Revenue Remix - Inspiring Visionary Leaders

Redesigning Success: From Successful Exit to Passion-Driven Work

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In this episode of Revenue Remix, host Summer Poletti continues her engaging conversation with entrepreneur Judy Brower. After bootstrapping and successfully exiting her first company, Judy embarked on a second act that turned her lifelong passion for art into a thriving consultancy.

Discover how Judy combined her love for creativity with her knack for business, pivoting to a career in art consulting for commercial real estate. From luxury residential murals to public art installations, Judy shares how she built her new business, tackled unique challenges, and found joy in a field far removed from her first venture.

You'll also hear about:

  • Why keeping your brain active post-exit is key to longevity and fulfillment.
  • The surprising power of art in creating memorable spaces and driving revenue.
  • Judy’s thoughtful transition plan that set her up for a successful pivot.

Whether you’re thinking about a second act or simply curious about the intersection of art and business, this episode is packed with inspiration and actionable insights.

Companion Content: 

  • Explore how Judy bootstrapped, grew, and successfully exited her first company here.


Show notes:

  • Connect with Summer on LinkedIn
  • Visit Rise of Us for more information about Summer's services
  • Episode recorded and edited using Descript
  • Repurposed content, such as this description created using CastMagic

Hello, and welcome back to revenue remix. I'm your host summer polity. And this is a continuation from last week's episode. In which we explore what Judy is doing now, after having successfully exited her bootstrapped company. You can learn about what she's doing now, and it's really a turn your passions into. A company type of story. So it's an interesting conversation. It's a lot about the next chapter. The second act careers. I'm a big fan of those. This of course is my second act career. So follow along, let's have a little bit of fun. Without further ado, let's get started.

summer:

Well, welcome back, Judy. Thank you. It's good to be here. Uh, gosh, I feel like I just talked to you five minutes ago. Oh, folks, batch your content. It helps make marketing a little bit easier. So, we're gonna talk now about your new business because you bootstrapped and successfully exited and there's a lot of nuggets of wisdom there. But then you also decided to pivot and what you're doing now seems completely different. I want to hear about that story. And I think that it just shows that, you don't have to put yourself in a box Like you get to do different things and have a little bit of fun. So Let's talk a little bit about what you're doing now. I'm first curious, like, What made you know that you didn't want to retire yet, at least?

guest:

I think I started working when my mom told me to raise my hand when they asked who would get the milk. Because if you were the person that brought the milk to the rest of the class, then you got a free milk. And I, you know, we didn't have too much money growing up. And so, my mom thought of clever things and she'd found this out. So all of her four kids went through elementary school with free milk by being the volunteer to bring the milk.

summer:

Nice.

guest:

At least when you were little, I don't know how long that kept up for, but, um, I like working maybe as a result of that, I thought it was fun. You got to leave the classroom and go and get the milk and bring it back and collect every kid's money. And, and then. You know, wheel that back over and it felt important and I liked it. So I've been working my whole life and I therefore have had income my whole life. And while my other business did nicely and I have a lot of savings, it's not the same thing as income. You don't want to just sit and watch your money get smaller. Yeah, you would like to still have money coming in. Sure. So, That is one of the reasons why I wanted to start another business The other one is like i'm saying about you know, liking work I like structure in my life and I don't think I do want to get up with nothing to do every day for the rest of my life

summer:

That makes sense. So I happen to know somebody who is a neurosurgeon Like she's so smart. She's been on the discovery channel, you know, we were watching tv one night. We're like, oh my god, it's susan So she studies what makes you have dementia, and especially the early onset of dementia, and one of the early onsets of dementia is retiring soon, because your brain doesn't have to tackle problems anymore, and like, your brain just sort of goes, eh, so, that was scientifically very smart what you chose. Thank you. It's healthy. Yay. Yeah. You're, you're going to keep your brain sharp. I mean, if you think of it as a muscle, you know, you work out your muscles, you got to work out your brain. And what's the best thing to do than to have a job and have responsibilities?

guest:

Absolutely.

summer:

So then you're doing something totally different or. Yes. So how'd you get the idea for this?

guest:

Well, I was thinking about what I would like to do next and I thought why don't I go for something i'm passionate about Um, and I had to think about it Um, I did not have a plan I was working so hard on my old company that I didn't have any idea what I would do next So I actually took some time to try and picture what I wanted to do next and I got um Certified in interior design, and I learned how to do SketchUp, which is a, you know, 3D. It's not CAD, but it's kind of related to a CAD program, so I could like draw rooms and build things up, and it was very cool, and it was really interesting, and the brain thing of stretching your brain, it was such a new topic to me, and learning all about it. All the, the light and the, there's so many parts to it. The toe kicks that I never thought about before that are in your kitchen so you don't bash your foot into a cabinet when you're standing there because there's an indent like where your toes go. Okay, I didn't know what those were for, but it makes sense. Such a neat industry. And I went off to their, conference cause that's me conferences. Yeah. And, um, they're like, Oh, Judy, you like art. One of my friends that I've made in the industry was like, you like art. You have to go see this place where we can get art for houses. And I went in and I had to, um, I've wanted like a airplane sick bag because it's like color, color Xeroxes. Basically that they're selling people and then they're like, Oh, if you don't like this blue, we can just make it yellow. Like, it's not really art. It's just not really art. And I'm like, Oh my God, I have a minor in art history. I love art. I've been going all over the world, buying art for 20 years. So I was like, Hey, there's a hole in the market here. But then I realized that my And my network are in commercial real estate. So I am now an art consultant and I primarily do art for commercial real estate owners, meaning not just corporate art in someone's conference room that they want pictures, but for the owners of, shopping centers that want art and for the owners of, Apartment buildings that need art in the lobby and in their,

um,

guest:

fitness centers, and I have not done any hotels yet, but that's kind of like, would be very prime because there's so much art because in the hotel you have to put art in the rooms too. Yes.

summer:

Okay. Like, I hadn't even thought of that as being a job. So I don't know if it's a thing I didn't know about or if you sort of invented it.

guest:

I did not invent it.

summer:

You didn't invent it? Okay. What I will say is like when I'm out and I can tell it's an art installation instead of like a cookie cutter thing, they got it. Like art saw us or whatever. Yes. It's really cool. And that's the one I wanna take a picture of. It could be super weird. Some of the art installations are really bizarre. But they're unique and it adds to the experience and it just like adds a cool factor, yes.

guest:

And quality. Think of what the difference, when you walk into a hotel that has like some great art and you feel like, wow, this is a nice hotel.

summer:

It definitely elevates the space. Okay.

Yeah.

summer:

That's cool. Like, so it is a pivot, but it's also kind of related because you're talking to the, some of the people you knew. So. Like, is it an easier conversation or do you feel like you kind of have to totally rebrand yourself?

guest:

Yes, the know, like, and trust factor um, is 100 percent working for me though. The people that, that knew me and liked what I did aren't confused that I've changed. I mean, they may not know that I changed because who pays attention to other people's careers too much. I have to tell them or something. But, um, certainly they believe me because they know that I approach things in a business fashion that I wouldn't put myself out there. Like I was saying with my other company, I didn't want to grow so big that the quality went down. I'm not going to do work for people that's not excellent because I would ruin my reputation. I'm just not willing to do things that I can't do. And I will tell people if I can't do something I always had in the past with my old firm and with this one is the same thing. Um, but the learning curve for me is still exciting. There's, there's just so much, you know, now I have to learn about art handling and, maintenance of public art and. I mean, there's just so much to learn and so much. And it's so exciting to me. And the amount of competition is so different when I had a marketing firm, I think in my, area where I live in Southern California, there are probably on a wild guess, I would say there's, there's gotta be at least 10, 000, if not more marketing firms in maybe the three counties around me.

summer:

And that doesn't count the people who are marketers working in house,

guest:

right? Right. Wow. This is, um, from sole practitioners to companies that are, pretty big. Agencies, some marketing agencies, there has to be 10, 000 of them that are like, I'll say walking distance, but maybe I'd say driving distance. But, um, you know, no, but yeah, within, between LA and San Diego and Orange County, I would think there's more than 10, 000. I don't know. How many art consultants are there? Well, there's not as many, not as many. Well, I mean, there's maybe like, oh, five. Well, I feel like there's

summer:

probably art consultants for rich people that put it in their house. Like an art consultant for commercial real estate. I would never have thought that was a thing.

guest:

I feel like there might be 30 of them in the country. Sort of. Preliminarily, I'll say. I think there might be 30 of them in the country compared to 10, 000 of them in the US. In my little area. Wow.

summer:

Yeah, that's, that's very different. Yes. And then now, like, instead of going to a thing and talking about buildings, you get to go to art things and talk to the cool people and have wine. I

guest:

can't be

summer:

super

guest:

different. I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that I got some blue clip ons to go into my hair that are cut to the length of my hair. So part of my hair is blue when I want it to be. I love it. And the art people are so good. So cool and so interesting and so supportive of each other and so admiring of one another and so much fun and so wacky and the corporate people don't really want to work with the artists. It might be like the first time I went in an Apple store and I felt like I didn't speak English anymore because I couldn't understand the salespeople at Apple.

summer:

Um, I can see that the guy in the blue suit doesn't want to talk to the person with the blue hair. So there needs to be an intermediary who talks real fast.

guest:

Well, and I love, I literally adore both sides of those people. I went to a, party for the, w the, winter solstice where we, we all had to wear purple, silver capes. Um, that was the, no, we say had to, that was just, you know, what was the attire and another girl. And I both showed up in purple capes. And we took pictures together, but it was different. And then I also, you know, go to my ULI meetings, Urban Land Institute, where there's the guys in the suits that I have the best time with. Yeah. Wow. It's, it's a very perfect niche for me.

summer:

That sounds really fun. So, how, so how did you find your first? Like paid gig is that a consulting thing or is it project by project?

guest:

It it's either because if you know, i'm happy to do projects and i'm happy to have ongoing so, my I am doing luxury residential if asked because it's a startup and I can Definitely enjoy the income Yes. Um, from that. So my first client was a neighbor who wanted a specific piece for her home that she was willing to spend up to 20, 000 on. And it was a huge search that took months for me to find the right thing that she wanted and everything. But, on the commercial side, I am now doing, murals on the sides of shopping centers, and I'm not doing them. I'm finding the artists and working with the artists to get their renderings to, you know, see who didn't do and all that. I do, too. I

summer:

really, really So when you were in Redlands, did you go downtown and see all the cool murals? I did see some of them. Yes.

guest:

I don't know if I saw all of them, but I did purposely go and look at murals while I was there, yes. I

summer:

love a mural on the side of a building. I don't know why. It

guest:

just brings the buildings to life. It's amazing. Even in downtown LA There's a building not though, you know that high rise that famously has been destroyed with graffiti Yes, I'm like even that's sort of a visual now It's interesting to see but unfortunately, it's really graffiti like it's just sort of some stuff Sprayed letters and stuff like that. It's not art. It's too bad. Um, because it would be really cool

summer:

art, but that isn't.

guest:

Yeah. It would be wonderful if it were really art, but they have an apartment building there that the side of it's really bland would be if it were Brown, but it's been painted into a beautiful mural. And it's like, Such a plus to the, when you're walking, because that part, that little part by LA Live, where people actually do walk around, it's such a plus to have this beautiful painting, eight stories high. Oh, my goodness,

summer:

gorgeous. That is a huge mural. That is really cool. I guess I never thought about how they get there.

guest:

Like it's a commissioned work? Yeah, the guys stand there and paint what they've drawn. They project onto the buildings so that they can draw the outlines from their own drawings, and then they paint them. It's super cool. It's a gift to the community as well. Again, kind of increasing the value of their property because their property is prettier than it was.

summer:

Yeah. And then your property ends up being in people's Instagram photos because it's cool.

guest:

Uh huh.

summer:

That is really cool. So you're out there networking. How are you finding recurring business? You know, how do you find your next clients? Is it all just. Is it mostly folks at the commercial real estate shows? Do you find yourself having to educate people on why they should get better art in their buildings?

guest:

I, I'm trying to do that with some of my blog posts actually, and my LinkedIn articles or whatever to, talk to people about the art because like as we were saying at the very beginning when you walk into a place with good art, you feel it. You know, the difference, there are studies that I'm just going to tell quickly there are studies that when you look at good art, the response inside of your brain is an increase of blood flow to your brain in the same area as when you see a person that you love. Now imagine that you're going around from apartment to apartment trying to decide where to move into and you're looking at apartments and there's one apartment you walk in and they have this great art in the lobby and and you notice it. Somewhat, but your brain actually notices that you have a visceral reaction to it. Your body changes When you go to the next apartment, it's going to seem flat in comparison The one you saw before it's going to seem flat in comparison. It's going to get that apartment leased faster That's the kind of thing I'm trying to let people know and people aren't going to want to leave They're going to be more proud of where they live because it's cool

summer:

Yeah, Like that space is going to be the one that you remember the most.

guest:

And it's going to be the one that you pick. It's going to be in the senior living facility that you want your parents to be in because you're going to like it and feel like it's better quality and that it's more lovely. The people that work there are happier. The employees see it too.

summer:

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So then the value prop is Your space will sell faster Your house will sell faster like so they have fewer down months with lots of revenue And maybe when they sell it they get more money for it because everything boils down to revenue

guest:

And that's the thing is they, they can have fast release up. They have better retention. I think if you're at a shopping center and the environment is prettier, people hang out there when they hang out there, what do they do? They see a store that they weren't thinking of going in and they go in and buy something or they get thirsty and they go and buy something to drink and they get food. So the length of stay is important both with hotels and with, Retail centers that you want people to hang around and you have to give them something to do. And if you have something that appeals to children, then the kids are like, mom, I want to go to the one with the elephant in it or something, you know? Um, so it, it, it is a B2B proposition that I'm selling. Yeah. And I'm selling, hey, you don't have to talk to the blue haired people. I will.

summer:

It's fascinating. I thought this was going to be a fascinating conversation. I learned a couple of things so then this also feels like something that you could sort of do as long as you feel like it. Like this doesn't seem like it has a shelf life. Like, Oh, I'm going to have to retire because I'm too old to go to cocktail parties. And look at art. Yeah.

guest:

And I, can kind of take how much work I want at a time. I am planning to be employee less, to have zero employees. and I can certainly hire a third party, any help that I need.

summer:

I think that's things that we have available to us now that we didn't a couple decades ago.

guest:

You

summer:

can use automation and you can use a lot of different softwares, whereas you used to have to hire somebody to do something. I'm employee less. I'm going to say for now, we'll see. I might be over adult babysitting.

guest:

I have a, um, I think any business owner might be interested in this perspective.

If

guest:

you have a third party person working for you, you are their client. Right. if your client asks you to do more work. Your true interior response is, Oh yay. Oh, goody. They like me. They like what I did last time. They've asked me to do more. I'm so excited. I'm going to make money. I'm going to do more fun work with them. And they are like me. What happens when you ask an employee to do more work? Oh dear God. What does she want now? I'm already doing a bunch of stuff. I'm not going to get paid extra. It's just human. It's not against. As you may know pretty well, I fell in love with many of my employees. It's not that I didn't like them. I'm just looking at it from a human perspective that in their third party, they're going to be very excited every time that they talk to you and work with you and they're going to give it their all. Yeah. And I that's how I want to build this new business. If I need help is, I mean, which I do need with installers with, artists kind of are people that I now get work for. I'm not paying them directly. The clients are paying them directly, but I'm arranging that, but it's really, a very positive way to work.

summer:

Hmm. That makes sense. A lot of times people think that's growing your company. It's like, oh, I could hire my first employee, that is a really interesting perspective. That is going to make it in the highlight reel also. So what's the future look like for Judy, the art consultant?

guest:

I am branching out into 100 directions within this field on purpose. And I'm going to give you an example. Yes, I am doing some luxury residential stuff, which on a select basis, depending on who the human is, is a lot of fun. As my primary business. I am doing this commercial art for. these things including public art, which is, art that the city makes you do, maybe if you're developing, they, some of the cities have an art requirement where you have to spend a lot of money on art. Yeah, yeah. Um, so that's super cool and I'm doing some of that. I just put on my very first cheers to art event. Which is, where I'm going to go and introduce artists to, I'll say my friends, but certainly, you know, there'll be open. This first one was pretty small that I did because it was at the woman's home. Her studio is in her garage. And she gave us a demonstration of printmaking, which is not meaning color Xeroxes, but rather that she carves plates and prints them.

Oh, cool.

guest:

And we had sushi and wine and a lot of laughing and, people wanted, people were like, can I get together with you and so and so? Like, they made friends with each other, they didn't know each other before and stuff. So I'm trying to build like a little art community of people in it. It's kind of an art appreciation. Art can be Something that people are a little intimidated by. Like they think if they go in a gallery, they're going to get quizzed by the gallery people and that they won't know the right answers. So I'm trying to make it very accessible and introduce people to, Hey, artists are just people and they love talking about their work and you can meet them and you can see what they do and you don't have to want to buy it for your house. You might want to, but you don't, that's not the idea. It's not a Tupperware party. It's a, um, meet the artists and see what they do. Party.

summer:

No, that is really cool. I mean, it's kind of just making it feel less boujee and making it very accessible.

guest:

Uh huh.

summer:

Because I hadn't thought about that, you know, because I just love to go to museums. And now, thank God, Lily loves to go also. Yay. But like, yeah, it can feel sort of intimidating, kind of like appreciating wine. Where you think people are going to judge you because you're doing it wrong But really it's just like no it's here like the artist actually wants you to look at it. That makes them happy I like that a lot.

guest:

I know I do not have confirmation yet, but I think that I might be curating an art Um, I'll say exhibit at a seven person figure, how do I say this? Rich people event at a hotel in Miami.

summer:

Oh, wow.

guest:

And I may be doing that toward the end of the year. And I'm going to see, I have just waited to hear back from them. We're kind of negotiating on, I don't think I should.

summer:

Yeah, I totally get it. That sounds fun. I would like to negotiate that

guest:

I don't do anything but get to do it.

summer:

Exactly. What are we negotiating? I get to do it, right?

guest:

They said, well, the last person paid them to put their art in in front of these rich people. And I said, yeah, but you said you didn't like the art. Right? I'm going to curate some really, really beautiful art for you. How about that?

summer:

Yeah. Who cares if it's free? Yeah. If it Didn't get you the results you wanted.

guest:

Yeah, so I'm now trying a lot of different things within this new career. And can do all of them or some of them again in the future depending on what I turn out liking to do the best.

summer:

I'm

guest:

back to my like, let's just make the company and go and we'll figure out later what it's going to exactly be.

summer:

Yeah, I like that. I mean, we're not writing things in stone here. Well, unless the art is actually carved in stone, you know, that's a different thing. That's very cool. Okay, so if someone listening is, commercial real estate or they are an artist, where can they find you?

guest:

I am on LinkedIn with my three names, as I like to say, that unlike share, I need three names, not one. So under Judy Brower Fancher. That's probably the easiest. I also have a website, BrowerMillerCole. com. And that's where they would find me.

summer:

Wonderful. I hope some people do. Well, I appreciate you spending some time with the listeners and I imagine that some people learned some fun things, had a couple of laughs. And came away with some nuggets of wisdom, which is what it is always like talking with you.

And that's a wrap. I hope you had as much fun as I did. If you know, anyone who might be interested in sharing their story, you can find me on LinkedIn I'm summer, Polenti rhymes with spaghetti, or you can go to the podcast page on my website for more information. It is the rise of us.com. And of course, if you know somebody who might need some great art. Now, you know, an art consultant. I appreciate the listen. Have a wonderful week. See you next time.

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