Episode Transcript
[00:00:10] Speaker A: So I think we'd be great, you know, in getting this going.
Why don't we tell our audience a little bit about our businesses and where we're broadcasting from, since we're in such a great, unique space in Maryland and in the United States. So I'll start. Look, I'm Mick Arnold, the president of Arnold Packaging. We're a 90 year old manufacturer and distributor of packaging materials. We have a couple of divisions, a packaging division where we make containers out of both wood and cardboard. And we distribute industrial supplies that are generally made by other people. Big brands like three M signode, Sealed air, Pregis. And then we have a division that does automation and that's dedicated to productivity solutions. So we help manufacturers and ecommerce distributors get more product out the door or do it with less people, or generally a combination of both. So two distinct divisions that are very synergistic, though, in how we support our customers. And one will turn 90 years old this year. And we're celebrating our 6th anniversary in our automation division.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: Awesome. Well, as you know very well, we are not 90 years old. We're going on seven. And I am the founder and president of Tagler Construction and supply. We do exactly what it sounds like. We sell construction materials all up and down the east coast, and we can go all over the US. We've got some really great distributor partnerships in place. Our core competency is wood, precast and pipe. We do a lot of miscellaneous other things, but it's all construction, it's all commercial, and we have a very heavy focus on infrastructure work. So highway, bridges. We're also doing some marine and water work. As I said, it started the company in 2016, and we've experienced some really amazing, explosive growth that we're just trying to continue. And it's one of the reasons that we moved our businesses together to this amazing location called Trade Point Atlantic. So now we're in a 300,000 square foot, 100,000 square foot of which is ours. Dedicated space, multimodal, in fact, the biggest multimodal piece of industrial land in North America. So there's port, there's rail, and there's trucking. So we've positioned ourselves in what we believe is an amazing location for growth for our companies. And I think we should also add, for those of us, those people that don't know us, that we also happen to be married. Which is really what I think a lot of people are interested in, is that dynamic of how we handle both our personal lives together and that intimacy, as well as running businesses together. 24/7 yeah.
[00:02:57] Speaker A: And delete in. I mean, the fact that you're in the construction business and we moved here, this facility, and unfortunately, our viewers can't see it, but just a massive parcel of land that used to be occupied by Bethlehem Steel. And Bethlehem ship 40,000 workers a day reporting here. And over the years, with some of the loss of manufacturing in the US to Asia and other places where they make a lot more steer than steel than we do now, this plot of land was just sitting and dilapidating until 2014, where some new investors came in. And now we're on the move. We've got neighbors like Amazon and Home Depot, Florin decor, you name it, under armour. Just a great lineup of american companies and then people from other parts of the world that see a lot of value here, whether it's Volkswagen or BMW and landing automobiles. And Baltimore is on the move as a port. If you look at Newark or Charleston or Savannah, some other east coast based ports, I think Baltimore is poised to make a move here right in the middle of the country, and great labor and great infrastructure in rail and road, like you talked about. So I think we're fortunate to be here. And it's cool, too, to look around as I drive and see precast concrete or lumber and know, know you're the one working on those materials with TPA and with the contractors that work here. And it's all right in this area. So it's been cool to watch and fun to experience and be part of. I mean, we obviously are loud and vocal about TPA and Baltimore and Maryland in general, and I think this is the hotbed of it right now.
[00:04:36] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. I agree. And I think for context, for everyone listening, that this is obviously our first episode. We hope there are many, many more. We're going to dig deeper as we go into what you love, manufacturing and into construction. But I really think for the purpose of this episode, it would be helpful if we take a step back.
Prior to us merging our businesses into this very building, how did we meet? How did we decide it was a good move to move here and move our lives in together? And what did that look like? I think starting there to try to paint that picture before we dig a little deeper into other things would be really helpful and cool and quite funny.
[00:05:19] Speaker A: Yeah, I think we could call this business and love. Right? Because the business is really what brought us together and roll back just to 2018. When we met and you were head down building Tegler construction very early days. And while Arnold packaging was an 84 year old business. At that time, we had a startup business on our hands in automation, and we're learning the hard way how to get into a new space, and one that was synergistic with what we were doing. We entered because we had a lot of customers asking us for it. There was a lot of trust and credibility, but still a reach. And while close to our lane, not our lane. So I remember you were in the same spot we met at grasmic lumber, and a good friend of ours brokered a meeting over there because simply I was buying pallets and you were selling pallets. And that was the initial connection. And turned out that I had known your uncle for a long time, and we had been in and around Baltimore and mutual customers, and we had a lot of respect for each other, and it was just a very natural meeting. When we first met at grasmic, I still remember being in the conference room and talking about pallets and then leaving and thinking that was cool. Back to it. Back to building an automation business and keeping the core business, the packaging business, afloat and thriving. And I didn't give a tremendous amount of thought to it that day. Certainly a great meeting, but put my head down and went back to work like usual.
[00:06:48] Speaker B: Yeah. So fast forward a little bit. And at that time, as you alluded to, I was building a business, and it had come at really a desperate time for me. I would say I had just been a part of a company that I loved, and it just didn't work out. And at that point, I was coming to all of these realizations, wow, I don't know. I don't know if I can work in a super corporate environment. And really the reason I would say for that was I really wanted to be creative and I wanted to push boundaries and I wanted to try new things. And I was working within an organization that still is amazing. And they are a well oiled machine, and they do things one way and they have no reason to change. They're incredibly profitable and credible, all of these things. But when you're a young person that wants to push those boundaries, obviously you can see where there would be some heads that were butting along the way. And so it wasn't a great fit for them and it wasn't a great fit for me. But along the way, I learned a ton about construction and real estate, and that was one of the being there. I made so many connections. So ultimately, that experience was so valuable in being able to launch my own business. But at the end of the day, it did come like my feet were to the fire. I was just working off the savings in my bank account. I certainly didn't have a bank that would lend any money to me or investors. They're like, who the hell are you? You haven't done anything, and you're a female and I'm a female in the most male dominated industry in the world. So there are all these ods against me. But I saw the opportunity and the opportunity that I saw. So for anybody that's even thinking about starting a business or that's very entrepreneurial in nature, there's got to be a problem to be solved. You can't just start a business and just think it's going to work. There's got to be a problem. And the problem that I saw was there was a lot of state and government contracts which do require minority owned businesses to participate. And there just weren't a lot that were strong enough and capable enough to really complete these contracts. So I said, well, hell, if I can start a woman owned business and be an incredible supplier that happens to have a certification rather than the opposite, I think we can really, I say exploit. That might not be the right word, but take advantage of this market, and particularly locally. And so that's the niche and the opportunity I saw and went for it. And of course, it was not this linear, amazing. It was just all the ebbs and flows you can think of. But that's the initial my thinking, right, why this may work. And during that time, that's when I had met you, and life was crazy, and I was just trying to sell anything to anyone and make $1. Literally, $1 would have been amazing at that time.
[00:09:44] Speaker A: And we were having some great happy hours at that particular point in time. And every couple of months, we'd get together. I just remember as I was meeting people, and I had recently gotten out of a marriage and was spending a lot of time solo, but meeting people and getting back out there and also, too, getting Arnold packaging, which, until 2016, was called Arnold's factory supplies, trying to get it into the market. I think we were, in general, one of the more covert old businesses in the area. We just stayed in our space, which was packaging. And I joke about manufacturing and trying to get them out. It's almost as if not now I'm making things, or almost like you're on your own island. And so I was trying to do more of that, and we were having some great happy hours. And like I typically thought, Britt's a great person. She'd be an awesome addition to our group. So I dropped your name on and sent you the emails with everybody else. And I think probably the morning of every single time, you were not able to make it, which was fine. It was just like, all right, bummer, but maybe next time. And I think that went on for, gosh, I don't know, six, eight happy hours, which would have been a year, probably pushing the better part of a year.
[00:10:55] Speaker B: Yeah. During that time, I had just bought a new. My first, actually, the first home I had ever bought was during that time. And I just so happened to not have a job right after that. So I turned all the utilities off. I didn't buy any furniture. I had one lamp, which I still remember exactly what it looks like, this beige, ugly lamp on the floor. I had all my bedding on the floor.
Didn't have tv, no subscriptions, nothing like that. And I was just working sun up till sundown to try to make it work. I was getting every license. I was doing whatever I could. Now, in hindsight, going out and being with people probably would have been a smart move, but I was just trying to get the nuts and bolts of a business and off the ground. So, yeah, it was a very scary time for me. But the other thing, and I think about this a lot, I'm like, would I have been able to do that if fear was not involved? Because it is such a great motivator, and I see so many people that are absolutely paralyzed by fear. But I've always said, if you can learn to dance with it, it can be, like, the best motivator. So I'm like, if I did have this safety net, would I have been able to do all that? I don't know, but it was definitely. I look back and, man, I aged a lot during those couple of years, but it was so instrumental, I think, in being able to do what I did. And just, like, I had to swim so hard to just stay above water. So I think about that a lot, and I think anybody that's going through a hard time now, that's just something to think about.
I am certain in years, you'll look back and be like, wow, what I gained from that period was pretty amazing.
[00:12:46] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:12:46] Speaker B: But it's impossible to see that during the time. And so that leads me to my next point was meeting you.
Not that I didn't think you were a great person or anything like that. However, my mind was just trying to survive, literally.
[00:13:01] Speaker A: Yeah. When in those moments, nothing takes priority over the mission, and I think you'll never know. Right. You'll never know what the outcome would have been if you had approached a different way. But I'm sure you beat some people to market or you threaded the needle in spots which got you relationships or got you positioned to win business that you ultimately did. It's hard to ever piece it all together, but I'd be shocked if there wasn't some of that along the way. And I remember that particular day when I got a text from you saying, what are you doing tomorrow? And I think it was a Tuesday. And I thought, what do you mean what am I doing? I'm going to be here working a 14 or 15 hours day like usual. But I didn't know that it was going to snow because I never really paid that close of attention to it because I would just sleep on the couch in my office if it got too bad and get up and roll over to my desk and go back to work the next.
So not working and maybe getting out and watching it snow for an afternoon sounded like a good idea to me, especially at one eyed mics, because there's never any shortage of grand Marnier if you need that on a Wednesday at lunch.
[00:14:03] Speaker B: So one eye mics for those of you that who aren't familiar with Baltimore, it's just a bar in the city. And I believe for both, it was walking distance for both of us. So it was an easy meetup. And I remember starting to talk and you immediately started to talk about robots. I was like this dork. I mean, I knew you were a dork, but in a weird way I was like, this is fascinating because there's so many things to talk about that are interesting. But then we also had so many other interests. It'd be soccer, one of our favorite restaurants, all of these things. And then 8 hours later we were still talking.
[00:14:41] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And business.
Yeah. There were so many parallels.
Parallels. But then also alignment too right? And intersections and it was just a very easy conversation. And 8 hours later when I thought, oh boy. We got together at twelve for lunch and here it is, 08:00 and I think it was the 21 march. So there were still some St. Patrick's Day toxins laying around that we checked out. And it was interesting.
I knew that my life was different than when I got there, which was cool and interesting. I just didn't know if you felt the same way. That was a really hard part.
[00:15:17] Speaker B: It was. And then you asked me to dinner the next night. I was like, yeah, we were thinking the same thing.
[00:15:26] Speaker A: You were like, yes. But you said no.
[00:15:27] Speaker B: I did. I had a work event. We went out the next night.
[00:15:30] Speaker A: True.
[00:15:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
Another interesting thing about it is I was in serious relationships prior to that, but I never experienced anything where I felt like I could merge or harmonize these two lives. Like, they were very separate. It was business and it was personal, and they were in their separate silos, and that's how I handled them, and I didn't intend for that to happen. I just sort of thought that's the way it was and that's how it had always been. So to even think of hanging out with my boyfriend and we'd both be working on our computers at the same time in the room, like, working just wasn't the thought that crossed my mind.
[00:16:15] Speaker A: Right.
[00:16:15] Speaker B: So for me, I was like, well, this will never work. This came from a business relationship and how well, it very organically, we started working together, and I started to realize, wow, if you're with the right person, not only is your personal life great, but business can get so much better. And I had this as a young, single, ambitious female, I didn't think I could have a career and also have this really significant relationship. I just didn't think it would work. And then all of a sudden, I realized, and for anybody, again, that's in this position, it's just about finding that alignment as we talk about, because if you are aligned, it will just boost everything in your life. Absolutely. And that's what it just rocked my world. I was like, I cannot believe this is reality. But you don't know what you don't know.
[00:17:13] Speaker A: Sure. Well, and just in general, to not have to go outside of your relationship or anything. I have a problem or a sounding board, and I don't have to spend hours and hours building the scenario for you. You're on point, you get it. You've listened or you've overheard a conversation, or I've directly shared with you a particular problem that I'm having, or I'm just sitting back and watching you operate or doing what you're doing and thinking. We used to be really good at that when we were smaller, and somehow we've gotten lazy, sloppy, whatever would have us not as scrappy.
[00:17:46] Speaker B: Content.
[00:17:47] Speaker A: Yeah, content, complacent. Another good one.
Not as scrappy as I got to watch you with your business. When resources are even more precious, they're always precious, but even more precious when you're a startup and your ability to make mistakes is less. You don't have the resources in those early moments or the assets to withstand a lot of mistakes or any significant, like we say, miss the bomb, like we're just missing the bomb in moments. So it's always fascinating. And, yeah, I mean, the idea where you could get a relationship where one plus one would equal five or six or seven, and I think that's how it's been along the way. Even early on, I remember when we lived in different spots, we were terrible apart.
It was awful because we would go back into our head down modes and we were physically separated, but we're also even disconnected because we were both head down.
And then it completely came full circle when we were moved into or lived in the same spot, that was a completely different scenario, and it's been like that ever since. So, yeah, very much so, yeah.
[00:18:53] Speaker B: And I think one thing you've touched on, but I'm going to take it a little further, is being that sounding board for each other, which is really amazing. You don't have to seek all these outside resources just to brainstorm or get ideas or reassurance. Half the time we're talking and the other one isn't saying a damn thing, but it's just, you need that. It's event. That's all it is.
But I think what was really cool is I get to experience the wisdom and the knowledge that you've acquired businesses.
You've had to do everything that a 90 year old business, a successful one, has done. So I get to learn all of that real time, and it just expedites my learning process as a business owner and founder. And then you're taking away, as you said, our smaller, younger grind, our scrappiness. Stay scrappy. That's my merch coming soon.
But I believe in that so much. You got to scrap. And the second my team, there's like a small little job for my great customer, they're like, oh, we're not going to touch out. I'm like, you go get the best pricing we can for that $500. That's staying scrappy, that's doing what you need for your customer. And I want to live by that every single year. I don't care if after nine years, I still want to say we're scrappy. And so I think just taking those lessons from each other and interchanging them and then weaving them into both of our businesses is really cool.
[00:20:25] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And look, if at some point we wake up and you have 500 people, you can still have groups of scrappy people that are still executing that way, and they still maintain that same agility, right? It's about the agility, too. And the speed at which you can execute. I mean, we have a saying, this has been a really interesting year and multiple years, just the explosive growth in the last two to three years, a lot of which was powered by inflation. I mean, the amount of price increases that we've had to endure and our customers as well, and they've supported us through and watching that piece, and now all of a sudden, a complete shift with the Fed and some of the things that they're doing to slow it down. You just never stop leading and managing and trying to read the tea leaves as best you can.
This year has a look going back to being very frugal and smart. Not that we were ever wasteful, but it has a different focus. Last couple of years was where the heck are we going to get it? What's the supply chain look like when I get it? How am I going to get it? What's the gallon of fuel going to cost when we have to drive it to the customer?
Yet another shift and pivot. So yeah, I think just that ability to get small, stay agile, and that's what I love to watch your business do. And the way you train your team, too, you got young players like we have young players, and it's fun to watch them and invest in them, to try to get them and understand why it works the way it does here at least other companies do other things, but how we've gotten at least where.
[00:21:59] Speaker B: We are, I'm really looking forward as we get into these episodes. I don't think it's necessarily warranted, appropriate right now, but to go through some of the things we're talking about, like dig deep into our businesses and things that we're experiencing as business owners with our teams.
I was talking to you yesterday about some real challenges that I'm struggling with, and one of it is being like a really lean team that's doing a lot of volume and how I'm managing it, how we're balancing the stress in our lives and there's a lot going on and some of it has to do with our processes or lack thereof and all of these things. And I think it'll be really cool as we go to talk about the challenges we're having while we're having it, while we still haven't figured it out.
[00:22:47] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:22:48] Speaker B: Because as I was talking to you, you're suggesting all these things. I'm like, wow, good point. Haven't thought of that. And it's relatable. And I think it would help a lot of other business owners who are undoubtedly, or managers. Anybody within a company that has some kind of difficulty they're dealing with doesn't have to be a business owner. As we're working through it as we go, there's hundreds, thousands, millions, maybe, of other people that are going through the same thing, trying to work through it together, real time and total transparency and vulnerability, because so much of this I haven't figured out, and I'm working through it every day.
[00:23:23] Speaker A: Yeah. And look, and for my part, having been through some painful moments, I would just say in general, in my teachings or travels, anything I can share that would keep someone out of the same troubles that I experienced along the way, I would happily share or at least let them listen to it and they could decide if it was appropriate for what they're doing or the situation that they're in and maybe run in a different direction, or say, oh, boy, that looks like where I am. And Mick got it wrong again over there. Maybe I'll do something different. That would be great. And then I think, too, but then, not to miss the personal side, because we do work for small businesses, and they're family businesses, if you will. You have a sister and a mom and I have an uncle, but came from a business that at one point had aunts and uncles and you name it, my father hired. And I guess ultimately they moved on. They're not here, so they moved on in some direction. But not losing the love part of our podcast and sharing the people side, especially the ones that we have now that we consider family, even if they have a different last name, well, that's.
[00:24:23] Speaker B: Really the only thing that matters, I think, and that's why we've felt compelled to do this for so long, because we value relationships and these conversations more than anything. And it's actually a shame it's taken this long, but I think we're getting it right this time around, and I'm just looking forward to sharing.
And one thing, I think if we can take a little bit of a pivot and dive back into the interpersonal side of things, we've really touched a lot on, on this first half of how we met, how it worked, how one plus one equals five, but a lot of the questions are on the other end of the spectrum. Well, it's got to be challenging. You're both working 24/7 you're together 24/7 how do you make it work? What does that look like?
What could you guys do better? Like all of these types of questions, I just threw a lot at you. But maybe we could start touching on some of that or starting at least somewhere.
[00:25:24] Speaker A: Yeah. Pick one.
[00:25:25] Speaker B: Okay. What is the hardest part of love and business?
[00:25:29] Speaker A: Oh, gosh. I would say the hardest part is being conscious about stopping working every once in a while.
Because if you walked into our house on any given night or weekend, you'd find that we have an l shaped sectional like most people do. And I'm generally on one side and you on the other, just because it lets us face each other. But we're on our laptops and cleaning up the day or planning the next day. And it's almost as if when we leave the office, if we don't use that as the stopping point and we go home and pull the laptops out again, for example, then we've lost that evening, right? We're still together for sure, but generally head down. I think the hardest part is because we understand each other so well. I mean, in another relationship I had, you almost had someone over your shoulder tapping their feet. Like, are you going to get off of that laptop yet? That's the exact opposite. You're like, well, if you're going to be on yours, I certainly have another 30 hours of work to do. I'll just start knocking it out, too. So I think one of the harder parts is just to put it aside for a second. And both of us have this issue with perfection and never letting one down or always putting the ball back in someone else's court and just saying, you know what? If it gets there tomorrow, that's going to be okay. Or this expectation that I have is mine and mine alone. And it's even a bit of a made up story. It's okay to do this tomorrow because the customer is not going to be jazzed. Whether you get it there at this time or that time, they just need it. And I think we both drive so hard in that direction that we can feed each other. And I think long answer to that's one of the hard parts. Not that there's a lot, but just that thing where you and even I just be like, man, I miss you. And you'd say, well, what the hell? You sat across from each other the last four nights, and it's not the same. And I think that's the tough part, or can be without. We're both programmed that we can just do that. We both know there's a lot to be done versus saying, yeah, you know what, it's Thursday, and that's going to be there tomorrow. And our customers will still love us and respect us and value what we do if it gets there tomorrow instead of tonight, and we'll still get up at 04:00 in the morning, it'll be there before they get to their desk. But you know what I mean. I think that's one of the pieces. If I'm intentional about or try to be more conscious of us not walking up the stairs next to each other at 930, having sat across from each other for 3 hours. Because when we got home from work, that's one that I think lately, too, it's been that way with some of the challenges with the business new people. We've onboarded one a week for the last three weeks. That training has to be done. So that's the one that I watch the most closely.
[00:28:01] Speaker B: Yeah. And certainly there's ebbs and flows in our businesses where we're going through different transitions and it warrants just more time going head down. But I was actually giggling inside a little bit, as you were. Like, if we don't put our laptops away when we leave the office, I'm not sure I can remember a night we didn't have our laptop out. So it really doesn't happen.
And there were two different things playing in my mind as you were going through that. And one is that saying, iron sharpens iron. Right. And I love that saying, but I think sometimes you drive harder and I drive harder. Not in a competitive way, sure, but competitive like a supportive, competitive way. Does that make sense? We're not competing against each other. Sure, but it's like, okay, well, I'm going to push this boulder up the hill and it's going to roll down. Well, I'm going to get the next one on my back and go back up. And you and I have this way about us. If there's not some kind of controlled chaos, there's not something big looming, like we've got to go down the hill and get the next boulder. And I see you doing it and I'm like, I got to drive. And that's just this ongoing thing. And I really struggle with losing what will happen if I lose what I'm calling the edge. Some of it might call it something, whether it's type a, but wake up at three, run 10 miles, do all just hard charging and everything. If I strip that back, do I change as a person and therefore everything's going to fall apart? And I know when I say that out loud, it sounds so ridiculous. Of course not. And all of these other parts of your life are very important, but I definitely struggle with walking that line and something you say you can't cut with a doll blade as we're. Wow, all these analogies are very.
[00:29:51] Speaker A: Our poor audience is going to get hanged to death. Wait till I start to pull out some of my dad's from the. That'll be amazing.
[00:29:57] Speaker B: But, I mean, I think about that a lot. I'm like, while that's true, I just keep on cutting.
[00:30:04] Speaker A: Well, you'll just spin the blade harder.
[00:30:06] Speaker B: To keep cutting, right. I'll try to outwork it. I'll try to run. That's why I hate golf. Golf sucks because you can't out hustle it. You out hustle it, you just get worse.
[00:30:14] Speaker A: Well, if it was about hustle, I couldn't play as the slowest person in America. Golf's a better foot sport for me. We'll get into that. We'll definitely get into.
[00:30:23] Speaker B: So. So that's one. Where was I going with the other one?
Oh. The other thing I was thinking about was our hobbies, which I like this conversation. I think about it more and more because a part of me is always like, we need to get more hobies. We need to do more things. And the other side of me is like, well, why? I actually love business. I could talk about it. Entrepreneurship. Women owned businesses all day, every day, and I love it. And that is my hobby. I love working out. That's more of an exercising. I say that's my other thing, but that's more of a therapy. Oasis, sweat therapy, whatever.
But that's what we do. It's what we talk about. It's what we love. And quite frankly, I don't see much of a need to change it or fit that narrative. Like, you've got to have these hobbies to be happy, because certainly we're happy. And as you've said before, we do something else. If we weren't true, I'm not saying we shouldn't diversify a little bit. That might be good.
[00:31:20] Speaker A: This is part of it. I mean, I would consider this as a hobby or diversification. I mean, by no means are we paying the bills with this. That's the definition of a hobby.
[00:31:28] Speaker B: Not yet. Come on.
[00:31:31] Speaker A: And this is a release. I know when we've just practiced or trained, even just stopping for a second and talking, because it's even been tough to do that lately. It's almost like we have to schedule a podcast to have a conversation and stick some mics in our face and throw on some headphones. But at least it's happening, right? Who cares why it's happening? And if we get to share it, then I hope there's some benefit. That would be a great outcome.
[00:31:53] Speaker B: That's actually a really good point. I think when we talk about work, there's also that really the creative side. So it's not just Arnold packaging, Arnold automation, and Tagler Construction and supply. It's everything else. And in fact, McBritt Ventures, we created together, which is our business. Just to do know, we do real estate together.
We created a mask business during that time. We've brokered some different things. So whatever creative pursuit sounds like something we want to do, and we don't want it to be under the umbrellas of our business, for a multitude of reasons, we pursue it through McBritt Ventures. So that creative side, which I need, we'd still do that. So I think that's important to distinguish that it's not always just our core businesses. Like, there is this other. I call this an outlet, too, even though it is, at the end of the day, business.
[00:32:53] Speaker A: Yeah. And then throw in, and the other part, too, is then throw in the nonprofit work that we get to do together. Right. Which are very well aligned with our businesses, too. And it's not like business business, but what I've learned it is. But I think what I've learned is that I want to be involved with philanthropic movements and things like that. But if I've tried things that were too far out of my lane historically, they just weren't sustainable. So, in the lane. Right. Children love children. What can I do? Well, why not be part of junior achievement that works on financial literacy? So that's aligned. And I've tried anything under the sun along the way. Buddies got me involved in this. There was one charity I was involved with. It was about the solstice. And on that particular day, we played as many holes as we could on the longest day of the year, and that was great. But as soon as we broke from that, it wasn't sustainable because of how demanding business was. So I just find more and more that have to find things that are within reach of in the lane, preferably, but at least within reach of the lane. So whether that's manufacturing based and you can still get back you with Salvation army. We do ja together. Me in the manufacturing world. So those are all fun, too. And they're like business, but they are, but they aren't. I mean, what a great way to be able to lean into that and have the time and bandwidth because it's aligned with your business. Right. If you had to completely unbolt and go do something different. It would be hard to find the time and it just makes it less sustainable.
[00:34:20] Speaker B: Absolutely. Everything we do under Mick Brit Ventures is certainly supportive of our businesses or at the very least similar in nature. Support is probably the better word because it would be too hard.
And plus, we're already doing what we love, so why wouldn't we do a little bit more of that, just a little differently?
[00:34:42] Speaker A: So let's talk about sports and soccer, because I'm always the one that has to bring up the fact that you played soccer.
[00:34:48] Speaker B: Am I blushing already?
[00:34:49] Speaker A: At a really high level. And again, back to snowy Wednesday, as we refer to the first day of spring when it snowed in 18. And one of the other things we connected on was athletics and me playing golf, which I still argue is an activity and not a sport. Sorry, you guys are golfers, but you a soccer, right? Then just comparing the takeaways and how playing those sports with that type of discipline and the preparation I think is a great word that we then pour into business and how we execute. So tell everybody about the soccer side, which I think is really fascinating.
[00:35:29] Speaker B: So soccer was my life from age four, and I literally do mean age four. I picked it up and it was pretty obvious to my parents immediately.
So age four on through, I guess I was 21 or 22. I was pursuing a professional career in the States.
I was on preseason rosters and trying to pursue a soccer career. Ultimately it ended when I was given three. Wasn't the league, wasn't too financially stable, wasn't a ton of teams yet. And they gave me an opportunity to play for PSG in France. But they only gave me three days to go over there, like go get training, know you'll come back with a lot of experience. And I was thinking three days to move my life to France after I'd played through ODIP Olympic development regional teams d one at Yukon.
[00:36:30] Speaker A: Yukon.
[00:36:31] Speaker B: Yeah. Shout out daddy.
[00:36:32] Speaker A: Yukon.
[00:36:32] Speaker B: Daddy. Champ. I had played on the best national or best club team in the nation and had gone through youth national camp. So I really played it. Not really. I had played at every level and I felt like I got everything I wanted out of it. So that it was a good transition for me into business, ultimately not going to France to play.
But it was hard. I lost my identity. For a minute there I was Britney, the soccer player. And that's what I knew and that's where my friends were, that everything about my life had been that.
My sense of just self, the achievement I got from it, heck, it was my parents life. They traveled. I mean, God bless my parents. They just did everything, and they were there. Their friends were from soccer. So anyway, it was like this chapter of. It was like my life was just being stripped. But I felt really good about making that move into business. And you've heard me talk about this a million times, but what I learned from the sport of soccer that I now utilize and I contribute to soccer in business, it goes well beyond education or school. Not those things aren't great, but by and large, it is the most impactful thing on myself as a business owner. And again, I say this all the time, but once I was able to, how I was out of that headspace where I had lost my identity, I didn't know who I was, and I didn't know what I wanted to do or where I was supposed to be, the minute I could say to myself, okay, this is a sport. It's the sport of business.
And all you're doing is you're switching from the sport of soccer to the sport of business.
It's not quite as physically demanding, obviously, although it has ended up being different considering how much I exercise now for therapy, which is more, actually, but it was still so similar.
You had to do. You had to wake up early, you had to be disciplined, you have to be committed. Everything is the same. And there's this really amazing stat, and I'm going to butcher it. I wish I knew it, but it was something crazy. Like the 90% of women in C suite played a d one sport of some kind.
[00:38:56] Speaker A: I remember.
[00:38:56] Speaker B: Just some correlation that is undeniable.
[00:38:59] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:39:00] Speaker B: And, I mean, it just goes to show you, really, the power of sport, and I would say maybe even more the power of sport with women, because I think women struggle a little bit more, or I know they do, with confidence. And I think that's one of the biggest things, is confidence and empowerment that sports give to women, to females.
[00:39:18] Speaker A: Agree.
[00:39:18] Speaker B: So I am very comfortable, and I wouldn't say I have been from the beginning, but maybe more so than most women coming right into the business world of going into any room with a group full of guys, which I do now on every day. Everybody, not everybody, but most people are males. And I can walk into a room with 20 males and I don't even notice.
[00:39:37] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:39:38] Speaker B: But it's that confidence that has been garnered and gained and learned through years of sports.
I could do five different episodes on just that.
[00:39:51] Speaker A: Right.
[00:39:51] Speaker B: And maybe we will.
[00:39:53] Speaker A: Yeah. Or just elements. Right. I mean, gosh, I think about, for me, if I think about sports and I've played any number of things along the way. I would say golf at the highest level, but different, right? A team sport versus an individual sport. But all of it comes back to the preparation component and that piece, and then just the idea of how little separation there is when you get to the top levels of anything, whether it's business or sport or picket, that as you get higher up and the levels get higher and higher, that the differences get smaller and smaller. And one of my favorite stats, and one I still follow, I followed it through college, and I was always interested in what a shot meant. If I left a shot on the course, what did that do? Or what was that separation? So if you were to pull that data up now, and our poor listeners are going to get a lot of data from my side, Ray, because that's.
[00:40:44] Speaker B: Not as much my side. Don't worry about it.
[00:40:45] Speaker A: That's what makes me go.
If you just look at the difference in one stroke between the lowest stroke average and one shot back, it's not even one shot back, but you go about 21 spaces back. So in the land of golf, which, talking about three, putting, missing one, leaving a shot on the course, it's 21 spaces. And then you take that to business. And whether it's Fortune 100 companies or whatever your space is, that's the separation at the top as well. Or if you're a great salesperson, let's just not even get out of the ownership component. If you're a great salesperson competing at a high level, you're selling high value equipment or something like that, or industries like that, where that sale has more of a zero sum game, somebody wins that machine and somebody loses that machine, then the separation at that level is the same. Right. There's a very, I think, a direct correlation or similarity to that that really resonates with me coming out of that sport and that sales piece. While you do have teams, a lot of times there is that one on one or that individual component towards the end when you're making the pitch or your lead on representing the company, that does have more of that individual athlete feel for that moment, despite you worked on it with a team of applications, engineers for us or whatever. But I think that's the piece that has really stuck with me. My father has a card that I've kept with me along. It says mental toughness is essential to success. And I think that's right there, too, that mental toughness component. And that's the piece that I certainly took away. And just keeping eye on, how do you continue to separate as you get better and you get towards the higher levels of competition. What's the preparation look like to separate yourself in that fraction of a shot, if you will, or whatever that comparison is.
[00:42:35] Speaker B: The mental piece is interesting. I call it mental warfare. And how do you endure that every single day? And that's the biggest thing that soccer, to this day, I still say soccer is harder than running a business. I mean, for me, they both are different and have their different challenges. But I would just remember, especially when I was playing on these Olympic development or national teams, and you'd compete all day and then you'd wake up in the morning and you had your best friend that was in the room with you and you'd have to look on the list to see if you made the pool of players. And one of you did and one of you didn't, and then all of a sudden you're like, wow, my career is done. I'm not on the list of this pool. A pool and your best friends on the b pool, and she's crying. It was just every day and you didn't know when you're playing on the or trying out for these pro teams, you're going to wake up the next day, you're like, am I going to be on the list? Am I going to be riding the pine? Am I now all of a sudden going to be in the amateur league day to day? It was such mental warfare. I mean, there was no predictability.
For most of us. You had the five or six players that were just the best and they didn't have to worry. But I mean, for the most of us that were competing again, back to.
[00:43:45] Speaker A: That very small change. Right? So the best five, there's eleven on the field, so five standouts and then six of you vying in a very tight space. Way more than that for who stays and who goes.
[00:43:55] Speaker B: Like a squad of 22 or whatever.
[00:43:58] Speaker A: It was for the next six months.
[00:43:59] Speaker B: But I mean, it was just every single day of my life, I just had no stability and just having to endure that and that was so hard. And then, not to mention, you're just so physically exhausted. So then you have to feel how to manage that when you're already just so tired.
[00:44:14] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:44:15] Speaker B: So then when I came to business, even the hardest things were manageable. Now I have days where I would tell you otherwise, but for the most part, it's like, okay, I've been here.
I've been in this rehearsal before. Like, I've rehearsed this before. I know how to get out of this right yeah.
[00:44:32] Speaker A: And the longer you do it, I mean, great Ray Lewis example, as he continued to play, he might have lost a step, but he saw the angles better. And I think there's part of that in the business side where you might lose a step. You get fatigued a little faster. Those 20 hours days, which I've certainly worked, we bought a business along the way and worked some 20s on the transition. You might get tired, but at least you do start to see the angles and you still get to the ball or you still make the tackle even though you're not quite as fast. And that is one of the benefits of doing this for a long time because it is familiar. Like you just said, it's familiar. And that familiarity makes you more comfortable or confident and you can change the outcome simply by showing up that way.
[00:45:16] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, I will never admit to not being as fast.
[00:45:22] Speaker A: Well, that's a good part about never being fast.
So the sports stuff is great.
[00:45:29] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. And I think it doesn't take, and I say this a lot, especially to young females who I do talk to. I just talked to a squad of young youth flag football players.
[00:45:42] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:45:43] Speaker B: Who? They're getting flag football into high schools now and they're trying to get it into colleges so females can get flag football scholarships, which is incredible and so cool to see. But where I was going was, you don't have to be the best player to get all those lessons.
[00:46:01] Speaker A: True.
[00:46:03] Speaker B: And it doesn't have to be sport. It can be music or different things, but I still think sports the best, personally, I just. So. But you don't have to be the best player on the team to get so much out of that.
[00:46:15] Speaker A: Yeah, we'll have to talk about that more. I'm glad you brought that up.
That flag football group that they've started out in the Frederick area or out west and what they're doing and talk about changing girls'lives and know whether it's the soccer team they play in the fall. So the soccer team's looking over their shoulder and the field hockey team's looking over their shoulder a little bit. But everything I saw seemed to be collaborative and in a good space. And I think I read recently that the NFL is now on board, starting to support some of that, and we'll have to get into that and share some of it with our viewers who are viewers or listeners that may not be aware because those are the types of things that I really want to call attention to and share because I think that female component, I mean, we have three daughters. And I think there's a component of that where breaking down some of those barriers and getting into some of those different sports that were exclusively football, exclusively male over time. But just because you're not tackling each other doesn't mean that you can't have a hell of a football game with great athletes. And we saw some on the field that day.
[00:47:23] Speaker B: Yeah, it totally tugs on my heartstrings and is so near and dear to my heart because, as you know, my passion is talking about women in male dominated industries and exposing females to new opportunities because construction opened up this world. I really wasn't interested in construction, so I started working with my uncle and my dad's always been super handy, can build anything from the ground up. So I always saw that. And then we're working with my uncle and lumber. That's how I got into it. Never did I have any dream at all. I mean, when I was in school that I would be in construction. I really didn't cross my mind, not one time.
[00:48:02] Speaker A: Why would you?
[00:48:03] Speaker B: Exactly. That's my point.
[00:48:04] Speaker A: Why would you? Unfortunately, why would you?
[00:48:06] Speaker B: Yes. So now I'm like, wow, this created such an amazing life for me. I say magical because really I could have never expected it, yet so many young females have no idea. So I really feel like what I want to do in life is create these opportunities for women in construction and manufacturing and auto farming, mining, all of these male dominated industries. And a females got to have a lot to add and a lot.
It's proven that diversity, it makes everyone better. Companies, people, you name it. But just to open those doors and at least know, hey, there is an opportunity. You don't have to walk through that door, but here it is and I'm dedicated to it. And I want to get into, not right now, but more about women owned businesses. And for any female that's thinking about doing it in, particularly in a male dominated industry, how do you do it? What does it look like? What can you get out of it? Why do I do it? Why do I take the time and effort and risk all of those things I will address happily because it's important.
And we're definitely starting to change some statistics and I continue to do so. And we've talked about this before, but if you look at the top, what anyone point to somebody in the streets and say, who's the most successful? Name a successful female or whatever they're going to name an actress or they're going to name just someone that's always in the limelight and you have what I blue collar women that are incredibly successful by every definition of that word. However you look at it and no one knows their name.
I don't know if this is correct, but it's close to correct. At least one of the first self made billionaire females, and it might be the first, is a woman named Diane Hendrix, and she started a business with her husband, who was a roofer, and together they created ABC supply. Most people know what ABC supply is or have drove by one.
If you ask who Diane Hendrix is, but still relatively young and still very involved, most people don't. I didn't know who that was, and I started reading her story and I was blown away. I was like, this is incredible. So those are all the women that I want to highlight. Look what she's done and intend to do. So, by the way, bring these women on, tell their stories, show. Because our daughters, they're not really interested. If you ask them, do either of them have interest in, any of them have interest in manufacturing or construction? They're probably going to say no.
[00:50:59] Speaker A: And they have demonstrations like they watch. Yeah, absolutely.
[00:51:03] Speaker B: So there are so many females that have no demonstration. Well, of course they're not interested, or most of them are. I'm not going to broad brush, but.
[00:51:10] Speaker A: Sure, there's work to be done there, I think is fair to say.
[00:51:12] Speaker B: Well, we're getting to work.
[00:51:13] Speaker A: Good.
[00:51:13] Speaker B: We're getting there.
[00:51:14] Speaker A: Doing it well, I think we're off to a great start and let's get together as soon as possible and talk.
[00:51:19] Speaker B: No, we can't announce I'm having too much fun. We just can just get warmed up close.
