Learnings and Missteps
The Learnings and Missteps Podcast is about unconventional roads to success and the life lessons learned along the way.
You will find a library of interviews packed with actionable take aways that you can apply as you progress on your career path.
Through these interviews you will learn about the buttons you can push to be a better leader, launch a business, and build your influence.
Find yourself in their stories and know that your path is still ahead of you.
Learnings and Missteps
The Dance of Adaptability in Professional Growth
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
My road is a spaghetti disaster and I wouldn't trade it for anything. You know, you meet different people, you go different directions. You figure out. I like this, I don't like that. Nothing you do in your spaghetti path is ever a waste.
Speaker 2:We can't talk to other business owners. It's silly, because nobody can handle all the work that's available.
Speaker 1:There's so much out there, and why can we not build each other up right? We can't control the circumstances that are around us. All we can control is how we react to them. There's like a whole career path for QCs, and they're writing their own tickets.
Speaker 2:What is going on L&M family? I'm back and I got a super special high energy, just kind of a friend having coffee, but with some like real game. You're going to get to meet Miss Renee Glenn Denning, who I beat y'all because I got to have a conversation with her a few weeks back. I think I was in California at the time and said, oh man, because I got to have a conversation with her a few weeks back, I think I was in California at the time and said, oh man, we got to get you on the show.
Speaker 2:She's been super supportive and engaging on the social media, on the LinkedIn and stuff. She has spent some time doing cool stuff with NASA, which is still that's kind of like wow, I know somebody from NASA Rocket science Rocket. I mean, I'm telling you I have no business talking to rocket scientists, but hey, owned her own general contracting company, which is no small feat, and now is changing the construction world around and in quality control she has a quality control university. Let's get to know Miss Renee. Miss Renee, how are you doing this?
Speaker 1:morning, I'm doing good. How are you?
Speaker 2:Oh, you know, I'm just here having fun talking my head off all morning today. So, renee, first question, I was stalking you on the interwebs.
Speaker 1:I love it.
Speaker 2:I saw that your tagline is like quality is what remains when the dust settles.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is our thing. What is the dust? The dust of construction, the dust 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 our jackets and our gear and it just it stuck with me for years and years and years and years, and I stole that from a fellow individual that is in the industry and years ago that's what he said quality was. He said quality is what remains after the dust settles and it's what we build our reputation on. And for me, that hit home.
Speaker 2:Oh, I love it. And yeah, like visually, when you think of a job site, there's a lot of dust.
Speaker 1:Even with water trucks, there's a lot of dust, oh my.
Speaker 2:God, yes, yes, yes. And then, like you said, our reputation. I'm going to go out this isn't a big assumption, but the quality of the stuff I do probably isn't of the highest quality, but I have a reputation for that and that's okay. Like people know, when you deal with me, it's going to be quick and dirty, it's not going to be super polished, but the quality of whatever it is we deliver, in terms of relationships in construction and so forth, shape or inform our reputation. They shape our reputation.
Speaker 1:And we're only as good as our last job or our last project. Whatever you did, you're only as good as our last job or our last project. Whatever you did, you're only as good as the last thing that you did.
Speaker 2:Oh, oh, my goodness. So there's a ton to dive in there, especially around the QC stuff, because that's where you're swimming and providing a lot of value to a lot of folks out there. But I want to. Well, I'm not going to take ownership of it, I'm going to blame it on the L&M family. The L&M family wants to know where did it all start, like when you were in middle school, high school, did you plot it out? I'm going to go to university, I'm going to get my engineering degree, I'm going to work for NASA, so what?
Speaker 1: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 a hard truth and she said you're not going to be able to do this forever and you're not going to be able to support yourself forever doing this. And so she said you're going to go to school. And so my head was stuck in the stars and I have always been a proponent of the space program and the stars and exploration.
Speaker 2:And she said no you're not going to make the frigging money doing that.
Speaker 1:You're not going to be an astronomer. Get that out of your head, all right, 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 steered me in that direction and so I went to school and I went to work for THICOL in the space program and I worked in the facilities group. We built the rockets, but I was in the facilities group. So that's when I got into construction, because we built the facilities that built the rockets. And so I got into construction and I realized this is my gig. I hated the over the wall engineering. You know you do something and then then two years later it got built. That's not. That was not what I wanted.
Speaker 1:I wanted to see my impact and I wanted to see my impact beginning to end, not throw it over the wall and then never get to see what it looked like. So I figured out right away that construction is what I wanted to do. And no, my road is a spaghetti disaster and it's. I wouldn't trade it for anything. You know, you meet different people, you go different directions. You figure out I like this, I don't like that. I measured in everything for one semester.
Speaker 2:You measured in everything. Okay. So first I want to know cause I like, I'm into dancing what you're a dance instructor. Was it a particular style? Was it ballroom?
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, it was jazz and tap and I will only admit this to you. Clog. Okay, how embarrassing is that Country. Western tap shoes, clog.
Speaker 2:I think it's you know. I don't tell anybody, since we're making confessions here. I will watch clog videos.
Speaker 1:Business Jason's whole podcast making confessions here I will watch clog videos. Business podcast deep confessions with jesse.
Speaker 2: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 even say it's a bucket list item, but I've always, always admired tap dancing, like just. There's some super cool folks I've seen out there amazing okay.
Speaker 2:So now you know this, and I think the listeners out there know, there's always these weird things that don't seem connected, but there are connections and so now you know you talked about the squiggly path of your life. Oh, yeah, yeah. What are some of the connections to the thinking or the approach to learning and teaching dance and the things that you've experienced over the years?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's understanding how to communicate on different levels. If the person or the student is not getting it, you have to be able to try to bring it into their focus. Right, and I think that's what a good coach, a good educator, a good dance instructor, it doesn't matter Right, you have to learn how to talk on different levels and don't talk down to people. I hate that. This means talking and meeting someone on a level that they're going to get it. For me, it's always the joy of the light bulb. Like you, you called out your family member at the beginning, right, he had a light bulb moment. That's what that was. That's why we do this. When you see someone get it and find the satisfaction of I get it. Finally, I understand you said it in a different way and I get it. And for me, that's what gets me out of bed every day. It's finding someone to reach that's going to get it.
Speaker 2:And for me, that's what gets me out of bed every day is finding someone to reach that's going to get it and have that light bulb moment, because those are moments that stick with them forever and then that changes their spaghetti path, right, so I love that you point out, like in teaching dance, like you got to figure out what is the flavor that the learner needs and, more importantly, how you connected it to its value in the professional space, like universally valuable, when you have that skill to be able to adjust and say, oh, it's not them, it's me. It reminds me of a saying one of my coaches said if the learner hasn't learned, the teacher hasn't taught. Oh, I agree. Now that's not to say that the learner doesn't have some responsibility in the situation. But in order to hold myself to a high standard of quality, if I hold myself to that level of ownership to say they're not learning because I haven't taught, I need to augment, adjust, tweak my communication, whatever it is my delivery, so that they can consume it and have that light bulb moment.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, I get asked all the time.
Speaker 1:oh, you have a piece of paper, yet you're an engineer. What a waste. You do construction oh, that just drives me nuts. Education is the one thing that's never a waste. Whether it's somebody teaching you how to insulate a pipeline in the field, or whether you're sitting in a classroom, it's not a waste. And I use my degree every day because then I can communicate with the A kids and I can call them A kids because I'm one of them. I wouldn't be able to communicate with them the way I am if I didn't have it, and I try to explain that to people. Nothing you do in your spaghetti path is ever a waste. Just pull that out of your brain and get rid of that right now. Say it again, sister.
Speaker 1:Right, I mean even your QCM class right. That made it so that you and I found common ground. I understood what you did. You understood what I did. You know, that day you might've been 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, I know. I know what you do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know I never taught dance, but I was obsessive about salsa, dancing salsa and merengue, not merengue, salsa and bachata.
Speaker 2:I was at the studio four nights a week and then I was at the club two nights a week, learning what I learned from that.
Speaker 2:I learned a lot of things, but the things that are applicable in the squiggly line of success was when I'm leading, responding to the pressure or the lightness or whatever of the person I'm dancing with makes, for we got to maintain this connection. There's some push and pull that helps us do the maneuver and do the patterns and the lead, and if my intensity or gentleness is not tuned to that person, we're going to get disconnected and it's going to be wonky, which is very similar to what you said, but what I I think I've done, what I used to do early, early in my career, was everything was a fight, everything was a wrestling match where I was grabbing people and throwing them around. In working with quality control professionals and I'm going to expand that even further to folks that are in support groups, because I would say that quality is a support function, along with HR and safety and all the other things I've come across so many folks in those roles that are wrestling. My question to you is how important are interpersonal skills for QC professionals?
Speaker 1:Extremely important and we've about this being human right and being a good human and treating people like a human. That saying of you get more bees with honey right.
Speaker 2:Uh-huh.
Speaker 1:A QC that is a human on a site is useful and they will be seen as useful, and a QC that lands on the site as a dictator is a cancer and it's a cancer. Unfortunately, I have not found the magic sauce to change, and there are some of those folks that I did a post about this not too long ago.
Speaker 2:So, before you get to learn more about her, I want to give the LNM family member shout out. This one is for Mr Bernard. Bernard sent me this awesome message that lit up my day and I want to share it with y'all. Bernard said Jesse, this is awesome. Thank you very much. Being a part of this journey has made the world of difference in my professional and personal life. Glad I'm a part of it and will definitely continue to reach out and spread the word.
Speaker 2:So Mr Bernard is talking about emotional bungee jumpers, which he's been a part of for almost a year, and obviously it's helping him. It's not just torture, but he went out of his way to let me know that it is having an impact on him. And so folks out there, lnm family members, take the time. If you give me like stars, I don't care how many stars, just give me some stars. Give me a review, send me a message. All of that thing is super meaningful to me because it helps me know that, hey, I'm not the only one listening to my episodes out there, and it gives me an excuse to celebrate you on a future podcast.
Speaker 1:They throw around how many years they have in the dirt. Right, it's this badge of honor. I don't need to learn anything because I know it all, because I have 40 years in the dirt. Oh, it just drives me crazy. And I've not yet found the magic sauce to turn all those folks' mindset around. That's a mindset that can be so detrimental for a project. It's so hard, it's so hard.
Speaker 2:It's got to be hard for the individual as well.
Speaker 1:They're miserable. If you talk to them they're miserable. Most of them have four divorces, they're playing child support, they don't have enough for a beer in the evening and you just look at them like you know. If you just change your mindset a little bit and just be a human, it'll change. So no, interpersonal skills are extremely important and approaching everything with open-mindedness and with curiosity like just because you've got 30, 40 years in the dirt doesn't mean your way's the only way. You know, there there may be a young buck. He may have boots that are so shiny clean you just want to go over there and step on them. But he may be fresh and he may look at something and go. Why are you guys doing that Instead of doing it this way, like he may change your whole world, like he could rock it. You know, but you got gotta have that mindset of listen. You gotta open your ears and listen because you never know when you're gonna meet the person that's gonna light ball moment for you, and so that really interpersonal skills are very important to a successful qc manager.
Speaker 1:Organization and interpersonal skills. If you got that, you can do it. You can do it. You could do a lot. I made lead foreman into QC managers. I've made engineers into QC managers. I have made pipe fitters into QC managers. Anyone can do this position if they have the right mindset and organizational skills. The rest of that we can teach.
Speaker 2:Now I want to do, maybe, some myth busting here. Oh yes, because, like you mentioned earlier, when people, you've had people in your life, tell you, like you have an engineering degree in your construction, what a waste, right. And then the. So that's myth number one. Myth number two is engineers don't have interpersonal skills. But clearly you do, and you I've worked with a lot of them that don't, yeah. And so how do you navigate that? Because there are a lot of people that are are binary.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I made more as a quality control manager than I ever did as an engineer, and so that'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 got folks in my family that look at me and go oh, you're in construction.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's done really good. For me and my family it's done good. So money talks for a lot of people, and then for some people it's more than that. Hopefully for most people it's more than that. But normally as soon as I say I'd make more as a QC manager than engineer, they go what? Really that can't be. So that's usually how I start that conversation and then it's just it's what is your jammy jam right, it's what you enjoy doing, and when I've been in the industry, the young bucks always want to be a project manager Every time I interview someone well, my goal is to be a project manager.
Speaker 1:That's what I want to be, and I always tell them, even when I own my own company you'll be back If you go, do that, wear that hat and then you come back to my office in a year or two and you tell me you're done being a babysitter and that you want to be a QC manager, and we'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:Yeah, there's like an unearned status given to the title of engineer and project manager, Like I would well, I'm a field guy so one of the jobs I had it was a new position to the company and so they didn't have it technically in their system yet and so they classified me as a project manager internally and I was like y'all need to change that title because I'm about to quit. I one thing I never want to be. I'm not one of those, but it not that's. It's because I have a lot of biases and I've worked with a lot of project managers that made my life miserable. But I also appreciate, like that job, that work. You got to love it because that's not sexy high status.
Speaker 1: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 of effort and risk you're willing to do for what kind of reward. And that's a personal choice that no one can really make but you.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So on the idea of risk versus reward, why in the world would you start a construction company, since the reward financial reward of running a construction company is like pennies in turn compared to the amount of damn effort and pain and struggle you have to experience?
Speaker 1:I was young and naive no, just joking. Ok, let's do this, it'll be fun. So I did federal construction at my company. We did commercial and fed, but we were mostly federal because we were in the SBA's 8A program right. So at the time when I started my construction company we had heard from those on the Hill that they were going to treat the girl card or the WOSB like they were treating the 8A program of the SBA. And what that means is that customers could sole source to you with that kind of federal contract and it's true they have the power to do that but the contracting officers are not using the WSB or the EDWSB yet.
Speaker 1:Started it thinking that it was going to be a really easy transition. I had been along the front range in Colorado for many years. My name was well known along all the federal bases, thought that it was going to be like everything in life, so much easier than it really is, and it took years to get the portfolio under my flag. They knew me, but I had not done any projects under my company name, my flag. It was painful and it was hard and it was a lot of learning curve.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't change it. I have a lot of people ask me now I wouldn't change it. I did so much personal growth and so much. I mean I don't think they should give companies to people as much as they allow people to have their own company. I started, I was an engineer and I had been in the industry for a lot of time. I didn't know profit and loss statements, I didn't understand P&Ls, I didn't know what the bank was looking at, what the bond people were looking at, and I figured out really quick what I didn't know and I was fortunate to be surrounded by a lot of smart people, but I wanted to understand.
Speaker 1:So I went and got a Streetwise MBA. But I wanted to understand. So I went and got a Streetwise MBA and during that process I learned all of the stuff that I needed before I even started my business. And then I realized everything I was doing wrong and I was able to steer the ship. So, yeah, I got into it thinking it was going to be a better life for me.
Speaker 1:I was a sole provider of two young boys at the time and you know, everybody always says own your own business, you have more family time. Negative, don't do that. Don't do that. If that's your motivator, don't do that. So that's really why I jumped into it and a lot of good lessons meant a lot of good people wouldn't change it for the world.
Speaker 1:But it's a rough road. It's not for everybody. It's a rough road. You burn that candle at both ends in the middle and it'll eat you up and there's no privacy, right. So when you're in those programs I called it the Trinity bank bond in the SBA. They were my holy Trinity and when they called, you picked up the phone. It didn't matter what time it was All three of those people knew what I spent on groceries every month.
Speaker 1:You're in a fishbowl. They know everything right, because you've got to stay within the confines of the program and I was definitely ready to be out of the fishbowl and to give back. You know you get tired of being competitive with all these other people and there's so much stigma around. You know you can't succeed if they succeed and you can't talk to them. You're on a bid walk. You have to put your game face on and that was never me. Like I drove my partner insane because 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 am now and helping and giving back.
Speaker 1:I didn't want to play those other games. That wasn't my game.
Speaker 2:You know there's a whole bunch there Like the idea that we can't talk to other business owners. It's silly because nobody can handle all the work that's available.
Speaker 1:There's so much out there, and why?
Speaker 2:can we not build each other?
Speaker 1:up and then I would get dirty looks for my team. You know like yep you told them our numbers. I didn't tell them our numbers. I was telling him good job for getting the job on another base. Heaven forbid, I wasn't talking, it's just, it wears me out like just thinking back to that and my whole body just goes yes, yeah, it's.
Speaker 2:You know, I think maybe it's a new era or maybe I'm just making better friends. I've seen a trend I found myself around more and more people like that are like-minded in terms of like. Why don't we like lift each other up and support each other and refer each other and share, because nobody really has some super magical proprietary thing that the other competitor isn't. Like we're all doing the same garbage. Like we really are all doing the same.
Speaker 1:I know, yes, I know, and, like we said earlier, you're not for everybody, right? I'm pretty straightforward and I use colorful big girl words. Some people don't like to hear that If I'm not your jam, let me help you find somebody that might be. Don't give up just because I'm not it. But then there's some people that are like I really get you. It's like you're talking to me and I understand it and I want to learn from you and I'm like get in the boat, let's go. But yeah, I was miserable playing the corporate games and I'm much happier writing my own destiny and getting to talk to folks I want and getting to surround myself by those people that help build you up Right.
Speaker 2:So I love that you pointed out like the volume, intense volume of personal growth that happens when you start your own business.
Speaker 1: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 a license and then the SBA let me in their program. Like what the heck? I shouldn't be running a business. I went to my first. I was part of an emerging leaders program. The first night they had a speaker come on and they said, oh, for the entrepreneurs in the room, you're going to own, on average, eight businesses in your lifetime, so this one really doesn't matter that much. Like you're going to learn from this and move on.
Speaker 1:And I'm sitting at this table with 15 other emerging leaders and they start talking about all these books they're reading to become better people. And they're like, oh, I'm reading Tony Robbins and I'm reading this. And I'm like, holy crap, I don't have time to take a shower. Like I got dry shampoo in my hair, people. And I mean like now though you find time for that personal development and you learn that emotional intelligence and personal development. Like you can't lead without those things. And so now I'm one of those people that are like, oh, did you read this book? And now people are like, oh, so glad you have time for all that. You make time right. I mean, it's a mindset, so I walked into it.
Speaker 1:I was in survival mode. I was like riding the bike through hell. The bike was on fire, my hair was on fire. I was just pedaling as fast as I could. Then I realized I'm not getting anywhere and I don't know what I need to know. My business is running me and I'm not running my business.
Speaker 2:I love that L&M family. You just got about 90 pounds of wisdom thrown at you.
Speaker 1:I hate it when people get scared, and they get scared of the federal world. The federal world is a game and you've got to learn the rules of the game and then you just play it better than anybody else, and those rules protect you as much as it protects the feds, and there's good money to be had. So I'm always trying to help people and encourage them. Please go for it. Don't not go for it, but don't jump into that deep and blind. Keep your eyes open.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, 100%. But my backup plan if my business fails is to table dance for money.
Speaker 1:I thought you were going to say dance I was definitely for that I got some ones, jesse.
Speaker 2:I'm going to make it rain and I'm happy to announce that for 2025, I will not be dancing 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, like the rate at what that has exploded for me. I've always been a nerd and liked learning things and reading and whatever Don't tell anybody, but you know, as a closet nerd, but before I started my business, all of those books and ideas were like they were great ideas, like, oh, that's a good thought, that's a good idea, that's a great thought, that's a good idea. But they were kind of optional. It was just like, you know, I could do it or not. Now, when I come across a great idea, and I'm way more selective and focused about what I'm learning and what I'm reading, because when it's makes sense, I got to go do that damn thing, like now because, depending on anybody else, right, you got to figure it out, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, a hundred percent. So that's just to say, starting your business is going to hyper accelerate your personal growth, whether you like it or not.
Speaker 1:And then you get employees and then you're trying to motivate different people and people have different motivators and the new generation is so different to motivate.
Speaker 2:Suddenly, I had Gen.
Speaker 1:Xers that would be happy playing a guitar on a street corner. So like they were motivated when I did community service as a company. But when I threw money at them they were like no, no, and I'm like what?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so while you were in that corporate space, there was a certain type of we'll say costume that you have to put on, because I think we all know what that is, and you also mentioned early in our conversation about the light bulbs and seeing your impact. So what was the transition? What was the lighthouse that pulled you from your construction business to the Quality Control University?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it actually was linked. So when I started my construction business, I talked about how hard it was to get experience under my flag and to get a name, and so, in order to take me off the books, I would go on other general contractor sites and I would audit their QC program. And I actually did QC work for other general contractors and while I'm trying to get legs underneath my business because I couldn't afford payroll right, so I couldn't afford to pay myself.
Speaker 1:And so I'm out there doing this for, you know and I did it for about I don't know eight or nine different general contractors along the front range. And then it hit me these guys are suffering, they don't understand, they don't know the staff that is needed to meet the federal requirements for quality control and they don't have that staff on their payroll. And so I started a division under my general contracting company of QC services and then, when I wanted out, I got through the 8A program and I wanted to do something different. My partner took the company a different direction and then I took the QC with me and I just expanded it because pre-COVID I would travel all over the US and I would do audits and I would be in the dirt with the guys and helping them out. And then COVID hit and everybody shut up and I had to figure out how to still reach the guys and helping them out and then, COVID hit and everybody's shut and I had to figure out how to still reach those people and help them.
Speaker 1:We learned all the fancy zoom calls with the backgrounds and the lights and how to talk to people on the internet. And then I figured out oh, you know, online training. Right, because the other, the other problem is nobody wants to shut a job site down to train their staff.
Speaker 2:You know, so if you have online, training.
Speaker 1:They can access it. Or, you know, they have a snow day and they're on salary right, so they're already getting paid for it. So tell them to log in and do some more QC training to finish your certificate right. So that kind of developed into the QC university. Because even after COVID, money's tight, it's hard. My predominant customer is a small general contractor just getting into the federal arena. That's usually the folks that need 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 I get to go and it's exciting. But most of know they've got a grand or a couple grand that they can job cost and get online training for their whole company, versus two grand just for a plane flight to put me up for a week and then shut their job site down. That's a cost and train their people and they don't have that. So this really is what developed in the QC university.
Speaker 2:Oh man, okay, so there's a ton and I got to. I'm going to hit you with a sidewinder question at the end of this, but you already talked about being able to see your impact. You started the branch of your of the construction business was QC, because you saw a pain point that others, your competitors, were struggling and you decided to help them and you could see the awakening, or the light bulbs, and then covid hit, which I think slapped us all in. Like that's why I started a podcast was because of covid. Right, pre-covid, I was like all this online garbage is garbage. There's we. Everything has to be in person. And then over cold I was like oh, wait a minute, yeah you're like it's all t TikTok and dancing.
Speaker 1:And now you dance.
Speaker 2:And now I dance Exactly. It feels like there was these circumstances that happened, that could have cratered you, but, as they happen, it just helped you find another path, or clear a path, Right.
Speaker 1:We can't control the circumstances that are around us. All we can control is how we react to them. So it's oh well, this beat me down. 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 trying to reinvent myself and find another road, you know.
Speaker 2:And what I also picked up on is you talk about, like the online self-paced training where you're small, gc, that really resources are thin. Right, it's a way to provide them some value that is digestible for them, absolutely. So. There's this idea or thread of service in there as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, huge, and that's why I do what I do, right? So why is service?
Speaker 2:important to you.
Speaker 1:You know I previously talked to you and listened to you on another podcast and we talked about your rearview mirror right, and you get a few years in the industry and you figure out what makes you tick. I have my forever home, I'm sitting in it, I've got 30 acres out here in rural Missouri and I have chickens and I have a garden and I have my things.
Speaker 1:All, joking aside, it comes down to you get to a point in your life where you've held all the titles, you've done half of your bucket list. What's priceless to you, right? What's? Going to get you out of bed every single day. You know I'm not. I'm not, thankfully. I'm not chasing a dollar for a house and I'm not chasing a sports car. Everything's a motivator at different points in your life.
Speaker 2:I got a.
Speaker 1:Mustang in the garage. Don't get me wrong, I love sport cars. I don't want to offend the sport car people, but you just get to that point where what means most to you and what gets me out of bed every day is helping a subcontractor or a general contractor or a small business owner or a QC manager that's on a job and no one's given them training except for the core's one day class right, and they're lost and they're struggling and I've been there and every day they think their butt's going to get fired and they've got kids that they have to feed at home, or a wife or a dog 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. That's what gets me out of bed. It's just you get to that point in your career where you're not chasing a physical object anymore.
Speaker 2:And that's where I'm at. Yeah, so ditto, when I figured out two things, that the secret was fulfillment. When I spend more time doing things that bring me fulfillment, life is awesome, agreed. And then now the sub part to that is how do I get fulfillment? It's by doing the things that I'm designed to best serve at Key point, service. Where do I get fulfillment? From Serving others. How do I serve others? Sharing my gifts and talents that I've been blessed with. That's the thing in it. So totally get it. I absolutely love food, shelter and the occasional beer because I'm sober now, but so coffee right.
Speaker 1:Same thing, yeah, whatever your jam is.
Speaker 2:Now, what I understand is the business or the way that you serve the community is not just through self-paced online training. You offer other services.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we'll do site audits, but you know bigger picture, a portion of all of our sales goes back into educating the youth and I know that's near and dear to your heart, right?
Speaker 1:So we do career fairs at the elementary school, we do at the middle school, we do at a high school level and we go and talk to them about the opportunities in the trades. My husband came up through the sheet metal union and so he always comes with me. He did test and balance commissioning and then I sucked him into quality control. He walks the trade route and I talk the engineering route, and the fun part is to see the look on the kid's face when we say we ended up in the same spot and we both make really damn good money. Like you don't have to go to university and get a piece of paper. Please stop telling the kids that we need people that want to get into the trades, that want to be the craftsmen. So anyway, that's near and dear to our hearts, and so a portion of all of our sales goes back to either programs that educate the youth or us getting out there and hitting the street and helping out at those kind of programs.
Speaker 1:And I've seen your post. You do the same thing with the hands-on workshops with the kids and things. That makes that lasting impression, and sometimes we're the only ones telling those kids it's okay. Not only is it okay, it's kick ass. Come do this, this is all. Come do this.
Speaker 2:You know, I gotta, I gotta brag. There's a highlight, one of the last thing, that I was involved in the Texas Construction Careers and it's an annual thing where we had 900 students there. Anyways, and I'm just the mouthpiece, right, I'm just there for comedy relief. So I was the emcee of the event. I'm interviewing all the vendors, different employers and all this stuff because, you're right, it is freaking awesome. Granted, you got to be able to tolerate the, the element, right, you got to be able to. You know, there's some things that it's hard work, it's hard like, it's hard on the if you're soft. There ain't no mommies here. No, you got to figure it out for sure now. So I was interviewing this one group employer and I'm looking at the kid. I'm like I know you and he's yeah, 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 behind the booth with the company. Oh, yeah, I just I've been working with them for nine months.
Speaker 2:I said well, where were you before that? He said high school. I said no way. Yeah, I talked to you last time I was here as I was a student, and I said no. He said yeah. I said okay, how much did this event, which is one time a year, how much did this event play into you deciding to start a career in construction? And he said it was everything. My first time I came out I had no idea there was this much stuff that, like, all I think about is, you know, the guy with the vest standing with the stop sign. I had no idea there was so many things. Second time I came he's like I knew that I wanted to get into, like welding, but just those interactions helped him become aware of the plethora of careers that are in the industry.
Speaker 2:And so for me, like you, the reason it's so important to me is because the trades gave me an amazing life, like a life that I had no idea was possible.
Speaker 1:Oh, I would never have what I have without it.
Speaker 2:I've got to travel.
Speaker 1:I've got to see places, I've got to work with different places, different people. I hear it all the time, but it's the camaraderie, right, it's the people. I miss being in the dirt so much, 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:And so here's the thing, like kind of back to the oh you're like, you're in construction. I thought you were an engineer, what happened? You're not passing. I have a deep appreciation for education, whether that's the formal thing or self-education, but what I'm not okay with and this is why I'm such a huge advocate for the trades or careers in construction is I am not okay with forcing kids into a situation that is not designed to help them thrive.
Speaker 2:And I know firsthand that an office is not a place where I will do well, I will do poorly and I will make it difficult for everybody around me because I can't sit still, I'm noisy, I'm rambunctious, like construction had the perfect conditions for me to learn and thrive. And that's, I think, the difference. We all thrive under different conditions and when we force people into, you know if you need a lot of structure, a lot of direction, a clear path, education, right.
Speaker 1:Academic touch.
Speaker 2:If you can thrive in ambiguous, uncertain, rough and tumble kind of experiment to figure it out, make your own decisions, learn from failure. You need to come over here to this side. I think for me that's the important thing. There's options.
Speaker 1:So many options and then people get pigeon-tolled, even within our industry. I've trained several field foremen to be a quality control manager because they talked to me in the field and they thought that was all that there was for them, that's all they're ever going to amount to be, and I said yes, what do you want to do?
Speaker 2:There's more.
Speaker 1:You can do anything you want to do. There's no reason why a field foreman 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 your path, and if the company you're with is not helping to support you, maybe it's time to find another one. No one's going to look out for you but you. But go do it. I volunteered to go speak at a community college here close to me and I said I want to talk to them about construction quality control. And he said oh, ma'am, I'll give you over to the manufacturing department. And I said no, you're in the construction department and that's what I want to talk to. And I mean like he had no idea that there was such a thing and it's just that's.
Speaker 1:you know when I'm screaming sometimes I feel like I'm trying to educate people. There's like a whole career path for qcs and they they're writing their own tickets right, they're getting to travel overseas, they're traveling anywhere within the us and they're almost naming their price. This is a career. People are doing it. They're making real good money. They're loving it. It's a thing. But yeah, in the end I didn't get to talk to the community college because the gentleman over the construction didn't think that construction quality control was a thing. Still a lot of mindsets to change.
Speaker 2:If somebody wants to access you, get into the magical, wonderful world of quality. Where should we send them?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so qcuniversitynet is our site and we've got standalone there as well as our membership. That has all of our inclusive training and it's got all of our forums. All the options are sitting there. But you can find me on all the socials. So we're on the Facebooks and the Instagrams and the YouTubes and we even do the TikToks. I don't dance, though.
Speaker 2: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 heavy sidewinder question. And I'm excited because clearly you've learned a ton from the experiences you've had on your path and you've shared it with so many people and you continue to contribute into other people's lives. So my guess is like your answer to this is going to be pretty profound. So here's the question.
Speaker 1:All right.
Speaker 2:What is the promise you are intended to be?
Speaker 1:I think the promise I'm intended to be is to be unapologetic in myself yet also completely straightforward on what I will provide. I don't make open promises that can be broken. So when I say I'm going to do something, 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 I get to live an unapologetic life giving back.
Speaker 2:Oh, and that takes us all the way back to reputation.
Speaker 1:Right. Quality is what remains after the dust settles, and it is what you build your reputation on Gangster. We're running on a t-shirt. We got a t-shirt.
Speaker 2:I'm going to do a t-shirt. Yes, yes, we'll, we'll figure that out. Did you have fun? Do a t-shirt. Yes, yes, we'll, we'll figure that out, did you have fun.
Speaker 1: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 have a coffee in person. It's going to happen.
Speaker 2:Coffee as we're cruising in the Mustang.
Speaker 1:It's a date Done.