you here on our show to
share your knowledge and wisdomof branding and construction and
the industry and our pre-showconversation over the Gen Z
(02:01):
versus millennials.
This is going to be a greatshow, super excited.
Stefanie Couch (02:05):
Thanks for having me.
I'm excited to be here.
Steve Doyle (02:08):
She says now that's what she says now and before I
forget, because I'm kind ofexcited to get into this
conversation which generation doyou best fit in with or
identify with?
Stefanie Couch (02:19):
I am a proud millennial.
Steve Doyle (02:22):
Oh, proud, I like that, proud Wow millennial.
Stefanie Couch (02:28):
Oh, I like that.
Wow, yeah, I own it Right, Imean I own that.
I'm a woman in construction anda millennial and a blonde.
Steve Doyle (02:32):
I mean, I'm a triple threat.
Wow, I love it.
I love it.
Stefanie Couch (02:37):
That is a that is.
Brad Herda (02:38):
That is awesome.
I appreciate the, the owning it, part of it.
So, um, as a proud millennialand and being in the
construction industry for aslong as you have been and grew
up with it, what have you seenof your generation change to
become the generation of choicefor the industry, so to speak?
Stefanie Couch (03:02):
It is interesting.
When I first started at mycorporate job, I was 25 and I
was pretty much the youngestperson in my division in my
office.
It was an Atlanta division of areally large company with
around 6,000 employees and I wasthe youngest one, and so I
really liked that I was theyoungest one, because everyone
else was old, and now I'm nolonger that ever, so that's
(03:24):
definitely changed.
I'm always the older, wiserlady now, and so that was how it
started and it was kind of alaughing thing like oh,
millennials, you know, theydon't work, they don't do
whatever.
And I never really gotcategorized as that, because I
would come in at like 6 am whenwe were supposed to start at8,
(03:45):
and I would go home and takework and work until like 11 or
12 o'clock some nights enteringorders, and so I very quickly
positioned myself as someone whowasn't a standard millennial.
Steve Doyle (03:57):
And.
Stefanie Couch (03:57):
I actually got told that a lot Like.
You're not like the rest ofthem.
They can't.
You know you're a unicorn.
That's what they would call me.
Steve Doyle (04:02):
Ah, they call you.
You know that's a Gen Xer isreally what that is.
Stefanie Couch (04:06):
Exactly that's what they meant by that.
You know, it was like hey,you're really, I know you're
1987, but you're really not,you're really like 1980.
And so I kind of prided myselfa little bit, like, Ooh, they
like that.
I'm, you know, a hard worker.
They, they're giving me that.
But then as time has gone on,obviously now there's a lot of
studies out that millennials arethe chosen ones and they really
(04:27):
, you know most employers wantto hire millennials and Gen Z
kind of has that bad rap nowthat I had when I started in
2012 at corporate.
So pass it along and you know Ihave Gen Z leaders on my team
and I love them, but they arethe really hardworking.
They have a touch of Gen X inthem as well, so I definitely I
(04:50):
hire for that.
I call it competitive greatnessreally is what I think it is.
Steve Doyle (04:56):
Oh, I like that.
Brad Herda (04:57):
And so how did you coin that competitive greatness
piece to it?
Stefanie Couch (05:01):
Well, I actually stole that from someone else,
so I can't take credit from that.
It's a core values of one of acompany that I really like.
Um, I've always consideredmyself extremely competitive and
I'm a Gallup Clifton strengthscoach and that's one of my top
10 strengths is competitiveness.
Brad Herda (05:16):
So where's your woo?
Where's your woo on the scale?
Stefanie Couch (05:18):
Number five for me.
Brad Herda (05:20):
All right, 28 woo 28 , right here yeah.
Stefanie Couch (05:24):
You know it's funny, Woo's the one that
everybody always knows where itis.
It's either at the very bottomor the very top.
But if you have a Woo top five,you know it.
People know it A hundredpercent.
Steve Doyle (05:35):
Yes, they do yeah.
Stefanie Couch (05:37):
And people that have Woo are like woo, like Ric
Flair.
You know, it's very obvious.
Give me a little bit of thatnature, boy, let's go.
Brad Herda (05:50):
Oh, he's a george bulldog fan just like me, so I
like that.
That's uh so so that means youprobably weren't watching last
night's game or tonight's game,most likely I wasn't, I was
working last night.
Stefanie Couch (05:59):
I don't have time to watch um non-georgia
football games.
I probably will watch tonight,though, seriously, because I
want to see what happens.
Brad Herda (06:07):
So are you then rooting for Ohio State or Texas,
being a Georgia fan, I'm goingto be a hook-em-horns girl
tonight, yeah.
Steve Doyle (06:15):
Yeah, yeah.
Stefanie Couch (06:18):
Mainly because I lived in Texas for two years,
so before Texas in the SEC, Ihad no reason to dislike them.
Brad Herda (06:26):
Now, you do Now.
Stefanie Couch (06:28):
I do, but still don't like Ohio State more.
Steve Doyle (06:32):
Okay, perfect, perfect.
Stefanie Couch (06:35):
But back to the competitive greatness.
I basically went to that wordbecause I have a real strong
need to always continue to risemy standards, and a lot of
people have told me, like yourstandards are too high, and I
don't believe that's a thing.
I don't think that you can havestandards that are too high,
and I think the only person thatwould ever tell you that is
someone whose standardsthemselves they don't want to
(06:57):
continue to push themselves.
So my standards are going to behigh and if anyone is going to
work on the team with me, I wantthem to have that same push to
just continue to be better, butalso knowing that, like you, are
going to screw some stuff up,and I do basically every single
day.
Pretty much every time I dosomething new, it's like right.
(07:17):
God, I'm such an idiot you know,but you're not, you just don't
know what you don't know, and so.
I think that I have that incorporate don't know what you
don't know and so I think that Ihad that in corporate.
My dad instilled that in me atthe lumber yard and I've
continued that sense of urgencyand competitive greatness in my
own business.
Brad Herda (07:32):
I appreciate the fact that you use the word give
the chance to fail.
Right that we're going to failalong the way because there's so
much expectation of perfectionand it's construction and it's
skilled trade there.
There is no such thing as aperfect construction job.
There is no.
Yeah, all we can do is minimizethe opportunities for failure,
(07:54):
but there is no perfectionabsolutely, and the harder.
Stefanie Couch (07:59):
I have always loved the custom stuff so I'm
really more from the buildingmaterials side of the world.
You know, sold lumber, solddoors and doors and windows
millwork.
They're technical right,they're hard to begin with and
then there are segments of thatare super custom and I always
like the super custom stuffbecause it was harder so most
people wouldn't do it, they werescared of it.
(08:20):
And then also you can make aridiculous amount of money on it
because it's harder so nobody'sgoing to do it, so you have no
competition and that's what I'vealways loved to live in and so
I do that.
Now with my I have, you know,kind of a growth agency for
people in the constructionindustry and that's what I like.
The hard cases Like give me thestuff that no one else can
solve and let's go do it andmake a shitload of money doing
(08:43):
it that's right.
Brad Herda (08:45):
Yes, show me the money.
Stefanie Couch (08:47):
Perfect that's right you can cuss on the show
but I just it is perfectly okay.
Brad Herda (08:53):
You can use whatever words you'd like okay, gotcha
yep.
Steve Doyle (08:57):
So looking at you know the, the concept of that
growth mindset that you have andthe hey, we are going to make
mistakes, from a generationalperspective, how have you kind
of instilled that in thedifferent generations that
you've had come in under yourwing?
Stefanie Couch (09:16):
Yeah, that's a great question, because I
actually feel like that's one ofthe biggest problems that I see
with Gen Z is they are really alot of times very scared to
make mistakes because they do.
They are so used to being riskadverse in a lot of ways.
Steve Doyle (09:33):
Right.
Stefanie Couch (09:34):
And I don't know what has.
I'm not sure if it's thecomparisonism that comes from
social media and everything'slived out loud.
So, like now, if you fall,everyone sees it, because you
probably fell on someone'scamera.
You know there's no like justbehind the scenes camera?
There's no, just behind thescenes.
Really, we film the behind thescenes.
That's probably the mostinteresting part, right.
(09:55):
And I tell people that inbranding film the stuff that
you're doing, that seems boringbecause people love that stuff.
So I think it's really there'sthree things in business that I
think make the most excellentteam members, business owners,
whatever you're doing.
And the number one thing iscuriosity.
So it's if you don't know, youwant to know and you want to
(10:17):
know why, you want to know how,you want to know what if we did
this little thing different.
So it's just generallycuriosity.
And the second thing isresilience right, so it's.
It's knowing that you are goingto screw up your when you start
asking questions, when you'recurious, then you're going to
screw up.
So then you're going to needthat resilience to be told no or
(10:39):
to be failing and continue togo.
And the third thing that I thinkis really important is owning
who you are and doing it the waythat you can do it.
So that goes back to thatstrengths thing.
Right Is knowing that if youare not a strategic thinker
person, you're an influencingperson, that you're not going to
need to do the spreadsheetthing like everybody else is
(11:00):
doing it.
Do it your way.
Use that woo you got, use thatother thing that's different,
that makes you who you are.
And so, like I said before, ifI'm a blonde wearing a pink hat
in the construction industry, Imight as well just lean all the
way in and own that bad boybecause that is me right.
And so I'm going to do that,because if I try to wear a polo
(11:22):
shirt and be a spreadsheetperson, I'm going to be
miserable and everybody else isgoing to know eventually that
I'm a fraud and I'm just notgoing to be my peak potential.
So it's, it's allowing peoplein any generation and I see
especially people that are in ajob that have been in it for a
long time they, they own thatbecause they're so good at it.
(11:45):
So they're not.
There's not much risk If you'vebeen doing something for 20
years exactly the same way, likeI mean, it's literally back of
the hand stuff, right.
Steve Doyle (11:53):
Correct.
Stefanie Couch (11:54):
And then if you go to something new from that, I
actually have seen Gen X andboomers struggle just as much as
Gen Z and millennials withthese new tasks, because I
actually think it's harder forthem, because it's more of a
transition.
Brad Herda (12:07):
I actually think it's harder for them because
it's more of a transition.
I was just going to ask youthat question how are you, when
you're working with your clientsand you have some older owners
or you have that Gen X guythat's been doing the window and
door for 25 years the same wayand you're trying to bring
technology and advancement andbranding and all those things
into it, yeah, how are youhelping them through that change
management aspect?
What are some of the techniquesyou use?
Stefanie Couch (12:28):
Well, one of the things that I like to do is I
like to solve the problem thatthey think they have, because
that usually is something thatboth of us can agree on.
So let's just take this can be,you know, any kind of business
owner construction, a builder,it can be someone in the trades,
like a home service person or alumberyard owner.
Let's say they have a horriblewebsite.
(12:50):
Everyone can kind of agree thataesthetically and conversion
wise and all that, probablyupdating and making the website
look good and convert betterwould be a good idea.
So maybe that's the problemthat they have, and they know
they have, but really they haveno go-to-market strategy.
They don't really know whotheir best customer is.
(13:11):
They don't know what productsor services they're selling the
most of that make the bestmargins.
They don't have any of thatfigured out, but they think they
have it figured out.
So if you go in and say, heyguys, you really don't have a
go-to-market strategy and Iwould say most businesses truly
don't or either theirgo-to-market strategy is sell
everyone everything for as muchas we can, and that's not a good
(13:33):
one.
Brad Herda (13:33):
Yes, go with that.
Go with that one.
Go with that one.
Stefanie Couch (13:36):
Yes, See, that's it.
That's where they checked allthe boxes.
It's like let's just checkevery single one.
But that's one of the examples.
So we fix the website first andthen through that you gain the
trust of them and not in amanipulative way.
You truly are helping them.
But then they know that you'renot just a charlatan marketing
person, because no one in theconstruction industry trusts
(13:58):
marketing people, as theyprobably shouldn't in most cases
.
Brad Herda (14:03):
And so it says the blonde girl in the pink hat.
You shouldn't trust anyone, butI'm here.
Stefanie Couch (14:10):
At the end of the day, I'm a lumber girl at
heart, way more than I'm amarketing girl.
Steve Doyle (14:15):
And so I know those problems.
Stefanie Couch (14:17):
That's right and so and I think that's it Solve
the problem that they think theyhave and then help them
understand that the otherproblems are worth solving.
And that's really how you do it.
You don't come in and act likeyou know you know more than them
because you don't.
And I think that's the thing isyou know what you know and they
know what they know.
And somewhere in the middle wemeet to make the best legacy
(14:41):
businesses that we can.
And a lot of my clients theyare big, they are 50 million,
150 million.
I have a client that's like 6billion a year and man, they
know a lot about a lot.
They don't get to 6 billionwithout being a damn good
competitor in the market, but itdoesn't mean they can't get
better and it's the same reasonwhy Elon Musk spends one week a
(15:04):
year on every problem he can.
So he goes to his factories inperson one time a year.
He solves 52 big problems ayear.
He goes himself into thoseplaces and he solves those
problems with the engineers,with the team on the ground in
the weeds.
And he solves big problemsBecause it doesn't matter how
(15:25):
big you are.
You can always be better.
Brad Herda (15:28):
Correct and it doesn't take moving heaven and
earth to solve the problem.
Most problems can be solvedsimply.
My wife was showing me, we hada conference, she's in
healthcare.
They showed this video on thispiece where the elevator stops.
I don't know if you've seenthis video where two people get
the elevator stops.
There's two people on anelevator, like in this empty
(15:49):
mall, and they're like help,we're stuck.
Help, we're stuck, we can't getup, we're stuck on this
escalator.
Just walk up the escalator.
It's not that hard, right, itwas a very funny video, but it's
like most problems are simpleto solve if you can take
yourself far enough away fromthe day-to-day task at hand and
(16:09):
get yourself out of that, andthat's awesome.
Stefanie Couch (16:13):
And there's two other things that I think really
people I won't say miss but weoverlook.
The first thing is focus, andthat actually is my number one.
Cliftonstrength focus is it.
But I still think I strugglewith a lot because I have a lot
of different things I like to doand there's a lot of things you
can focus on as an entrepreneur.
But if people could just solveone problem at a time and not
(16:36):
try to have 72 goals you knowit's the beginning of the year,
I've got 852 goals I'm going toaccomplish this year and I want
my whole team to remember all852.
And it's like, why don't wechoose three big goals?
I like to do 12-week years, youknow let's choose three goals
this quarter and really let'swork on that number one goal,
(16:57):
let's kick that one's butt andthen go to number two and number
three and exponential growthhappens that way because
everybody's pushing in the samedirection.
So it's that focus and thenit's action quickly.
So it's speed wins in businessalways and it's really the
ultimate leverage Because whileyou're thinking and talking and
(17:18):
ruminating about all thesethings, somebody else is just
doing it, and that's.
I mean, that's the key towinning in business, especially
as a small business, like if youdon't have a billion dollar
check you can write which Icertainly don't yet.
Hopefully one day I will.
My biggest advantage is goingout there and just moving as
quick as I can and learning andfailing and keeping and getting
(17:38):
better.
Brad Herda (17:40):
Right, I mean that's Savannah bananas.
Right, the customer experience.
I mean what he did with thatand changing and creating.
It's like it's about the Gen Zscoming into your team and some
of the things that you aretrying to work on to support
(18:11):
them.
Yep, what are some of the keythings that you are using to
create success?
Because we talked a little bitabout the failure and I think
some of that comes from thatsocial media.
I think a lot of it comesbecause their lives have been
scheduled since they were fiveyears old, yep, so they don't
have some of that brain powerthat's looking outside the line
(18:33):
Participation trophies.
They've gotten a lot of those,so did you.
It's okay.
Stefanie Couch (18:37):
I never got a participation trophy, not one
time.
Brad Herda (18:40):
That's because you were in the lumber industry, but
that's okay, they didn't dothat in the lumber.
You had parents that didn'tallow you to be on the soccer
team to get the participationtrophies probably.
Stefanie Couch (18:56):
I started playing sports when I was in
middle school and I did not getparticipation trophies.
I either lost big or I won butmy team always sucks, so I got a
lot of like 17 to 1 softballgames.
Brad Herda (19:06):
Okay.
All right, fair enough, but how?
Steve Doyle (19:08):
are you?
Brad Herda (19:09):
What are some of the things you're doing to put in
place to A, to attract that GenZ into your organization,
because that's usually the firststep for an organization.
And then, two, keeping themengaged and wanting to learn and
keeping that curiosity and thatresiliency going on, because
there is a decent amount ofthose Gen Zs that do want to.
(19:32):
That's too hard.
I'm going to go on to the nextthing.
Stefanie Couch (19:34):
Yep.
So to answer question A, whatam I doing to get them in?
Well, that's where brand comesin and this is where I think the
construction industry ismissing out big time on this,
because I have a lot of peoplethat are wanting to come work on
my team and this is acrossgenerations.
I have people that as soon asI'm ready, they'll come, type
(19:56):
thing.
Congratulations, get it togetherso you can actually hire these
people.
So I'm trying to figure thatpart out, but you know it's
because you're buildingsomething that people want to be
a part of.
That is it's like a contagiousenergy and you attract the
people that want to be a part ofthat.
So I think it's about buildinga brand that people want to get
(20:20):
on the train and go for the ridewith you, knowing that it's not
going to be perfect, it's astartup, it's going to be hard,
but they're willing to do thatbecause they know number one,
they're going to learn a lot andit's going to be a really cool
journey.
That's part of it.
And then you know you're on.
I'm on LinkedIn.
I'm talking about all thethings you know.
I do a lot of speaking atevents.
I'm out there in the world.
Brad Herda (20:42):
Are you going to be at IBS.
Stefanie Couch (20:45):
I'm not speaking at an education, but I'm
actually going to be speaking atthe Plaspro booth on AI.
Tuesday and Wednesday at 1 pm,pacific Standard Time at the
Plaspro booth.
So that'll be cool.
Come see me there and I'll beout and about.
You can see me wear my pink hat.
You'll find me, but I'll bewearing.
Come see me there and I'll beout and about.
(21:05):
You know, you can see me wearmy pink hat, you'll find me, but
I'll be wearing a pink hat.
Who knows what color?
It'll be hot pink one day,medium pink the next day, maybe
even throw some light pink inthere to mix it up a little bit.
So I will be doing that.
But, yeah, so going aroundevents like that and talking to
people, it helps for sure.
A lot of my team members havecome from that type of thing, or
(21:28):
LinkedIn.
And then the other thing toanswer your second question is I
ask a lot of questions andmanage expectations up front
about what it's going to be like.
You know, hey, this is going tochange maybe every single day.
This is startup.
If you need a routine that islike 100% for sure, this is what
(21:50):
you're going to be doing everyday, from eight to five not the
fit.
It's not a fit for you.
If you are going to want towork from eight to five and
never have to work extra, ornever have to work weird hours
sometimes to go to events orsomething like that Not for you.
If you don't want to be theabsolute best and continue to
learn and get better, not foryou, and that's okay.
(22:11):
There are roles that I've beenin before where it's like it
just wasn't the right fit.
I got fired from a job fivemonths in and right before I
started this business.
It just wasn't the culture forme and I really hated the job,
and the day they fired me I hadalready started my LLC.
So it was just like okay, I getit.
Universe, god, whatever youbelieve in.
Like I hear you, I'm going togo do this Like I get it, thank
(22:34):
you, shouldn't should have justlistened you know.
I only told you 875 times thatyou got time to go do your own
thing.
Brad Herda (22:43):
You should have listened to me five months ahead
of that.
Stefanie Couch (22:45):
I know.
But you know what I learned somuch in that five months that I
think it's also knowing thatevery single step in your life,
your career, your journey,whatever it is, you will use
that for something later.
So all the things I learned inthat five months.
Like it was in the Floridamarket it was a lot of really
big builders like DR Horton,pulte, people like that I'd
never really been exposed to.
(23:06):
That Florida is a wholedifferent universe with the way
they actually construct things,block construction, all this
hurricane stuff.
I learned so much about thatthat now I got what I needed for
five months and I was good.
So I can use that in the restof my life and my job now in my
career.
So it's really cool how lifeworks.
So I would say to any person inany generation don't look at
(23:31):
something as a linear journeyand don't look at it as like how
am I going to use this or whyis this happening to me?
Because you may not know rightnow, but eventually somewhere
that plug will plug into thepuzzle piece and then you'll be
like, oh man, like how cool isthat that?
That thing I did 10 years agothat I thought was a pain in the
butt is now what I'm makingmoney on today in my real job.
(23:51):
God definitely has a sense ofhumor.
I can just tell you that Right.
Brad Herda (23:58):
Don't disagree, that's funny.
Steve Doyle (24:02):
One of the questions that I'm curious, as
we're talking here, is with morelet's.
Let's say you.
You definitely have thischarismatic approach to you
thank you and from attracting awoo that is the woo.
I mean, yeah, we'll get intothat.
All right, that is the woo.
How do you help those that youknow they they kind of and I'm
(24:25):
gonna pick on the gen x and theboomers right, sure that they
know they need your help, butthey're kind of like, eh, I, I
don't know.
Yeah, how do you help peoplerecognize and realize, hey, yes,
we as millennials, as as Gen Zs, we can do the shit because we
know the shit?
Stefanie Couch (24:47):
That's a great question.
I think it's not trying tobelittle anyone in any
generation for what they don'tknow, and trying to show them in
a way that they understand andcan appreciate, so that it
builds trust.
And that takes time and, Ithink, one of the things that
millennials are known for, butespecially me, because I have
(25:09):
this thing called activator,which means I'm wildly impatient
.
So I'm like you've heard thisthree times.
What are you waiting on?
Brad Herda (25:17):
What don't you fucking understand?
Stefanie Couch (25:18):
Yeah, I mean like I don't get it, you know.
But at the end of the day againto to reel it back is like some
of these people have giantbusinesses and so if you tell
someone that has $150 million ayear business, well, I can
increase your business by doingall of this stuff, they're like,
well, number one, what's thatgoing to cost?
So they're, you know, they'realways looking at that,
(25:39):
hopefully.
And then also it's like but thenwhat do I get?
Because how much more work isthat going to be for that person
?
Sometimes it's almost noneright.
But like I have an operationsbackground as well.
So if I tell you like I canhelp you sell 2000 more doors a
day, and they're like, ooh, thatsounds cool, like that could be
40 more million dollars ofrevenue every year.
(26:00):
You know, at the same margins.
That's amazing.
But then the part I didn't tellyou is oh, and we're going to
have to buy a new building and13 new trucks and four new
forklifts and also hire 100 newpeople and buy $5 million in the
machinery and it's going toalso take five years to get
there, then it's a wholedifferent story.
Right, and that's the true story.
(26:21):
And there's always what amarketing person, or what any
person that's selling something,wants to show you the pretty
side, the vacation, the on thebeach smelling the sand drinking
the Mai Tai, but really what itis is a 15 hour flight in the
backseat of playing by thebathroom where you're sitting
with a guy with his shoes off,and so that's real life, right?
(26:43):
And?
so it's a balance of showingthem I understand what real life
is, and I also understand.
If you don't want to do thisbecause you're cool at 100
million, good Congratulations,you are amazing.
Or 5 million, you don't have tobe at 100 million.
I keep using these big numbers.
But it is amazing to build a$500,000 remodeling business and
(27:06):
you're making 30, 40% marginand you're feeding your family.
You have a great life.
If that's what you want,amazing, keep doing that.
And if you want to grow 10% ayear or whatever to keep up with
inflation, then that's great.
But if you're hungry and youare unquenchable which is what I
like to talk about, with myselflike I am unquenchable- and I
(27:29):
was born that way and I don'tknow why but I'm never going to
turn that off.
Yeah, exactly, he's in thebusiness with me as I live with
this every day and be married toit every day and be married to
it.
But if you're unquenchable andyou want to go hit 150 million
and you want to climb that nextmountain, then let's go do it.
(27:50):
I've got my climbing polesready and I will take you up the
mountain.
Brad Herda (27:53):
That's spectacular.
So so, stefanie, how do peopleand where do people find this
unquenchable desire to sell morethings, make more things, make
more money and let's go get shitdone?
Where do they find you?
Stefanie Couch (28:10):
Gritblueprint.
com is where they find me, and Ithink that's why I use the word
grit, because it's for peoplethat have grit and want to go
just do gritty stuff, and sothat's my company name.
It's behind me here, gritBlueprint, and it's that Spartan
spirit of like I'm going to gowith whatever I need to do to
(28:30):
make this happen, and so I wantto work with people like that.
That's the people I loveworking with, and I really love
the independent spirit of someof these small business owners.
It's not just businesses thatare huge, but it's people that
want to do amazing things andbreak barriers that they didn't
know they could ever break, andthat's what I'm trying to do in
my life every day.
Brad Herda (28:51):
That is spectacular.
Your energy is infectious andcontagious, and we are blessed
to have you here as a guesttoday.
Thank you, safe travels.
Enjoy the snow with the puppylater on today.
Stefanie Couch (29:02):
Yes, I'm excited .
Brad Herda (29:04):
And we appreciate you being here, Stefanie.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for having me.
Stefanie Couch (29:08):
That's it for this episode of the Grit
Blueprint podcast.
For more tools, training andindustry content, make sure to
subscribe here and follow me onLinkedIn and other social media
platforms.
To find out more about how GritBlueprint can help you grow
your business.
Check us out at our website,gritblueprintcom.
Welcome to the Grit Blueprint Podcast.
I'm your host, stefanie Couch,and what you're about to hear is
a conversation I recorded as aguest on another podcast.
We're sharing it here to bringyou a fresh perspective on
building, leading and simplynavigating the real world.
Grit it takes you to moveforward, whether you're running
(00:22):
a business, building a career orfiguring out what's next.
I hope this episode gives yousomething new to think about and
something you can use today.
Let's dive in.
Steve Doyle (00:33):
Welcome back to Blue Collar BS, Brad.
How are you doing today?
Brad Herda (00:36):
I am fantastic, Mr Stephen Doyle.
How is Detroit City today?
Steve Doyle (00:39):
You know Detroit City, it is rocking, it's
rolling.
We're in a couple weeks intoJanuary already.
We're looking at the playoffs,with the Lions at the number one
seed.
Brad Herda (00:53):
Stop.
I mean, I'm aware.
Steve Doyle (00:56):
I know you're aware .
Brad Herda (00:57):
I'm waiting for the big disappointment.
That's what I'm.
Steve Doyle (00:59):
Oh, come on, You're a lifelong fan.
I'm not necessarily a lifelongfan, but you can't help but get
involved.
Brad Herda (01:06):
Have you been disappointed your entire life,
Steve?
Probably.
Steve Doyle (01:09):
Well, I haven't been a Lions fan my entire life,
so no, Exactly.
Brad Herda (01:12):
So there you go.
So we got that happening.
Steve Doyle (01:16):
So, brad, who do we have on the show today?
Brad Herda (01:19):
On our show today we have the amazing Stefanie Couch
Born into a family lumberbusiness.
Why matter?
She's telling me her originstory.
What's all going on like?
Wow, she has.
She is the real deal in theconstruction world.
Um, she's led a startupdivision of a fortune 500
company, 10 years, regionalsales.
Uh, she's the founder of buildwindman and the grit blueprint,
(01:41):
specializing in branding andmarketing.
I was so happy that she showedup today with her hat, which is
part of her brand because it'sit's so cool to see and it
stands out and it's there.
And, stefanie, we are happy tohave you here on our show to
share your knowledge and wisdomof branding and construction and
the industry and our pre-showconversation over the Gen Z
(02:01):
versus millennials.
This is going to be a greatshow, super excited.
Stefanie Couch (02:05):
Thanks for having me.
I'm excited to be here.
Steve Doyle (02:08):
She says now that's what she says now and before I
forget, because I'm kind ofexcited to get into this
conversation which generation doyou best fit in with or
identify with?
Stefanie Couch (02:19):
I am a proud millennial.
Steve Doyle (02:22):
Oh, proud, I like that, proud Wow millennial.
Stefanie Couch (02:28):
Oh, I like that.
Wow, yeah, I own it Right, Imean I own that.
I'm a woman in construction anda millennial and a blonde.
Steve Doyle (02:32):
I mean, I'm a triple threat.
Wow, I love it.
I love it.
Stefanie Couch (02:37):
That is a that is.
Brad Herda (02:38):
That is awesome.
I appreciate the, the owning it, part of it.
So, um, as a proud millennialand and being in the
construction industry for aslong as you have been and grew
up with it, what have you seenof your generation change to
become the generation of choicefor the industry, so to speak?
Stefanie Couch (03:02):
It is interesting.
When I first started at mycorporate job, I was 25 and I
was pretty much the youngestperson in my division in my
office.
It was an Atlanta division of areally large company with
around 6,000 employees and I wasthe youngest one, and so I
really liked that I was theyoungest one, because everyone
else was old, and now I'm nolonger that ever, so that's
(03:24):
definitely changed.
I'm always the older, wiserlady now, and so that was how it
started and it was kind of alaughing thing like oh,
millennials, you know, theydon't work, they don't do
whatever.
And I never really gotcategorized as that, because I
would come in at like 6 am whenwe were supposed to start at8,
(03:45):
and I would go home and takework and work until like 11 or
12 o'clock some nights enteringorders, and so I very quickly
positioned myself as someone whowasn't a standard millennial.
Steve Doyle (03:57):
And.
Stefanie Couch (03:57):
I actually got told that a lot Like.
You're not like the rest ofthem.
They can't.
You know you're a unicorn.
That's what they would call me.
Steve Doyle (04:02):
Ah, they call you.
You know that's a Gen Xer isreally what that is.
Stefanie Couch (04:06):
Exactly that's what they meant by that.
You know, it was like hey,you're really, I know you're
1987, but you're really not,you're really like 1980.
And so I kind of prided myselfa little bit, like, Ooh, they
like that.
I'm, you know, a hard worker.
They, they're giving me that.
But then as time has gone on,obviously now there's a lot of
studies out that millennials arethe chosen ones and they really
(04:27):
, you know most employers wantto hire millennials and Gen Z
kind of has that bad rap nowthat I had when I started in
2012 at corporate.
So pass it along and you know Ihave Gen Z leaders on my team
and I love them, but they arethe really hardworking.
They have a touch of Gen X inthem as well, so I definitely I
(04:50):
hire for that.
I call it competitive greatnessreally is what I think it is.
Steve Doyle (04:56):
Oh, I like that.
Brad Herda (04:57):
And so how did you coin that competitive greatness
piece to it?
Stefanie Couch (05:01):
Well, I actually stole that from someone else,
so I can't take credit from that.
It's a core values of one of acompany that I really like.
Um, I've always consideredmyself extremely competitive and
I'm a Gallup Clifton strengthscoach and that's one of my top
10 strengths is competitiveness.
Brad Herda (05:16):
So where's your woo?
Where's your woo on the scale?
Stefanie Couch (05:18):
Number five for me.
Brad Herda (05:20):
All right, 28 woo 28 , right here yeah.
Stefanie Couch (05:24):
You know it's funny, Woo's the one that
everybody always knows where itis.
It's either at the very bottomor the very top.
But if you have a Woo top five,you know it.
People know it A hundredpercent.
Steve Doyle (05:35):
Yes, they do yeah.
Stefanie Couch (05:37):
And people that have Woo are like woo, like Ric
Flair.
You know, it's very obvious.
Give me a little bit of thatnature, boy, let's go.
Brad Herda (05:50):
Oh, he's a george bulldog fan just like me, so I
like that.
That's uh so so that means youprobably weren't watching last
night's game or tonight's game,most likely I wasn't, I was
working last night.
Stefanie Couch (05:59):
I don't have time to watch um non-georgia
football games.
I probably will watch tonight,though, seriously, because I
want to see what happens.
Brad Herda (06:07):
So are you then rooting for Ohio State or Texas,
being a Georgia fan, I'm goingto be a hook-em-horns girl
tonight, yeah.
Steve Doyle (06:15):
Yeah, yeah.
Stefanie Couch (06:18):
Mainly because I lived in Texas for two years,
so before Texas in the SEC, Ihad no reason to dislike them.
Brad Herda (06:26):
Now, you do Now.
Stefanie Couch (06:28):
I do, but still don't like Ohio State more.
Steve Doyle (06:32):
Okay, perfect, perfect.
Stefanie Couch (06:35):
But back to the competitive greatness.
I basically went to that wordbecause I have a real strong
need to always continue to risemy standards, and a lot of
people have told me, like yourstandards are too high, and I
don't believe that's a thing.
I don't think that you can havestandards that are too high,
and I think the only person thatwould ever tell you that is
someone whose standardsthemselves they don't want to
(06:57):
continue to push themselves.
So my standards are going to behigh and if anyone is going to
work on the team with me, I wantthem to have that same push to
just continue to be better, butalso knowing that, like you, are
going to screw some stuff up,and I do basically every single
day.
Pretty much every time I dosomething new, it's like right.
(07:17):
God, I'm such an idiot you know,but you're not, you just don't
know what you don't know, and so.
I think that I have that incorporate don't know what you
don't know and so I think that Ihad that in corporate.
My dad instilled that in me atthe lumber yard and I've
continued that sense of urgencyand competitive greatness in my
own business.
Brad Herda (07:32):
I appreciate the fact that you use the word give
the chance to fail.
Right that we're going to failalong the way because there's so
much expectation of perfectionand it's construction and it's
skilled trade there.
There is no such thing as aperfect construction job.
There is no.
Yeah, all we can do is minimizethe opportunities for failure,
(07:54):
but there is no perfectionabsolutely, and the harder.
Stefanie Couch (07:59):
I have always loved the custom stuff so I'm
really more from the buildingmaterials side of the world.
You know, sold lumber, solddoors and doors and windows
millwork.
They're technical right,they're hard to begin with and
then there are segments of thatare super custom and I always
like the super custom stuffbecause it was harder so most
people wouldn't do it, they werescared of it.
(08:20):
And then also you can make aridiculous amount of money on it
because it's harder so nobody'sgoing to do it, so you have no
competition and that's what I'vealways loved to live in and so
I do that.
Now with my I have, you know,kind of a growth agency for
people in the constructionindustry and that's what I like.
The hard cases Like give me thestuff that no one else can
solve and let's go do it andmake a shitload of money doing
(08:43):
it that's right.
Brad Herda (08:45):
Yes, show me the money.
Stefanie Couch (08:47):
Perfect that's right you can cuss on the show
but I just it is perfectly okay.
Brad Herda (08:53):
You can use whatever words you'd like okay, gotcha
yep.
Steve Doyle (08:57):
So looking at you know the, the concept of that
growth mindset that you have andthe hey, we are going to make
mistakes, from a generationalperspective, how have you kind
of instilled that in thedifferent generations that
you've had come in under yourwing?
Stefanie Couch (09:16):
Yeah, that's a great question, because I
actually feel like that's one ofthe biggest problems that I see
with Gen Z is they are really alot of times very scared to
make mistakes because they do.
They are so used to being riskadverse in a lot of ways.
Steve Doyle (09:33):
Right.
Stefanie Couch (09:34):
And I don't know what has.
I'm not sure if it's thecomparisonism that comes from
social media and everything'slived out loud.
So, like now, if you fall,everyone sees it, because you
probably fell on someone'scamera.
You know there's no like justbehind the scenes camera?
There's no, just behind thescenes.
Really, we film the behind thescenes.
That's probably the mostinteresting part, right.
(09:55):
And I tell people that inbranding film the stuff that
you're doing, that seems boringbecause people love that stuff.
So I think it's really there'sthree things in business that I
think make the most excellentteam members, business owners,
whatever you're doing.
And the number one thing iscuriosity.
So it's if you don't know, youwant to know and you want to
(10:17):
know why, you want to know how,you want to know what if we did
this little thing different.
So it's just generallycuriosity.
And the second thing isresilience right, so it's.
It's knowing that you are goingto screw up your when you start
asking questions, when you'recurious, then you're going to
screw up.
So then you're going to needthat resilience to be told no or
(10:39):
to be failing and continue togo.
And the third thing that I thinkis really important is owning
who you are and doing it the waythat you can do it.
So that goes back to thatstrengths thing.
Right Is knowing that if youare not a strategic thinker
person, you're an influencingperson, that you're not going to
need to do the spreadsheetthing like everybody else is
(11:00):
doing it.
Do it your way.
Use that woo you got, use thatother thing that's different,
that makes you who you are.
And so, like I said before, ifI'm a blonde wearing a pink hat
in the construction industry, Imight as well just lean all the
way in and own that bad boybecause that is me right.
And so I'm going to do that,because if I try to wear a polo
(11:22):
shirt and be a spreadsheetperson, I'm going to be
miserable and everybody else isgoing to know eventually that
I'm a fraud and I'm just notgoing to be my peak potential.
So it's, it's allowing peoplein any generation and I see
especially people that are in ajob that have been in it for a
long time they, they own thatbecause they're so good at it.
(11:45):
So they're not.
There's not much risk If you'vebeen doing something for 20
years exactly the same way, likeI mean, it's literally back of
the hand stuff, right.
Steve Doyle (11:53):
Correct.
Stefanie Couch (11:54):
And then if you go to something new from that, I
actually have seen Gen X andboomers struggle just as much as
Gen Z and millennials withthese new tasks, because I
actually think it's harder forthem, because it's more of a
transition.
Brad Herda (12:07):
I actually think it's harder for them because
it's more of a transition.
I was just going to ask youthat question how are you, when
you're working with your clientsand you have some older owners
or you have that Gen X guythat's been doing the window and
door for 25 years the same wayand you're trying to bring
technology and advancement andbranding and all those things
into it, yeah, how are youhelping them through that change
management aspect?
What are some of the techniquesyou use?
Stefanie Couch (12:28):
Well, one of the things that I like to do is I
like to solve the problem thatthey think they have, because
that usually is something thatboth of us can agree on.
So let's just take this can be,you know, any kind of business
owner construction, a builder,it can be someone in the trades,
like a home service person or alumberyard owner.
Let's say they have a horriblewebsite.
(12:50):
Everyone can kind of agree thataesthetically and conversion
wise and all that, probablyupdating and making the website
look good and convert betterwould be a good idea.
So maybe that's the problemthat they have, and they know
they have, but really they haveno go-to-market strategy.
They don't really know whotheir best customer is.
(13:11):
They don't know what productsor services they're selling the
most of that make the bestmargins.
They don't have any of thatfigured out, but they think they
have it figured out.
So if you go in and say, heyguys, you really don't have a
go-to-market strategy and Iwould say most businesses truly
don't or either theirgo-to-market strategy is sell
everyone everything for as muchas we can, and that's not a good
(13:33):
one.
Brad Herda (13:33):
Yes, go with that.
Go with that one.
Go with that one.
Stefanie Couch (13:36):
Yes, See, that's it.
That's where they checked allthe boxes.
It's like let's just checkevery single one.
But that's one of the examples.
So we fix the website first andthen through that you gain the
trust of them and not in amanipulative way.
You truly are helping them.
But then they know that you'renot just a charlatan marketing
person, because no one in theconstruction industry trusts
(13:58):
marketing people, as theyprobably shouldn't in most cases
.
Brad Herda (14:03):
And so it says the blonde girl in the pink hat.
You shouldn't trust anyone, butI'm here.
Stefanie Couch (14:10):
At the end of the day, I'm a lumber girl at
heart, way more than I'm amarketing girl.
Steve Doyle (14:15):
And so I know those problems.
Stefanie Couch (14:17):
That's right and so and I think that's it Solve
the problem that they think theyhave and then help them
understand that the otherproblems are worth solving.
And that's really how you do it.
You don't come in and act likeyou know you know more than them
because you don't.
And I think that's the thing isyou know what you know and they
know what they know.
And somewhere in the middle wemeet to make the best legacy
(14:41):
businesses that we can.
And a lot of my clients theyare big, they are 50 million,
150 million.
I have a client that's like 6billion a year and man, they
know a lot about a lot.
They don't get to 6 billionwithout being a damn good
competitor in the market, but itdoesn't mean they can't get
better and it's the same reasonwhy Elon Musk spends one week a
(15:04):
year on every problem he can.
So he goes to his factories inperson one time a year.
He solves 52 big problems ayear.
He goes himself into thoseplaces and he solves those
problems with the engineers,with the team on the ground in
the weeds.
And he solves big problemsBecause it doesn't matter how
(15:25):
big you are.
You can always be better.
Brad Herda (15:28):
Correct and it doesn't take moving heaven and
earth to solve the problem.
Most problems can be solvedsimply.
My wife was showing me, we hada conference, she's in
healthcare.
They showed this video on thispiece where the elevator stops.
I don't know if you've seenthis video where two people get
the elevator stops.
There's two people on anelevator, like in this empty
(15:49):
mall, and they're like help,we're stuck.
Help, we're stuck, we can't getup, we're stuck on this
escalator.
Just walk up the escalator.
It's not that hard, right, itwas a very funny video, but it's
like most problems are simpleto solve if you can take
yourself far enough away fromthe day-to-day task at hand and
(16:09):
get yourself out of that, andthat's awesome.
Stefanie Couch (16:13):
And there's two other things that I think really
people I won't say miss but weoverlook.
The first thing is focus, andthat actually is my number one.
Cliftonstrength focus is it.
But I still think I strugglewith a lot because I have a lot
of different things I like to doand there's a lot of things you
can focus on as an entrepreneur.
But if people could just solveone problem at a time and not
(16:36):
try to have 72 goals you knowit's the beginning of the year,
I've got 852 goals I'm going toaccomplish this year and I want
my whole team to remember all852.
And it's like, why don't wechoose three big goals?
I like to do 12-week years, youknow let's choose three goals
this quarter and really let'swork on that number one goal,
(16:57):
let's kick that one's butt andthen go to number two and number
three and exponential growthhappens that way because
everybody's pushing in the samedirection.
So it's that focus and thenit's action quickly.
So it's speed wins in businessalways and it's really the
ultimate leverage Because whileyou're thinking and talking and
(17:18):
ruminating about all thesethings, somebody else is just
doing it, and that's.
I mean, that's the key towinning in business, especially
as a small business, like if youdon't have a billion dollar
check you can write which Icertainly don't yet.
Hopefully one day I will.
My biggest advantage is goingout there and just moving as
quick as I can and learning andfailing and keeping and getting
(17:38):
better.
Brad Herda (17:40):
Right, I mean that's Savannah bananas.
Right, the customer experience.
I mean what he did with thatand changing and creating.
It's like it's about the Gen Zscoming into your team and some
of the things that you aretrying to work on to support
(18:11):
them.
Yep, what are some of the keythings that you are using to
create success?
Because we talked a little bitabout the failure and I think
some of that comes from thatsocial media.
I think a lot of it comesbecause their lives have been
scheduled since they were fiveyears old, yep, so they don't
have some of that brain powerthat's looking outside the line
(18:33):
Participation trophies.
They've gotten a lot of those,so did you.
It's okay.
Stefanie Couch (18:37):
I never got a participation trophy, not one
time.
Brad Herda (18:40):
That's because you were in the lumber industry, but
that's okay, they didn't dothat in the lumber.
You had parents that didn'tallow you to be on the soccer
team to get the participationtrophies probably.
Stefanie Couch (18:56):
I started playing sports when I was in
middle school and I did not getparticipation trophies.
I either lost big or I won butmy team always sucks, so I got a
lot of like 17 to 1 softballgames.
Brad Herda (19:06):
Okay.
All right, fair enough, but how?
Steve Doyle (19:08):
are you?
Brad Herda (19:09):
What are some of the things you're doing to put in
place to A, to attract that GenZ into your organization,
because that's usually the firststep for an organization.
And then, two, keeping themengaged and wanting to learn and
keeping that curiosity and thatresiliency going on, because
there is a decent amount ofthose Gen Zs that do want to.
(19:32):
That's too hard.
I'm going to go on to the nextthing.
Stefanie Couch (19:34):
Yep.
So to answer question A, whatam I doing to get them in?
Well, that's where brand comesin and this is where I think the
construction industry ismissing out big time on this,
because I have a lot of peoplethat are wanting to come work on
my team and this is acrossgenerations.
I have people that as soon asI'm ready, they'll come, type
(19:56):
thing.
Congratulations, get it togetherso you can actually hire these
people.
So I'm trying to figure thatpart out, but you know it's
because you're buildingsomething that people want to be
a part of.
That is it's like a contagiousenergy and you attract the
people that want to be a part ofthat.
So I think it's about buildinga brand that people want to get
(20:20):
on the train and go for the ridewith you, knowing that it's not
going to be perfect, it's astartup, it's going to be hard,
but they're willing to do thatbecause they know number one,
they're going to learn a lot andit's going to be a really cool
journey.
That's part of it.
And then you know you're on.
I'm on LinkedIn.
I'm talking about all thethings you know.
I do a lot of speaking atevents.
I'm out there in the world.
Brad Herda (20:42):
Are you going to be at IBS.
Stefanie Couch (20:45):
I'm not speaking at an education, but I'm
actually going to be speaking atthe Plaspro booth on AI.
Tuesday and Wednesday at 1 pm,pacific Standard Time at the
Plaspro booth.
So that'll be cool.
Come see me there and I'll beout and about.
You can see me wear my pink hat.
You'll find me, but I'll bewearing.
Come see me there and I'll beout and about.
(21:05):
You know, you can see me wearmy pink hat, you'll find me, but
I'll be wearing a pink hat.
Who knows what color?
It'll be hot pink one day,medium pink the next day, maybe
even throw some light pink inthere to mix it up a little bit.
So I will be doing that.
But, yeah, so going aroundevents like that and talking to
people, it helps for sure.
A lot of my team members havecome from that type of thing, or
(21:28):
LinkedIn.
And then the other thing toanswer your second question is I
ask a lot of questions andmanage expectations up front
about what it's going to be like.
You know, hey, this is going tochange maybe every single day.
This is startup.
If you need a routine that islike 100% for sure, this is what
(21:50):
you're going to be doing everyday, from eight to five not the
fit.
It's not a fit for you.
If you are going to want towork from eight to five and
never have to work extra, ornever have to work weird hours
sometimes to go to events orsomething like that Not for you.
If you don't want to be theabsolute best and continue to
learn and get better, not foryou, and that's okay.
(22:11):
There are roles that I've beenin before where it's like it
just wasn't the right fit.
I got fired from a job fivemonths in and right before I
started this business.
It just wasn't the culture forme and I really hated the job,
and the day they fired me I hadalready started my LLC.
So it was just like okay, I getit.
Universe, god, whatever youbelieve in.
Like I hear you, I'm going togo do this Like I get it, thank
(22:34):
you, shouldn't should have justlistened you know.
I only told you 875 times thatyou got time to go do your own
thing.
Brad Herda (22:43):
You should have listened to me five months ahead
of that.
Stefanie Couch (22:45):
I know.
But you know what I learned somuch in that five months that I
think it's also knowing thatevery single step in your life,
your career, your journey,whatever it is, you will use
that for something later.
So all the things I learned inthat five months.
Like it was in the Floridamarket it was a lot of really
big builders like DR Horton,pulte, people like that I'd
never really been exposed to.
(23:06):
That Florida is a wholedifferent universe with the way
they actually construct things,block construction, all this
hurricane stuff.
I learned so much about thatthat now I got what I needed for
five months and I was good.
So I can use that in the restof my life and my job now in my
career.
So it's really cool how lifeworks.
So I would say to any person inany generation don't look at
(23:31):
something as a linear journeyand don't look at it as like how
am I going to use this or whyis this happening to me?
Because you may not know rightnow, but eventually somewhere
that plug will plug into thepuzzle piece and then you'll be
like, oh man, like how cool isthat that?
That thing I did 10 years agothat I thought was a pain in the
butt is now what I'm makingmoney on today in my real job.
(23:51):
God definitely has a sense ofhumor.
I can just tell you that Right.
Brad Herda (23:58):
Don't disagree, that's funny.
Steve Doyle (24:02):
One of the questions that I'm curious, as
we're talking here, is with morelet's.
Let's say you.
You definitely have thischarismatic approach to you
thank you and from attracting awoo that is the woo.
I mean, yeah, we'll get intothat.
All right, that is the woo.
How do you help those that youknow they they kind of and I'm
(24:25):
gonna pick on the gen x and theboomers right, sure that they
know they need your help, butthey're kind of like, eh, I, I
don't know.
Yeah, how do you help peoplerecognize and realize, hey, yes,
we as millennials, as as Gen Zs, we can do the shit because we
know the shit?
Stefanie Couch (24:47):
That's a great question.
I think it's not trying tobelittle anyone in any
generation for what they don'tknow, and trying to show them in
a way that they understand andcan appreciate, so that it
builds trust.
And that takes time and, Ithink, one of the things that
millennials are known for, butespecially me, because I have
(25:09):
this thing called activator,which means I'm wildly impatient
.
So I'm like you've heard thisthree times.
What are you waiting on?
Brad Herda (25:17):
What don't you fucking understand?
Stefanie Couch (25:18):
Yeah, I mean like I don't get it, you know.
But at the end of the day againto to reel it back is like some
of these people have giantbusinesses and so if you tell
someone that has $150 million ayear business, well, I can
increase your business by doingall of this stuff, they're like,
well, number one, what's thatgoing to cost?
So they're, you know, they'realways looking at that,
(25:39):
hopefully.
And then also it's like but thenwhat do I get?
Because how much more work isthat going to be for that person
?
Sometimes it's almost noneright.
But like I have an operationsbackground as well.
So if I tell you like I canhelp you sell 2000 more doors a
day, and they're like, ooh, thatsounds cool, like that could be
40 more million dollars ofrevenue every year.
(26:00):
You know, at the same margins.
That's amazing.
But then the part I didn't tellyou is oh, and we're going to
have to buy a new building and13 new trucks and four new
forklifts and also hire 100 newpeople and buy $5 million in the
machinery and it's going toalso take five years to get
there, then it's a wholedifferent story.
Right, and that's the true story.
(26:21):
And there's always what amarketing person, or what any
person that's selling something,wants to show you the pretty
side, the vacation, the on thebeach smelling the sand drinking
the Mai Tai, but really what itis is a 15 hour flight in the
backseat of playing by thebathroom where you're sitting
with a guy with his shoes off,and so that's real life, right?
(26:43):
And?
so it's a balance of showingthem I understand what real life
is, and I also understand.
If you don't want to do thisbecause you're cool at 100
million, good Congratulations,you are amazing.
Or 5 million, you don't have tobe at 100 million.
I keep using these big numbers.
But it is amazing to build a$500,000 remodeling business and
(27:06):
you're making 30, 40% marginand you're feeding your family.
You have a great life.
If that's what you want,amazing, keep doing that.
And if you want to grow 10% ayear or whatever to keep up with
inflation, then that's great.
But if you're hungry and youare unquenchable which is what I
like to talk about, with myselflike I am unquenchable- and I
(27:29):
was born that way and I don'tknow why but I'm never going to
turn that off.
Yeah, exactly, he's in thebusiness with me as I live with
this every day and be married toit every day and be married to
it.
But if you're unquenchable andyou want to go hit 150 million
and you want to climb that nextmountain, then let's go do it.
(27:50):
I've got my climbing polesready and I will take you up the
mountain.
Brad Herda (27:53):
That's spectacular.
So so, stefanie, how do peopleand where do people find this
unquenchable desire to sell morethings, make more things, make
more money and let's go get shitdone?
Where do they find you?
Stefanie Couch (28:10):
Gritblueprint.
com is where they find me, and Ithink that's why I use the word
grit, because it's for peoplethat have grit and want to go
just do gritty stuff, and sothat's my company name.
It's behind me here, gritBlueprint, and it's that Spartan
spirit of like I'm going to gowith whatever I need to do to
(28:30):
make this happen, and so I wantto work with people like that.
That's the people I loveworking with, and I really love
the independent spirit of someof these small business owners.
It's not just businesses thatare huge, but it's people that
want to do amazing things andbreak barriers that they didn't
know they could ever break, andthat's what I'm trying to do in
my life every day.
Brad Herda (28:51):
That is spectacular.
Your energy is infectious andcontagious, and we are blessed
to have you here as a guesttoday.
Thank you, safe travels.
Enjoy the snow with the puppylater on today.
Stefanie Couch (29:02):
Yes, I'm excited .
Brad Herda (29:04):
And we appreciate you being here, Stefanie.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for having me.
Stefanie Couch (29:08):
That's it for this episode of the Grit
Blueprint podcast.
For more tools, training andindustry content, make sure to
subscribe here and follow me onLinkedIn and other social media
platforms.
To find out more about how GritBlueprint can help you grow
your business.
Check us out at our website,gritblueprintcom.
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