The Launchpad: From Economic Downturn to Design Mastery: Julie's Story of Grit, Growth, and Authentic Branding

Join us on a captivating journey with Julie, the design and construction industry's narrative master, who opens up about her transformative career path, from weathering the storm of the 2008 economic downturn to becoming an ardent enthusiast of building and design. This episode is a treasure trove for anyone eager to learn how to turn their industry passion into a thriving niche, as Julie takes us through her experiences with Indie Collective, her leap into authorship with "Get Them to Care," and her wisdom on the importance of personal branding and strategic social media engagement to grow a professional presence.

As we unpack Julie's story, we discover how she stumbled into the marketing consultancy business, creating a name for herself within Denver's design and construction circles through her exceptional service and specialized knowledge. The conversation illuminates the Indie Collective curriculum's impact on her life, teaching the value of aligning one's business with the essential aspects of living, lifestyle, and loving relationships. Julie's candid talk about overcoming imposter syndrome and finding work-life balance will resonate with many, offering hope and practical advice to those navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship.

Wrapping up our session, we explore the profound influence of grit and perseverance in achieving long-term goals. Julie shares her insights, drawing from Angela Duckworth's "Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance," revealing how these qualities have shaped her success as an entrepreneur and writer. We delve into the art of receiving critique, the importance of daily practices in honing discipline, and the ways Julie is available to mentor through LinkedIn, emphasizing the importance of community support in personal and professional growth. This episode is not to be missed by emerging leaders and creators, as it's an inspiring testament to the power of passion, resilience, and authentic connection.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:50

Welcome everybody to another episode of the Modern Independent. As always, I'm your host, jan Almasy, and this is an episode called the Launchpad. So today we have our friend, julie here with us and she helps people to care about the impactful stories behind the design and construction business. Today we're going to discuss how she came to specialize in design and construction industry, her journey with Indie Collective, and we'll get the chance to talk about her new book, get them to Care. How to leverage LinkedIn to build your online presence and become a trusted brand. Julie, thanks for coming and hanging out today.

Speaker 2: 1:25

Yes, thank you for having me on. Seriously, I think we've been kind of going back and forth and being able to finally get together, talk it out and, like you mentioned too, even gosh what I started in the in the fall of 2021. So it's been a few years right since we've probably been in touch, so I love that we're getting to catch up now.

Speaker 1: 1:44

Yeah, same here, same here. I'm always. It's always so fun to catch up with people across the different stages. You know, earlier today I had office hours with people that are getting ready to graduate their first cohort. So they're coming off of that fire hose of information. They're like, oh my gosh, I'm going to have free time. Like what do I?

Speaker 1: 2:00

do how do we stay in contact, Like what do I, what do I build? And then getting the chance to swap that and talk to you immediately after I think is one of the beautiful parts of of this position kind of in the head of community space, getting the chance to talk to people across all the different spectrums. So I'm super, super amped to have you with us. I love your energy, I love the content. Like I was telling you before the mics came on, I was listening to one of the other podcasts you were interviewed on, so I'm excited to have my own episode with you now.

Speaker 2: 2:28

Exactly Right, the one-on-one. I love it, j&j.

Speaker 1: 2:34

It's almost like you work in branding and marketing.

Speaker 2: 2:36

I know, can you imagine?

Speaker 1: 2:39

So one thing that I'm curious about right off the bat is I think that you know design and construction is a super niche industry, you know, and obviously it's something that you have a lot of passion about. I think inside of the podcast I was just listening to you you call yourself a self-proclaimed building nerd, right. So I'm curious as to how that passion really kind of came to life and your journey into building this business around design and construction.

Speaker 2: 3:10

For sure? No, jan, that's a great question. And again, being that self-proclaimed building nerd, first off, let me tell you, come to Denver and I can give you the architectural tour of all the buildings, telling you who built it, who designed it, what the HVAC is like inside the building. So come on down Step one. But I think, too, this passion honestly really started back in 2008 in the downfall. Honestly, I had been working in mortgages, right, had led to, maybe, the downfall, but was obviously looking for a new job and got signed on with McGraw-Hood Construction on their editorial side in Washington DC and, interestingly enough, that's where I first met Kat Coffrin, who is a huge contributor to Indie Collective. Shout out to Kat, we love her right and she kind of took me under her wing and we started interviewing owners, contractors, architects and engineers about their building projects.

Speaker 2: 4:05

And if you aren't familiar with the design and construction industry, there's a long buildup for each project, right? So it takes at least one to two years to design a building and then another one to two years to design a building and then another one to two years to build it. So those people invest a lot of time and money and energy into getting those buildings designed and constructed and they love to talk about it. Surprise, surprise, right. So it really kind of lit my fire in terms of, oh my goodness, what is behind those walls, right. Like, I don't know if you've ever done some home improvements on your own house, but it's a landmine back there, right. You never know what you're going to find.

Speaker 2: 4:41

Obviously there's do's and don'ts on each side of it, but it just kind of sparked my curiosity, kind of then fast forward to I moved to Denver after working at McGraw Hill for about two years and worked in-house at an engineering firm and then an architecture firm and really again got to learn more about how to market those buildings. How do these you know, how do these studies come out? How do they know that, okay, we need a new K-12 school or a new hospital in a certain area? So being able to kind of see like behind the scenes of the industry, again built that building nerd or sparked that spark and become the building nerd I am today. So that was a long answer. Hope you strapped in for that.

Speaker 1: 5:23

Yeah, no, I love the way that it kind of happened because of this collapse.

Speaker 2: 5:33

Right exactly.

Speaker 1: 5:34

Yeah, I always try to tell people you know when that collapse is happening or it feels like things are falling apart. It may not necessarily be things falling apart. It's your puzzle breaking and the pieces becoming fluid Right so you can rearrange the puzzle and put it together in a different way and it sounds like that's that's really what happened.

Speaker 1: 5:52

You know this industry collapsed and I'm sure that it was massively stressful and difficult at the time. But I also, just from the way that you talk about the work that you do now, probably would venture to guess that there's not very many other places that you would find. You know the amount of fulfillment that you're finding right now in the work that you're doing.

Speaker 2: 6:10

No for sure Again. And what a crazy story then to then having worked inside on in-house right, an architecture firm, an engineering firm, to then decide, oh my gosh, I'm going to do this on my own and totally niche down, jan, and it was one of those things where that kind of happened by accident, right, I was working my last full-time job which I'll never go back to, ever again, thank you was to more of a business development role. So I was talking with owners and contractors and every time that I was meeting with them, they were like you know, julie, you can really do this on your own right. Like you have a lot of knowledge, you have a lot of ideas and different strategies.

Speaker 2: 6:49

And so, for me, when I started my consultancy in 2015, I was like, okay, well, I'm not going to abandon all these relationships that I had built in the design and construction industry. And I had all these people telling me Julie, you should be doing this right, can you do this on the side? And so, for me, it was by happenstance, but I'm so glad that I did it, because the depth of the relationships that I've built and, honestly, the business that I built around it rewarding for me and so successful. Honestly, on that, I was just like I can't leave that industry. Um, I have to, I'm married to it. So for better, for worse, right?

Speaker 1: 7:28

I feel I very much so feel the same way, I mean I. So, uh, a little about my background. I originally came through Indie Collective because I was building an agency and I came from a nursing and a clinical psychology background I didn't know anything about anything really Just kind of learning in the trenches. Yep on the go.

Speaker 1: 7:45

Yeah and it started out with very home founder-led businesses, small businesses in our area during COVID that just needed help with marketing. I come from a very rural area so I kind of was just like designated as the tech guy in our area which kind of covered everything from like you can help me with IT all the way to like marketing and I'm like I can't do all of those things.

Speaker 1: 8:07

I can show you how to look at the YouTube link. But we ended up kind of falling into this industry with HVAC professionals and then it ended up leading to electric electricians, and then it led to builders and now we're working with like design build contractors, and I mean it. I love the space so much and that was another reason why I was excited to sit down and nerd out with you over all of this stuff, because I'm also extremely passionate about the same space. One of our favorite clients right now is a design build contractor out of Chicago and it has been an amazing experience getting the chance to tell their stories. I don't think I've ever met a group of people that could be so excited about the difference between tilt and precast concrete.

Speaker 2: 8:44

Right, and anyone outside the industry. That's like a two hour podcast right there just on that question. Let me tell you, Anyways.

Speaker 1: 8:55

So, as you were building it and I think something that you pointed out, it really stands out to me is that you were able, because of the nature of the way that you were kind of coming up through and the experiences that you had meeting Kat, getting the chance to interview all these project managers and then having you know we'll just say the universe, kind of with the input, like, oh, you should, you could be doing this solo.

Speaker 1: 9:21

Yeah, um, you could be doing this on your own. What was, um when, when you made that leap initially into doing the solo work, um, how were you able to just decide? You know, I'm going to stay in this niche versus. I think sometimes what I see inside of the indie collective cohorts is people go to start their independent business and they start to ask well, maybe I should go broad to try to figure stuff out, because I'm not quite sure where my clients are going to be, and then they niche down. But it seems like you were able to kind of bypass that I need to go broad before I come back narrow again.

Speaker 2: 9:55

For sure, yeah. So to kind of bypass that I need to go broad before I come back narrow again, for sure, yeah. So to kind of answer that question, jan, it was. So, again, the universe, right, kept telling me hey, julie, you need to do this. Uh, you could really, you know, do this on the side or whatever.

Speaker 2: 10:07

And when I made that leap and, in 2015, was like, okay, I'm, I'm opening up this, uh, marketing consultancy, what the heck do I do? Right, and it was more of like, okay, I had already, because I had people already telling me hey, you know, I could use some help with this. Or what do you think about this social media strategy? Hey, could you, you know, start writing some LinkedIn content for me? It was more of, again, honestly, happenstance.

Speaker 2: 10:29

But once I got into it and started working with, first it was honestly, a set of engineers the engineers loved me so much that they started talking me up to contractors. It was kind of like, just, I don't know how to describe like dropping a pebble into a lake, right, and it just kind of rippled out from there. And, honestly, jan, I've been so blessed that I don't advertise, right, so my advertisement is a referral. And within the design and construction industry, especially here in Denver and Colorado. It's fairly small right. So if you do a good job, people will hear about it. If you do a terrible job, more people will hear about it right.

Speaker 2: 11:10

So I erred on the side of caution and made sure that I took care of each person, that I was thoughtful and whatever else, and then I asked for the referral. I'm like, hey, if there's anyone else that you know, please refer them. And my business kind of grew from there. So it was almost following the indie playbook without having seen the indie playbook. Jan, if you want to, yeah yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 11:31

Right. And I think, too, I mentioned when I joined Indie Collective in the fall of 2021, I was at this plateau where I was like, okay, I know I want to take my business to the next level. How do I get there? And I almost considered leaving again the design and construction industry. I'm like, oh, do I open it up to this whole big world of other people? But honestly, indie Collective reinforced for me that I needed to niche down and to really stay in my lane right and build on services from there. So that was kind of like the best part. I was like, yes, I'm doing something right and I didn't even know it.

Speaker 1: 12:03

So it was good Right. And I find that we, a lot of times we there's at least one or two parts of the curriculum that people are doing intuitively, which is always a good reinforcement. I always use that when people are battling imposter syndrome or they're having a bad day. They're like, oh, why am I doing this? Because inevitably, we're talking about the universe feeding you answers right now. But if you're listening to this and you're like I want to be an entrepreneur, I'm thinking about starting my independent business. There are going to be days where you question your sanity as to whether or not the universe has been BSing you. Yeah, and so I love that. You know, we have those pieces. But when you have those low days, you can remind yourself like, oh, you know, I already had my unconscious, my subconscious was already pushing me in this direction, I just need to refine it.

Speaker 2: 12:53

No, for sure.

Speaker 1: 12:54

And that's what I think I hope that a lot of people get out of the curriculum as they go through it, which actually is probably a great place to kind of transition into. Talking about the Indie Collective Curriculum. I know that you know, going through that could be a lot. There's a fire hose of information. We talk about everything from designing your life around maybe a different set of principles than you've designed it previously with your living, your lifestyle and your loving relationships we call those our three L's all the way through pricing and productization and contracts and all this stuff. Is there something out of that cohort that really jumped out at you that you were like oh, this is something that was super valuable to me and that I've been able to use as I've grown my business?

Speaker 2: 13:38

For sure. So I think the biggest thing for me was putting Okay. So you mentioned the three L's and as I was going through and learning what each of those meant and how they could possibly apply to me, I doubled down on the loving part, right, whether that was loving myself, right, overcoming you mentioned the loving part. Right, whether that was loving myself, right, overcoming you mentioned, excuse me, imposter syndrome, but also making time for my loved ones. Right, I, as a solopreneur, was doing everything at the time and, honestly, was getting burned out right 2021 in the fall. We were still kind of in the throes of COVID and had lost, you know, a lot of that in-person connection.

Speaker 2: 14:14

So, in joining Indie Collective, the first thing that struck me was the community. Right, all these people that were seemingly in the same boat as I, experiencing the same issues, but really being able to take a how do I say this? Like, take a look at my business from more of a personal side. And again, one of the things that really stood out to me and really helped me is when Sam's talks about superpowers and I'm like, oh, what is that? Right, do I even have one? Am I born with one? What you know? What is my calling Um, and so, honestly, I'd never heard of that term, uh, before joining Indie Collective. And so for me, I had ended up having to do a lot of journaling around that of like, okay, who am I Right? What do I love about myself, what do other people like about me? And so, honestly, it's. I mean, that might be intuitive to other people, but that, honestly, was the most impactful part of Indie Collective realizing that and then putting that loving into practice.

Speaker 1: 15:43

Yeah, I think you know, not all of us can be a cat coffer to shut her out.

Speaker 2: 15:48

Exactly right.

Speaker 1: 15:49

Love her, that is like every time I have a conversation with her, it's like I'm getting to process myself through a mirror of the way that she, like, delivers things back to you. I'm like oh, dang like I didn't notice that about myself, and it's so. She could just like boop.

Speaker 1: 16:02

she just plinks it out of you about myself, and it's so she could just like boop, she just plinks it out of you and it's just crazy to me. But I feel very, very similarly like to that, to hurt that point, like being able to go through that self-discovery and and you mentioned, you know whether it's journaling or for me it was, you know, doing a bunch of of research into, like my past, you know achievements I like literally went through my resume and was like okay, what impact have I had at different organizations that I've been at and like how has that shifted over time? And it was crazy to look at like my resume that I used to apply for becoming the nursing club president in college to modern day, right and there was like five or six iterations across all of those and I was like man.

Speaker 1: 16:45

I don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

Speaker 2: 16:47

That's what I'm passionate about Right.

Speaker 1: 16:49

Ultimate question A lot of different things. Yeah, I'm curious too. You know I'm curious After working on that, discovering, okay, who am I, why do I really enjoy providing these services and focusing on those loving relationships. You talk about LinkedIn a lot. How are you able to translate some of those things? Or is there ways that, if somebody is already in the midst of doing that work like, say, somebody's listening and they just took Kat Kat's workshop and now they are like, okay, I know what I want to talk about Is there a way to kind of start working on translating that into stuff that they could put on social media? Um, and then after that, how has social media personally impacted your journey, you know, in in scaling your business?

Speaker 2: 17:40

For sure. No great question, double sided. I'll try and answer both parts, but I can get on a, um, uh, runaway train sometimes. So part one, um. So again, after taking Indie Collective doing that, uh, I don't know self-awareness work Right, and again honing in on those loving relationships, I realized that I had to put more of me into my business right. When I started my consultancy, jan, I used terms like, oh, we specialize in writing award submittals or the team does this when. Excuse me, in actuality it was me doing all of that right, but I was so honestly, I was scared to put myself into my business right and to bring more of my personal strengths, weaknesses, even into my story as a business owner. And then, how did I then turn that over and tell that story on LinkedIn? Woo, right, like a whole lifetime right Of processing who I am, what I like. What impact do I have Then?

Speaker 2: 18:39

Being able to tell that story on social media has again impacted my business a hundredfold right Like. Had you told me eight years ago that I could build a business just on social media, I would have told you you're crazy. Right Like, no way, there was no way that I could ever do that. But I think what's the best part about social media and this is what people miss is that social media is still made up of humans, right, the technology, yes, that's great. You can connect with people in Ohio, right To Denver, to China, all over the world, which I think is great. But you have to be able to tell your own story right. And, to me, linkedin is that place where you can own your story right. Own what you're good at, what you you know, what you bring to the table.

Speaker 2: 19:27

So, for me, being an indie collective helped me discover, okay, I need to start telling that story right, because I was. I was holding back, honestly, right, I didn't want to put, you know, personal things about me into my business. But what I came to realize is that the business is me right Again, as a solopreneur. Why do people hire me? It's not because Business Rewritten, the name of my company is this well-known brand we're not Coca-Cola right, but why people kept hiring back? Business Rewritten? Because it was me right.

Speaker 2: 19:57

It was that energy, that positivity, that unique knowledge that I had about the design and construction industry that really helped me. You know, kind of niche down first of all, but also just get people to care about design and construction, right? I think buildings impact everyone, right? Whether we like it or not. And so being able to tell that unique story on LinkedIn through their different prompts, right?

Speaker 2: 20:24

That about section again, if you've taken Kat's class, one of her workshops, or even what she did in Indie Collective, that really turned it on its head for me of my about section on LinkedIn was just a regurgitation of my resume at one point and I have a screenshot of it right Of a before and after. But then, after taking her session and going through some prompts and doing some journaling, doing the hard work, I realized I'm not saying anything about myself, right. So being able to kind of take all that information about me. So being able to kind of take all that information about me not only my work experience but what I'm really good at and how I can help people and put it into three paragraphs, that to me was like oh, the skies are parting, the sun shining down and has really honestly helped me own who I am but also allow others to get to know me without having ever met me before.

Speaker 1: 21:23

Yeah. I love that I think it's so well. I mean, it was a loaded question, so I have a tendency to ask those once we get into the thick of the podcast because, I just there's so many things that I want to try to take the conversation, and so I try to cover as many of them as.

Speaker 1: 21:42

I can in a single, single question, um, which actually I, I, I'm, I'm loving the way that you're explaining you know, out of all of the stages of business. It's been like really a journey of self-discovery and then learning how to promote that you know and that's what you're discovering, these pieces of yourself, and then continuing to say, well, I'm going to put this out because I try to tell most of the Indy Collective grads this if I get the chance to meet them in office hours, if three people within a month ask you the same question, it's like a responsibility of yours to explore that as a potential service. Yes, especially if it's people you already know, like and trust. Right, if they're like hey, you should do this, then go explore it Like, check it out, because you'd be surprised, you know what you might find, even if you don't think that it's something that you could like, really really lean into.

Speaker 1: 22:36

I'm, I'm wondering if the same principle you know, people asking you and saying, hey, you could do this on the side and then it turning into a business is the same way that the book ended up coming into existence. You know how did that happen? Because you built the business, you gained the expertise and then at some point. It was like well, I've I've answered this enough times or I've talked about this, that this should be a body of knowledge. Was there a transition point like that? Or or talk to us about how the book idea came into existence and how that journey started.

Speaker 2: 23:06

Sure, no. And again another loaded question. So, again, strap back in. I love this metaphor because it's definitely a good story and a little bit long, but we'll get started. So for me, honestly, okay, I love writing. That has inherently been something that I've always loved, whether it's journaling or I was okay, I was the nerd in again building nerd writing nerd. I was the nerd in class. That was like in middle school I was like I want extra writing assignments, what? Okay, so I would spend time kind of writing, journaling, answering different questions. So, for me, writing was always something that I was passionate about and kind of in the back of my head, honestly, was on my proverbial to-do list write a book, julie, you need to write a book.

Speaker 2: 23:49

And then, of course, life takes you on all these different twists and turns. Fast forward to again having my own business building this body of knowledge around social media and, specifically, linkedin. Honestly, where I was writing content right for other people, I was helping them design their profiles. I then got into managing. At one time I think I had 20 different company profiles that I was managing and helping build their brand online. That I was like, oh my goodness, this is actually, you know, something that's catching on. Oh, my goodness, this is actually something that's catching on. Linkedin's not going away, right, it's here to stay and, honestly, I saw it too evolving of more than just a recruiter's paradise, right, I think we've all been spammed by recruiters on LinkedIn and most people are like, oh well, I'm not looking for a job, I don't need to be on LinkedIn. But it turned into more of a again a community right of human beings, of people and telling their story about their different strengths, what they're good at, what their experience has been and, you know, expanding upon what they want to do. So getting into the book. Actually, it happened by happenstance, again, through Indie Collective, through the Lunch and Learns, honestly, so those were extra sessions at the time. Again, we're all on Zoom and I believe at the time I even had COVID, so I didn't go on screen right on Zoom.

Speaker 2: 25:11

And Jen T Grace from Publish your Purpose was one of the Lunch and Learn presenters on a Friday. I remember sitting in bed, my laptop's on my chest I'm blowing my nose, all the things and she started talking about the publishing process and how she focuses on voices and stories that are not as wide known or not typically told, right. So she was interested in authors and helping people promote their stories that maybe a typical publisher from New York, for instance, wouldn't want to publish, right? So I just felt this immediate connection with her, contacted her immediately and was like, hey, I loved your message, I want to write a book, help me explore this. And I ended up joining her one-on-one individual coaching and kind of talked through it and LinkedIn just kept popping up, right, and I'm like, okay, here we go, this is where the book is going. Right Again, universe telling me things.

Speaker 1: 26:07

There it is. That's what I'm saying. Open your eyes and pay attention everybody. It's funny how much feedback you actually get if you're willing to listen and observe.

Speaker 2: 26:17

Exactly Right, it's that self-awareness, but like, yeah, like you said, the listening part too, and I had given again a couple of presentations around LinkedIn and in the design and construction industry. And let me just tell you so, if you know the adoption curve, design and construction are the laggards. Okay, they don't like change, they don't like, they want to do the same thing over and over because it's worked for hundreds of years. Right. So incorporating social media into you, know, if you're talking to a construction superintendent, they're like what, what are you talking about? Why are you looking at your phone all day? I don't need to be on it, right. But being able to work in the space, build my business around social media Gosh, I think my business is now 90% social media and bringing it into this industry. That was completely underserved, right, they didn't understand how LinkedIn could be such a branding tool. Right.

Speaker 2: 27:11

And to help people not only tell their own story, but for companies to recruit more people, as I'm sure we all know, every company right now is hurting for people and not just a warm body, but the right person. Right, to work with their firm that fits their culture. That, you know, fits into how they do things and how they build buildings, and each contractor is different, right? So each contractor has a different story to tell, and I really kind of dug deep into finding out. Okay, well, how do you find those best people, right?

Speaker 2: 27:42

When people are interviewing now, they do a lot of research, right, and typically they're going to your website. It's okay, you see a project about us contact us, but where do you get those kind of one-off pictures of the happy hour? Or, you know, the group going to volunteer on a Saturday for Habitat for Humanity building houses for underserved people, right? Ooh, now I'm interested. Right Now, I want to be, you know, a part of that company.

Speaker 2: 28:08

So if you're putting that information out there consistently on LinkedIn and it's all in one place, that's the other part, right? Like I'm not going to 20 different websites. I see 20 different company feeds coming up. You know, as I'm scrolling through LinkedIn, what's going to catch your eye, right? How do you get people's attention to not only want them to come work for you, but honestly, just to be connected with you, right? Like you talk about wanting to build relationships with people, you know, with people, you trust all those things. How do you get to know them? It has to start somewhere, and for me it just kept coming back to LinkedIn. Okay, that was also a really long answer. I don't know if I even answered your question, jan, about the book, but we went down a rabbit hole.

Speaker 1: 28:55

No, no, no, no, you definitely did. I mean, I think, your journey from getting the feedback and then it just sounds like you make decisions. When you reach this, like critical mass of people kind of pinging you or like asking about a direction that you should go, and you have this great self-awareness and intuition about hey, I'm hearing this. This matches up with something I'm intuitively feeling. I'm going to act on it, I'm going to go do this thing, which I think is so important and can also be a major block. I know a lot of people that deal with imposter syndrome, um, where you know they may have 20 people telling them right, this is a thing that you should be doing, and they're like I don't know, maybe you know, at some point I'll get the chance. Um, but when you found these areas where you know your drive and then you know the things that people are asking you for intersect.

Speaker 2: 29:47

And I think that's a beautiful thing to be able to do. Well for sure, thank you. And again, like you said, it's having that awareness and listening to people and not because listen, I've got imposter syndrome too. Right, I will tell you, going through Indie Collective, being surrounded by a variety of people and getting all this information thrown at you, I was like, oh my gosh, I felt like I was totally doing my business wrong, that I wasn't on the path to success and all these things. But it took some time for me to get over that imposter syndrome. No, these are just a ton of other resources out there and it really challenged me to think about my business differently and to connect with people and ask questions and kind of dig deeper to see how I could build my business. And, honestly, now it's what?

Speaker 2: 30:29

Two years later, jan, I can't tell you how much Indie Collective has helped me and how I've been able to take, honestly, two years to put all that information into practice, because it's not just going to happen all at once. Right, you talked about the person on office hours. That was like, ah, how do I implement all these things? It's a lot of information. It takes time, right, like I feel like I'm still going back to my notes and the Google Docs right from Indie Collective is like, oh okay, how do I direct this branding part, or how do I really productize my services? So it's something that I find myself constantly going back to and has just been such a good jumping off point for me to be able to say okay.

Speaker 2: 31:14

I think I know what I'm doing, but let me go back to these resources. Let me see what the experts have said. Yeah, I love that.

Speaker 1: 31:21

I always I do the same thing and I hear that through from you know, dozens of members that I get the chance to meet with over the years you know, six months after graduation, a year after graduation, getting the chance to talk and I hear that pretty consistently that it's like okay, I have an idea and now I have a framework that I know works that I can run this idea through Yep and if it comes out the other side and it still sounds viable, I can execute it like confidently, versus just having an idea and then not really having anything to plug it up against. You know, it's it's almost nice to kind of put them through like the indie collective strainer, so to speak.

Speaker 1: 31:59

So that you can kind of get that distilled idea down. I love that. I want to give you the opportunity to maybe pass some knowledge backwards as well outside of just talking about, you know, the LinkedIn and the book and all this other stuff.

Speaker 1: 32:14

You know there's a lot of people that want to go independent, right, that want to step into a field, that want to start their own businesses, and I always find that, you know, you can read 15 Google articles about the top five things that you need to be doing as an entrepreneur and whatever, but I've never really found those quite as valuable as just people's experience, right? So if you had to go back to when you were starting the business and I guess you can either choose, like when you were first starting the business or when you were about to write the book or any of these critical, you know pivoting points or these growth points in your life, what are some pieces of advice, qualities or something that you would like you know previous, you to have reinforced on, and or knowledge of?

Speaker 2: 33:01

For sure. So I think, going back to again when I was starting my business, or just about to start my business, back in 2015, and was listening to the universe, right, of all these different people asking me, hey, you could do this or can you help me with this? On the side, whatever that is Honestly, first was getting over that imposter syndrome and saying, okay, I am an expert, right, I have knowledge to share, I can build a business out of this, but, honestly, it takes a lot of grit and a lot of resilience. I think those are two terms that often get overlooked, right, because people think, oh well, you're either inherently an independent or an entrepreneur, or you are inherently a lab exclusive, right, I had to go through the rat race, right, of being on a salary and I found myself always I don't know. I would always hit goals and bring things in way ahead of the deadline. I was super motivated and I'm like, hey, you know, I'm literally making money for someone else. Right, I actually could be taking some of this in benefiting from my knowledge and building upon that right. I actually could be taking some of this in benefiting from my knowledge and building upon that right. So don't be scared to take that leap right, because all those things that you have inside of you the motivation, different things that you're hearing from other people add up right and help you build that framework of, okay, I'm getting over this hump and I'm going out on my own, and that, for me, was what 2015, eight years later, still grinding, still building. But, honestly, then, to sustain that right for eight years does take a lot of patience. Okay, and I am not a patient person, right, we talked earlier, yana, like the East Coast mentality. I'm like boom, boom, boom, okay, let's go. I'm like boom, boom, boom, okay, let's go, I'm here, I'm there, let's make a decision whatever.

Speaker 2: 35:00

And two, having patients coming out of Indie Collective of like, oh my gosh, I have all these things to do, all these different resources that I need to implement, and I was overwhelmed, but having patients of saying, okay, I'm going to tackle this one piece of my business now to actually productize my services, right, with the knowledge that it can be done and that it's much more profitable, right? So that was my first piece and that took honestly, like six months for me to really pressure test and to really be able to put out there and it's honestly helped my business grow so much. Beyond that, I'm like why didn't I do this before? Right. But then to having the patients saying, okay, now that I productize my services, how am I building my brand? Right, and that was what I mentioned earlier about really leaning into the loving of loving myself, getting to spend more quality time with my loved ones. How do I do that? Well, I got to put more of me into my business, right and get more personal. That well, I got to put more of me into my business, right and get more personal.

Speaker 2: 35:55

And I think, for me, I consider myself an extroverted introvert, such that I can talk small talk, I can talk us up all day long, but as an introvert, I don't like really revealing things about myself. Okay, so talking about my journey and different things is actually difficult for me, but it's something that I've overcome and I found the more vulnerable that I get in my business, the more that I put me into my business, oh my gosh, the success steep climb. Whatever, I don't know what I'm doing, it's much greater right Like I've been able to benefit so much more from putting more of myself into my business and that for me, prior to Indie Collective, was like wait what? No, I'm not doing that, I am professional business rewritten and then here's Party, julie or whatever. Being able to kind of meld those two things was definitely very impactful for me. Yeah, I love that.

Speaker 1: 36:48

I always one of my favorite quotes and whenever I'm for me yeah, I love that. I always I one of my favorite quotes and whenever I'm like, struggling to make a decision. You know you, you talked earlier about just just getting over the hump, getting over that piece and and finding this growth, and whether that's getting over the hump of deciding to actually dedicate yourself and start the business or getting over the hump of realizing I can talk about myself and I'm like social media is not going to blow up because I'm being unprofessional.

Speaker 1: 37:18

Quote unquote with a professional brand, whatever that even means. Fear is an ocean wide and an inch deep is one of my favorite ways to look at that.

Speaker 2: 37:30

Okay, say that one more time, yann. I need this to sink in. Fear is.

Speaker 1: 37:34

An ocean wide and an inch deep Okay, I like that.

Speaker 2: 37:39

I like that. You know what I'm picturing. I don't know if you've seen the meme where the little boy is holding onto a rope, he's in the water and he's like crying and whatever else, and then his mom's like stand up. And he stands up and he's like, oh, I'm fine. I'm not drowning, so it's kind of like that's exactly what popped into my head, that image. I'm like oh, I get it. Stand up, stand up Right. You're already there.

Speaker 1: 38:03

Yeah, exactly Exactly, and so that's kind of the message you know. If you're a listener and you're and you're on the precipice of wanting to start something new, right, and I'm not even saying that, like you're looking at Indie Collective or you want to join Indie, this is agnostic to the curriculum, even though this is blatantly a podcast that talks about the Indie Collective curriculum. Right, it doesn't matter what decision you're looking at in life. If it's something that you genuinely feel passionate about and there's something holding you back, typically just taking the first step makes it a lot less scary, because that's the only the only way you're going to realize that it's an H deep is if you take a first step.

Speaker 2: 38:42

Exactly Right.

Speaker 1: 38:43

Yep and stand up, you just got to stand up and keep standing up, right. So I love it, yeah yeah. And it doesn't go away Right, like those decisions to your point. You're eight plus years in and there's still moments where you're going to have to make a growth decision, right, or you're going to have to make something that feels uncomfortable. So I you know it doesn't necessarily go away. Your nervous system is still going to kick in, like you're still going to get a little bit worked up, a little bit about that stuff. But once you recognize that it's an inch deep the first time, it makes it easier and easier as you go through. I do have one last question for you that I love asking people, because I'm a huge nerd, I'm always consuming information and I love being able to pass on things that other people find interesting, right, and so this is kind of our bonus question, but it's one of my favorites.

Speaker 1: 39:32

Are you a reader, a listener or a watcher and, depending on your response, could you recommend a book, a podcast or a YouTube channel to our audience that you enjoy.

Speaker 2: 39:42

Okay, so I'm old school, I'm a reader and I cannot read e-books. Please do not send me an e-book. I have how many? Now? Three bookshelves, and I actually have the book right here that I want to recommend. It's called Grit the Power of Passion and Perseverance.

Speaker 2: 39:57

And if you were listening earlier in the podcast I mentioned, you know what advice would I give to other people you know, wanting to make big decisions in their lives, or maybe take that step to become independent and grit, honestly, is my first response. Right, it doesn't. The book basically talks about that. Talent is not inherent, it's not something you're born with. Right, that nature nurture.

Speaker 2: 40:18

Because I think some people fall into that trap of oh well, I'm not a writer, I wasn't born knowing every single word and how to put it together. Well, the only way that you get to be a writer is to write right and to practice and have that perseverance and have people redline. Well, the only way that you get to be a writer is to write right and to practice and have that perseverance and have people redline the heck out of your writing sample. And you're looking at this thing that's almost completely red, but in the same vein, those are all the things that are going to help you grow right. Having someone critique your work, getting that feedback, putting that feedback into practice and then keep going right, like your first article that you write is going to be terrible, let's be honest, right, the first podcast you do, the first whatever? The first year in business? Oh my gosh, I was flying by the seat of my pants, right, and it wasn't necessarily terrible. But have I done better? Yes, of course.

Speaker 2: 41:10

I'm eight years in and this book honestly helped reinforce that message to me that you just got to keep going, keep practicing, and if you have this inherent passion for something like I do, for writing, I can actually turn that into a book, right, oh my God. And have that passion and drive that keeps you going right, because I can tell you, I write every day. That's part of my journey. It helps me center myself, all the things. But I guess a couple of years ago I wasn't writing as much at all, right, and I was like, oh, I want to write this book. Oh, I haven't written anything in a very long time. Literally, I just said, okay, I'm getting up this morning and writing three pages, right, oh, that three pages has now turned to 10 pages almost every morning that I write, but you have to keep going right and have the grit and perseverance to do so. So that's my recommendation Shout out to Angela Duckworth. I don't know who she is a researcher, a writer but I love, love, love this book.

Speaker 1: 42:08

So an awesome yeah, an awesome author. I love the idea of the grit, the discipline, you know, those daily practices, I, of push you forward. There's something that you have to commit to practicing because they are. They will fall behind, you know, and so it's amazing to hear this daily practice of being gritty and continuing to write. And and I absolutely will double click on what you say Sometimes I listened to my first 10 podcast episodes. You know I've published 200 plus across the different shows that I've been on. Now I go back and I listen to my early days as a host and I'm like cringy right.

Speaker 2: 43:00

What was I thinking? But everybody loves them.

Speaker 1: 43:03

So many people message me and they're like I love these episodes and I'm like that's some of my worst work in my mind, but they love it and I talked to some of my other friends that are musicians and they're like, yeah, it's always the song on the album that you didn't even think about, that people end up loving.

Speaker 2: 43:18

so right, that way. That's interesting. Yeah, it's again that in pot. Well, to me that it sounds like a combination of almost the imposter syndrome, but also like uh, okay, I'm just gonna keep doing this because other people seem to like it. You, you're probably gonna hate it, right, you? Whatever, your first thing is that you create, but you have to keep going. So that's the message.

Speaker 1: 43:38

Yeah, and you go back, and now it's like I almost look back on it and I'm nostalgic and I'm grateful. I'm grateful that I think I was 19, maybe 20. 20-year-old me was willing to look funny to all of his friends and sit behind a mic.

Speaker 2: 43:58

Exactly Right.

Speaker 1: 43:59

I'm super grateful for that version of me and the version that he kind of allowed me to become over the years. Just like you're probably grateful for the version of you eight years ago that decided to leap into this.

Speaker 2: 44:09

Oh, for sure, For sure and honestly never look back, never look back. I can never work for any, for anyone else. Amen.

Speaker 1: 44:16

Um, so if everybody is listening to this and they're like, wow, like, either you know, let's say they're in the design build contracting space, or maybe they want to read your book, or they just want to connect with you because they think you're an awesome person, where are some places where people can find you these days?

Speaker 2: 44:33

For sure. So I honestly first and foremost my book right. Get them. It's getthemtocarcom. Very simple, very easy, kind of learn more about what the book's, about how it might be able to help you. Also, you can find me on LinkedIn. It's Julie M Wanzer. Send me a connection. I love connecting with people, reading their profiles, getting to know more about them, so definitely hit me up on LinkedIn. Get them to carecom, and yeah, I'd love to. And two, I'm more than willing to meet with both Indie Collective alums or people maybe considering Indie Collective like, hey, how was your experience Hit me up, right? Please send me a message, not so much to be like, oh, you have to do this, but I'm more than willing to help people who were in that. I was in their shoes eight years ago, right. Or even two years ago when I decided to take the class. No one helped me, right. So to me it's my, I don't know. I feel like an obligation to to reach back right and help others who might be. I could help put them in a better position.