Cut The Tie | Own Your Success

“Just Get in the Water”—Brandy Lawson on Starting Before You’re Ready

• Thomas Helfrich

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Cut The Tie Podcast with Brandy Lawson

What happens when a thriving craft business gets stuck on outdated tools and habits? In this episode of Cut The Tie, Thomas Helfrich talks with Brandy Lawson, founder of FieryFX, about helping kitchen & bath designers modernize with AI, apps, and better systems—without the fluff. Brandy shares how to embrace change (even when you hate it), implement only what moves the needle, and fire the work that quietly bleeds profit.

About Brandy Lawson

Brandy Lawson is the founder of FieryFX, an innovation consultancy that helps kitchen & bath designers streamline with AI, automation, and practical app stacks. A former big-tech pro turned agency owner, Brandy blends no-BS coaching with hands-on systems to deliver measurable impact. She prioritizes what works, ditches what doesn’t, and guides teams through the human side of change so improvements actually stick. Her five-minute business podcast distills strategy into action for busy owners.

In this episode, Thomas and Brandy discuss:

  • “No one likes change.” Now what?
    Why successful teams still resist tools—and how to coach through the messy middle.
  • AI for laggard industries
    Practical wins designers can ship this quarter (visuals, scopes, client comms) instead of chasing shiny objects.
  • Only implement what moves the needle
    Brandy’s impact-first rule: if it doesn’t improve profit, speed, or client experience, it doesn’t ship.
  • Bad-fit work is expensive
    How to spot misaligned projects early—and Brandy’s GTFO process for letting them go.
  • ADHD-friendly execution
    Body-double sessions, time-boxing, and other real tactics that keep creative owners shipping.

Key Takeaways

  • Impact over “interesting.” If a tool doesn’t change outcomes, it’s a distraction.
  • Change what people do, not just what they use. Adoption beats features.
  • Fire the wrong work. Bad-fit clients quietly drain profit and morale.
  • Make it ADHD-proof. Short cycles, tight scopes, and visible wins keep momentum.

Connect with Brandy Lawson

🌐 Website: https://fieryfx.com

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandylawson/

Connect with Thomas Helfrich

🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/thelfrich
📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cutthetiegroup
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomashelfrich/
🌐 Website: https://www.cutthetie.com
✉️ Email: t@instantlyrelevant.com
🚀 InstantlyRelevant: https://instantlyrelevant.com



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Speaker 1:

no-transcript.

Speaker 2:

I'm Brandy Lawson. I have an agency called Fiery Effects.

Speaker 1:

We are innovation experts helping primarily kitchen and bath designers implement AI, use apps and really optimize their businesses, because bless their little hearts they're really good at what they do and they don't know that their business could be better as somebody who I can do every trade. So I do all my own everything except glasswork, because it's just too big now in the refinery and it's so cheap to have someone else install. But I do all my tiling. I don't do countertops again, too big for transport, uh but everything else, from cabinetry to floors to tile, the electric plumbing. You do all that stuff and, um, I will tell you the use of ai is something that needs to happen when you um, my wife likes to see it all ripped open before she makes a decision. What we're going to do.

Speaker 1:

You're like well, let me just go ahead and have AI show you what it's going to look like. Let me tell you don't do projects that way people Don't rip up an entire basement and go. What are we going to do? I'm like, anyway, tell me about why people, though, should pick you. Give me your kind of unique identifier, why you're. You know it's a competitive space, right, so why do people pick you?

Speaker 2:

Um, because we only do work that makes an impact, and I'm gonna shoot you straight. So one of our core values is no judgment zone. A lot of people get really I don't know cagey, scared around like, oh, but we're not, we're doing, I'm like there's no wrong. If it's gotten you this far, it's fine. Do you want to change it? Cool, we're here for it. But, like we are very much no BS, very straight shooters. I'm going to tell you if it's good and tell you if it's bad.

Speaker 2:

And the other thing that I think differentiates us is that everybody comes to an expert because they want something to be different. Right, they want that, but then they also have to embrace the fact that they have to change for something to be different. And no one likes change. Literally no one wants change. They don't want to do it. As humans, we're wired not to. So there's really a coaching, mentoring element in everything that we do that I'm like I'm just going to tell you this is going to suck, you're going to hate me, you're going to curse my name. For the first three times you try this and on the fourth time you're going to be like, oh, my God, this is amazing. We really don't discount the human element of trying to make things better, even inside a business.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's hard because if you're in a lagger industry or you know, technology lag industry and you've found success, but you hear all these tools and you're in, but now you feel like you're behind. Yeah, you're going to have pain to have to relearn some stuff, but you will have an advantage relative to everyone else who's not, because it'll just it'll work better with a new crowd, a younger group coming up that's expecting it. So I totally understand that. So people can stalk you properly. You know, the ADHDers definitely have to click their phone while they're listening. You have a place to go look to while we're talking. Where should they go check out and stalk you a little bit?

Speaker 2:

True thing. Yeah, you can find me on LinkedIn. You can find me at fieryfxcom. Is that hard to spell? Yes, I know it's F-I-E-R-Y-F-X. I like short domains, so that's where we ended up. And then you can check out the Elevated Podcast where I talk about all things business in five-minute episodes.

Speaker 1:

So go, don't listen, don't go down, though that quite yet. We should go to our site first and back into that. We can do the subscribe letter and just listen. Okay, before we get into your journey, I want you to define success on your own terms.

Speaker 2:

Ooh, success on my own terms. You know, I did spend a lot of years shooting all over myself, it's true, but when I finally came to the really the space and time to make my own decisions and choose my own priorities. So in this season we're coming into summer I'm prioritizing play and deprioritizing some work stuff, which means moving some stuff around, and just the ability to make those choices is really success. In 2020, I had a first grader that was finishing from home and I'm like, oh, we got through that. And I was like, oh crap, I live in Phoenix, it's about to be 110. We don't have a swimming pool and he has no siblings and there will be nothing happening. We're leaving. So we got in the car and we went to Montana, where I'm from, where I have relatives with children, and to be able to just do that like my business ran, I could do it. So that really is success for me is the ability to choose the path that I want in any season.

Speaker 1:

It's a good measure of success for many people is to cap into their own calendar. Yeah, and if you can, you can determine where it is and you know you can go as painful as you want in the lead gen or as little as you want into work. I mean you know whatever it is right. And yeah, as long as you don't avoid stuff you need to do.

Speaker 2:

Well, yes, there's like mechanisms I've had to put into place for that piece, but yes, as long as you're not avoiding that the captain of your own calendar, a hundred percent. And it's another reason I'm completely unemployable at this point is like every time I think, oh, that's gonna be fun or I could help that company with that. But if they want me to employ, be an employee, they're gonna want me to go to meetings, and I don't do meetings.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I don't do meetings of value. I actually, you know, not to autobiography, but like I had this rule and it's not a good rule, people, so don't I'd never been promoted. That was the original name of this podcast, just to be clear, and we changed it to cut the tie because that's more about you than me. But the point was don't listen to any of my career advice, but just relate to this. For you ADHDers out there, that I had a rule is, if I wasn't speaking at the meeting or being presented specifically to just send me the summary.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

I'll read it, but I won't pay attention for 30 minutes while you yammer on about stuff, just cause I have to be there, I just wouldn't do it. And anyway, that was an Elon Muscle, all right. So on your journey. Tell me a little bit about that journey, and what was the biggest tie you had to cut, though, to get to the point where you could, you know, to chase your success?

Speaker 2:

Well, I'm a I'll call it a reluctant entrepreneur. I worked at a very large tech company and they changed ownership and I got walked out and I was like, that's cool, I'll find another job. And then a month later, a week later, somebody reached out to like I need help with the website. I'm like sure, I'll do this when I'm looking for another job. And then a month after that, we find out we were expecting our son and I was like, it's fine, I'll find another job. And then a comedy of errors of job search ensued. One went into bankruptcy, it was one reorganized while my offer was at HR Like it was a whole thing. And I was like, oh, I guess this. And then I interviewed with Microsoft and I walked into the Boise office and they're like, oh, we just found out we're closing this office and moving everything for Bradman, do you still want? I'm like no. So I turned down a job with Microsoft. I'm like, oh, this thing I'm supposed to be doing, I guess I'm doing this, but I really had to let go of no-transcript.

Speaker 1:

Well, listen, I mean that's a big tie to cut is to let go of this notion of what you were supposed to be and who you're supposed to be and and how the world was supposed to see you, and the value derived from titles and all the things where the little one on the way only cares about time with you and you don't know that until they're here, cause the fact that you can capture your encounter means, hey, could you take this one, cause I've given too much time today with this one.

Speaker 1:

I need to go walk, and so you don't realize that, and that is a huge tie to cut. I mean, that's a big one to let go of this notion of what you were supposed to be, what you're expected to be, what you went to school for. Did you find, though, on your journey, just maybe as a little deeper dive in that, the security you found in the W-2,? Once you got on the other side of it and you started getting consistent clients, did you see how much was? Did you find that? I'm not going to leave the question Did you find that, as were you sold a lie on that security, or did you find enough? How did you interpret?

Speaker 2:

Well, I navigated some other. So my first job out of college, two years in the company, essentially jumped the shark. They went into something way too early. And then they like, on the third or fourth round of layoffs, my manager was asked to cut a position and she asked us all to go to 80% at that point and I was like you know what? I'm not going to any place anytime soon. Here, just cut me, everybody else can stay.

Speaker 2:

And then I so I wasn't like the security of a job wasn't so much the thing I've been. I opted to be laid off in my first corporate job, but it was really how much I was playing by everybody else's rules and that I didn't. I didn't even really know who I was. And then I got into doing my own thing. I was like, oh, this is interesting. And I was like, what is this who? Why am I wearing this? Like where did that come from? That's not me. And I'm like, oh, this might be me. And then I'm finding another layer. So it really was a lot of rediscovering who I was, outside of the definition of what was acceptable inside a corporate.

Speaker 1:

Was there a specific moment you remember? Was there a specific?

Speaker 2:

moment. You remember it was a. At that point it was probably around the trying to create my own content and feeling like corporate minions were living in my wrists. Like every time I tried to write something, it never sounded like me. I'm like what is, who is this? And why doesn't it sound like? When I would talk to people, they're like, oh, this is great and yeah, that's. And then I would try to create a piece of content and that point was a lot of vlogging. I was like what? Oh, oh, I've, this isn't me. I have to figure out what version of this actually belongs to me and what part of this I adopted at some point along the way yeah, that's a.

Speaker 1:

You know, sometimes people, the moment they're walking their mailbox it's like sunny out, like Like why am I indoors all day and the others are might be like just a slow Chinese torture of water gripping on the face At some point. I can't do that. I'm. I'm bruised, no more. Yeah, yeah, and that sounds like what you had. So once you, you know you got your success, I got to cut this tie. You know the dripping's done. Then there's the how. How did you do?

Speaker 2:

how did you cut the tie? Well, um, it was a little bit of like the decision being forced on me, um, because, seriously, the job offer was at HR. The hiring manager was like, oh, I'm just waiting for. And then not really like. I kept like what am I? What? What? Like I just need to be really clear here, and like the clarity kept on me, um, and then it was a bit about allowing myself, uh, to not be the smartest person in the room, like I also had to get over my own ego about being intelligent and having all the answers, because, um, as an entrepreneur, you never have all the answers as a no oh you wouldn't.

Speaker 2:

And and this is the like dichotomy, right, this is the tension is like you either have to feel like you absolutely know how this is going to go so that you do it, or else you're going to just feel like a big idiot, and nobody likes to feel like a big idiot. So, yeah, really cutting the tie of who I thought I was supposed to be, um, embracing the fact that I was now a business owner and a mother, and uh, and then letting go of the shoulds and just figuring out what version of it was gonna work for me at that moment, and then it might change. And then it definitely did change. Um, the first brand of my company was not fair fiery effects.

Speaker 1:

It was too, girl. It does. It does evolve and you know a big tie you cut, uh that you were. You're discussing there Like I don't want to walk over as the I've done it myself is the ego piece. Sometimes, by the way, you are surrounded by idiots and it's frustrating and they're in charge.

Speaker 2:

Oh, I had to be so much less competent if I was ever going to live in the C-suite, so that's good, I left.

Speaker 1:

But a good friend of mine and a mentor of mine said they might be an idiot, but they're in that position for a reason, and unless you know why they're ahead of you, you'll never be there past them, and so so you've got to respect that. They're there for some reason and until you know what that is, you you, you don't want to be the smartest person in the room around them, and so he's like because you're, you're they, they know you have to be confident what you do, but be very dumb when you don't need to be the smartest person. So that's a hard skill to learn and you often lose clients to figure it out.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, what do you look grateful for in your life? What am I most grateful for? Oh, that's a like, I think, finally coming to understanding, coming to the perspective like there's a lot of misery in this world, I think because every, we're very we're humans, we're egocentric, we think everything's about us. We're very we're humans, we're egocentric, we think everything's about us. And so when I finally could really fully embrace the idea that everyone's just doing the best they can with what they've got, it freed me from so much.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, that's a good one, the being grateful for understanding, that is, you can apply it to your parents. You try to transcend this to your kids. Like, hey, I'm a first time parent. Like to your parents. You try to transcend this to your kids. Like, hey, I'm a first-time parent. Like you're a first-time kid, you will get that you're a parent, right, well and so, yeah, and outside of a few select drivers down a street near us, I give grateful grace to everybody except them.

Speaker 2:

But most like. Doing it for other people allows me to do it for myself.

Speaker 1:

I still can't be grateful for the drivers in front of me. They are not doing their best. I don't care if they're new drivers. I don't need 15 bumper stickers to remind me you need to slow the goddamn speed limit. That's it. When we started that might be my five minute podcast we were talking about all that stuff there we go. I could do a whole podcast on that. Drivers are windward.

Speaker 2:

All right, give some advice to a listener, someone who's you. A few years ago, oh, um, what advice would I choose? Um, let go of judgment of the things you need to do the job, um. So my example here is I use something called work set and my sister was like, oh, what I'm like, exactly what it sounds like a work sitter. Someone who gets on a zoom call with me is like, okay, what are we working on? Okay, you think that's gonna take you 20 minutes? 20 minutes starting. Now go ahead.

Speaker 2:

And because for ADHD people, there's two things like one, the body double effect is real. Having somebody sitting with you, having a just another presence, even if it's on zoom, helps you to focus to. This is a skill. Did I have any idea how long anything took me? No, because I refuse to track my time. But also, I'd never been like, okay, I think it's gonna take me 20 minutes. Is that actually 20 minutes? So it was building the skill of me knowing how I want to take things. But for so long I was like, oh my God, I need a work sitter, it's so why is this? I'm like actually, it's not embarrassing, it's works. So, just, whatever it takes to do the thing that you need to do. Yeah, whatever, whatever it takes.

Speaker 1:

I need to do. Yeah, whatever, what, whatever it takes. I've never heard of work sitter. Uh, one of the ties I've cut. I openly talk about this adhd this year, so taking medication, going through the whole, you know, physical training, where therapy stuff, and it's been a game changer like completely changed my world in the last, like you know, eight weeks and so uh, and in a very, very positive way, from relationships to business to focus to everything, and uh, and the benefit is your podcast will get the benefit of this. I just want to throw that out there. Um, but the uh. But you're right about you know, the adhd year does need some specific uh structure and whatever works for you to go do it. Those who are not like us could never understand it, so I don't even try.

Speaker 2:

Here's my armchair theory of business ownership. There are two kinds of business owners diagnosed ADHD and undiagnosed ADHD, Like this is it.

Speaker 1:

There's two types of entrepreneurs Actually, it goes to my favorite dad joke, one of them. There's three types of people in this world those who can count, those who can't. Yep, yeah, number two, I like it. Anyway, we're going to. You'll probably more dark humor, are you more dark humor?

Speaker 2:

Oh no, I do like a good dad joke, I'm.

Speaker 1:

You're not feeling that one, because dark humor is like like food Not everyone gets it. Well, you laughed at that one, so maybe you are more dark humor. Maybe I am All Not to that one, so maybe you are more dark, maybe I am All right. I was just trying to be ADHD. I was just trying to go on a tangent to give you some space. You had to release Rapid fire questions. You'll love this part. All ADHDers do. It's fast, it's great. What's your best business advice you've ever received?

Speaker 2:

That bad fit projects or clients cost way more than they'll ever make you. Wait, say that again bad fit projects or clients will cost way more than they'll ever make you I just want you to say it twice because that's such an important, that's really good advice.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I like our clients sometimes don't do it, don't do it for fun, do it for purpose, but in case you're using a fire client oh well, and and make it again whatever it takes.

Speaker 2:

So we had to create a gtfo process for me to be able to fire clients that stands for.

Speaker 1:

Get the out just for everyone knows. Okay, all right, no, I think I already cussed. I was trying to keep it in my youtube limits, so, um, who gives you inspiration?

Speaker 2:

my dad, um, when the year I was born, my parents opened a restaurant. They're two farm kids from montana that had no business opening a restaurant Literally was on the back shelf at lunch hour just hanging out. Then, when I was 13, the recession hit. They lost the restaurant, we lost our house and dad started over again. He bought a Dairy Queen franchise. He got his friends and family together, got them to invest, bought a Dairy Queen franchise, grew it, moved the the location, bought the land and building, opened a second location, bought the land and building, um, grew a management team that he groomed to take over the business so he was able to sell out to the people who actually ran the business. Um and he's 81 and we went skydiving for his adF birthday and he was at the roller rink in March roller skating with us.

Speaker 1:

Actually, of those two exercises, roller skating is by far the more dangerous for Nate. No question about that. Like that is hip arm zone, dad. You're going to get pneumonia and die after you break your hip, so stop. Like it's like skydive. It's yes or no. It's the binary yeah, you're fine or you're not. He's in quantum pain at that point. What's your must-read book? What would you recommend to people?

Speaker 2:

Brene Brown Daring Greatly.

Speaker 1:

What was the one thing you got from the book?

Speaker 2:

She has a story about her daughter swimming. She goes to this meet. She doesn't want to be in this particular event, there's a whole thing about it, and her daughter basically comes to me like can't you just ask the coach not to? And she's like no, no, she's like well, what if the goal wasn't to do? Well, what if the goal is just to get in the water? And so for a very, very, very long time there up on my board was just get in the water, like you just got to start.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's, you got to start and you, you know it's like it's just the goal is just to finish. It doesn't matter where you do it. You know, that's the, you know, as long as you don't quit, you're, you're not losing.

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker 1:

Well, I mean, If you had to start over today, what part, what timeline would you go back to and what would you do differently?

Speaker 2:

I don't know that I would change the timeline. I think I was ready when I was ready. What I would do differently is again back to that Beagle thing about getting over myself. I would get help and support earlier, so much earlier, like day one I think uh, that's it.

Speaker 1:

You know, listen, there's most people go back to some point. Um, you're, I think, the only person. Well, there's only a few people who said I wouldn't change anything. I tell this answer. So if you people listening have heard this before, but I think this is when someone asks you this question here's the best answer I've ever heard. I wish I would have ordered a black coffee instead of a latte, he's like, but I'm going to correct that right after this podcast. That was it. I'm like that is in the moment and like I'm not going to have a different kid if I change it. This one, I just want a different drink. I'm just going to get a different one. The cup can be refilled. I thought that was awesome. I was like oh, so good. He was pretty rich too. If there was a question, by the way, I should ask you, jay and I didn't what would that question have been? How would you answer it?

Speaker 2:

That was a hard one. What questions should you have asked me um? What questions should you have asked me about? About me, about my journey? Oh, I don't know that I have anything different. I like, I like, I have all the like ai answer ai questions, ai answers, but like, about my journey, I don't know, like, it could be anything you can be like.

Speaker 1:

What's my favorite color?

Speaker 2:

I mean, it could be any well, I'm so my like first up box is it boxes all around like the best ai tool for businesses that nobody's talking about because it's just not shiny and cool but everybody could start using it that is a good one.

Speaker 1:

I'd like to know the answer that uh, notebook lm are you familiar?

Speaker 2:

I don't know. Tell me about it. Notebook LM Are you familiar? I don't know. Tell me about it. Are you a Google user? Do you use Google Workspace? It's more for your Zinzle shop. Okay, you already have access to Notebook LM If you go to notebooklmgooglecom. It's part of your workspace and it's essentially your AI that you can apply to your existing knowledge. For example, I'm working with a gal. She's a founder. She has a bunch of knowledge about the specific software. She just took all of her stuff. She recorded a bunch of her meetings, she dumped it into Notebook LM and now her staff has to go ask Notebook LM Before they can ask her. So it's your own private LLM, llm, yeah, and it will create an audio of something. So if you're a listener, and if you are more of a listener than a reader, you can dump a bunch of stuff. And if I was in college, I'd be using the crap out of this for every single course. I'd be like here's all the stuff give me flashcards, give me a remediation.

Speaker 1:

So in this, in theory, um, I'm going to use it. So, so, for you know, for our customers, for our marketing agency, we do a lot of very specific content, bucketing and types and measure it. With ai, you're telling me, I can basically put everything they could give me use case and be like, hey, give me the their. This is internally focused. But will the? But will that technology? Will we go? Hey, what are people searching outwardly? Will it only keep to that knowledge base and not go outside of it?

Speaker 2:

It will keep to the knowledge base you give it Now. It can now go look at webpages and things like that, but it will only use the knowledge base you specifically give it.

Speaker 1:

Gotcha, that's good.

Speaker 2:

So a lot less hallucinations.

Speaker 1:

The hallucinations make the content fun. Who doesn't need a little peyote in their ai? Uh? Thank you, by the way, randy, for coming on today. Uh, who should get a hold of you how they do it?

Speaker 2:

um. So if you have a business that's ready to optimize your current systems, or you need support and getting the most value from others, it's literally changing every day. Anybody who's like I know what's happening five years from now, like you don't know what's happening five minutes from now. But if you need help with these kinds of things the strategy, how to utilize it to its most value those are the kinds of people that should reach out.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's great. Thank you, by the way, for coming on today. I appreciate you.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely my pleasure.

Speaker 1:

Anyone who made it to this point in the show you rock. If you've been here before, thank you for coming back, and if you're here for the first time, I hope it's the first of many. Get out there, go cut a tie to something holding you back, but first define that success on your own terms, because it will determine then what is holding you back from it. Thank,

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Thomas Helfrich

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