Episode 111: Sheley Brien

Sheley Brien

Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome to the pretty powerful podcast. Podcast, where powerful women are interviewed every week to share real inspiring stories and incredible insight to help women or anyone break the barriers, be a part of innovation, shatter the glass ceiling, and dominate to the top of their sport, industry, or life's mission.

Join us as we celebrate exceptional women and step into our power. And now here's your host, Angela Gennari.

Angela Gennari: Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Pretty Powerful Podcast. My name is Angela Gennari and today I'm here with Sheley Brien. Hi, Sheley.

Sheley Brien: Hey, how are you Angela? Excited to be here.

Angela Gennari: I am so happy to have you.

So you and I share something in common. We are women in a very male dominated industry. So Sheley Brian is a seasoned entrepreneur with over two decades of experience, spanning finance, medicine, restaurant ownership, media, and now commercial construction [00:01:00] as co owner of a thriving construction company.

Brian contracting and host of the more action podcast. She shares candid insights and actionable strategies, helping others accelerate their growth, balancing her roles as a business leader, competitive equestrian wife and mother, Sheley draws on diversity, her diverse background to inspire thoughtful, intentional action as keys to success.

So I love this. So tell me a little bit more about this commercial construction. Uh, how did you get into that? And how long have you owned that company?

Sheley Brien: Well, too funny. Cause if you just listed off my like kind of background, it makes no sense. Right? Like pharmaceuticals to restaurant ownership. Now construct like what?

And Oh yeah. By the way, I compete on horses nationally. Right? That's amazing. And that's what I actually love sharing is that like the path to whatever, you know, career that you have, you may not even know what it is right now, but just like taking [00:02:00] continual action and learning hard lessons gets you there.

So, uh, construction was truly the last place that I thought I would be. Um, it's my fourth male dominated industry though. So I think I've been hands

Angela Gennari: restaurant. Yeah. I mean, all of these.

Sheley Brien: Uh, the equestrian world, like in, in the space that I compete in, it's, it's all like male dominated. Yeah. And, uh, I thrive in that.

Um, I have a lot of experience in it, but construction is something that, uh, I came to simply because my husband and I, we've both, I, I had a long tenured, like corporate career. Mm-hmm . He could never work for anybody, heaven forbid, . Um, but I got to that point where I had to, to leave, and after that I stumbled.

You know, for a little bit and I finally we were sitting at one of our date nights, which we like are written in blood on our calendar sitting at one of our date nights and he looked at me and he's like, what if we went both all [00:03:00] in on the construction? And I was like. Let's try it. Let's do it. And at that point I had a media company.

So I don't even know if that was on the list. But I had a media company within the equine industry. Um, you know, I had just reached over 3. 2 million people. Like it was growing like crazy. Um, it's a brand that I had had over a decade that I kind of morphed during everything with 2020. And um, really found a niche for it.

But we were spread so thin between my husband and I, our family, multiple businesses that we, that we owned. And we were just like, we're getting nowhere fast. Like we take a lot of risk. We do a lot of things, but we just looked at everything and we kind of put the cards face up and we're like, what is going to give us the best yield in the lifestyle that we want?

And construction was it. That's awesome. So, um, he's been in commercial real estate since 05, so he's very tenured in it. [00:04:00] Um, but me coming to this, it's nice cause we, we have very different roles in, in our organization. Um, but it's been really a lot of fun.

Angela Gennari: That's awesome. So you guys, cause construction is interesting because I mean, right now there's a boom happening, but it feels like commercial has pulled back a little bit.

What are you seeing on your side?

Sheley Brien: You know what? We hear that often. It's really interesting. Um, you know, I'll go to an event here. I'm in Scottsdale, Arizona, and it's, it's very much booming out here. Yeah. And for us, We have not slowed down like at all. We've been very blessed in the sense that, um, we have some great customers.

And one of the choices that we made at the beginning of the year was going really deep with those relationships rather than going wide. And so that we're seeing that pay off and just a lot of repeat, um, contracts and a lot of repeat, uh, business, both with like our. [00:05:00] collaborators as well as like our actual client and so um It's been really important for us to just develop strong relationships, but no here We are not seeking a slow down.

Um other construction companies I can't speak for because I I speak with uh, you know speak with them at You know, uh, events, local events in the a EC community, the, the architecture, engineering and construction community. And they're like, oh, you're, you're busy in office. I'm like, oh, we're slammed. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, um, we're very, very blessed where we are.

Angela Gennari: That's awesome. So what segment of the commercial industry are you in?

Sheley Brien: Uh, so right now we do ground up as well as tenant improvements. Specifically, we're looking at office industrial, uh, medical. Health care. Um, and we have done hospitality, believe it or not. We did a lot of hospitality in 2020.

Everything was shut down. We were building restaurants like crazy. Makes no sense. Um, right now, uh, I would say [00:06:00] office and industrial, um, and medical, like specifically here in Arizona has just been booming. And so, uh, that has been where a lot of our growth has been.

Angela Gennari: Fantastic. So tell me a little bit about your equestrian pursuits, because I imagine being, so being competitive in anything generally means you're competitive at everything, right?

So if you, if you are seeking excellence in a sports or, or an industry that usually translates throughout your life. So do you see that with yourself as well? 100%. And yeah, no, you're, you're

Sheley Brien: absolutely right. Um, Um, you know, sports and horses, I always say I, I got bit by the horse bug when I was five. Yeah.

A long time ago. Um, and I was very fortunate to be able to participate them in, in them and with them for, you know, the bulk of my life. There was a, there was a chunk when I was having kids that I kind of [00:07:00] stepped back and now my daughter competes with me too. Yeah, it's, it's really fun. And, and I love how you said, like, if you do one thing, one way, you kind of do it the other way too.

Both: And that's

Sheley Brien: so true that competitive nature and that seeking excellence in everything that we do it's with the horses from how we groom them and take care of them to how we start on a construction site, how we have a standard of cleanliness. Yeah. On a construction site. Yeah. Like, it is the, the way we do one thing is the way we do everything and there's no segmenting the two.

Um, I think what has been really fun in having my daughter join me in this endeavor, my, my son is on the men's gymnastics team. He practices 30 hours a week. Like it's like, we're very competitive and a goal oriented family. But one thing that I feel like our kids have taught Chris and I, my husband is to keep it fun along the way.

And [00:08:00] so that's something like I grew up and just even coming out of like, just everything was always like striving to be the top. And I had to be the top. That meant someone else was losing. If someone else was at the top, that meant I was losing. It was always that like zero sum game. Like we just, either you're the winner or the loser.

And, and I don't like those labels. And I've really moved away from them and how we're raising our kids and then building our teams to that the competitiveness is also a time to fail and learn and have fun. Yeah. Yeah. So that's probably been one of the biggest things that I see in my daughter and my son.

Well, like he's, um, you know, at a high level in gymnastics and he'll bring home a video where he left face plants and I'm laughing at himself. I would have been, you know, at his age, he's 14 at his age. Age. I would have been so mad at myself. It's just not how I was raised. Like, I should have been better. I should do better.

Like, let me go again. He laughed at himself and then he went and did it again. And I was just like, gosh, [00:09:00] it just made me remember, like, everything that we do, first off, you gotta go for it. And if you fall flat on your face, Laugh, learn, move on. And, and second is that like, keep it fun. Keep it fun. Yeah.

Everything that we're doing, keep it fun.

Angela Gennari: I love that analogy. Yeah. So I, I'm the same way, but you know, as I've matured, 'cause I used to be super competitive, like win at all costs. Like I've gotta be the winner, you know, the second place is the first loser. I, that was my mentality. Yeah. You know, for a really long time.

But, you know, over the past. I would say several years, especially since I've gotten into this industry, like I'm in the security industry. And I came in here humble because I am around such, you know, really brilliant people in the security industry. You know, I'm around people who have spent their lives in law.

Um, and so I know better than to compete head, head on, head to head with people who, you know, just have more [00:10:00] experience doing what I do now. I will still compete and I'm still really good at what I do. I just bring something different to the table. But, um, I am generally a much more, um, I'm much more open to feedback now I'm much more open to okay I lost but I lost to this person who's really exceptional.

Now if I lose to somebody I don't feel, feel like is as good as we are then I get really, and I'm not that grinds on me a little bit, but, um, But yeah, so, so I'm, I'm more open to losing now, but I like losing. If I'm losing, I like it to be somebody that I know is really good. Like I want to be beat by the best.

I don't want to be beat by some, you know, other company that I don't feel like has decent standards. So. I don't mind losing as much as I used to.

Sheley Brien: Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's, it's one thing, um, my husband and I, we've been together. Um, it's next year is 25 years married next year. And so, [00:11:00] um, you know, everything that we've built, we've built together, um, and everything that we've lost, we've lost together.

And We were just reflecting over the last like several weeks just on like how many things that we've failed at like we, we, and I don't know what it was, I don't know, I didn't think of myself as a risky person because I'm always looking at how to minimize risk, like, and I'm like, how can we just, and I'm like, how can we just, I know there's risk, but like, how can we just minimize it?

Yeah. And that alone, that mentality alone is like, I was ready to take on the risk. And I think with that and with the horses, right. Cause you fall off or you screw up and you're working with an animal that has, you know, it's a thousand pound animal, has a mind of its own and sometimes it doesn't work out.

And so that it's like, you have to keep picking yourself up. And so like the horses like just taught me to like pick myself up, go again. Go again. Try again. And, um, [00:12:00] I think some of the best lessons that I've learned in life, um, business and life have been through my biggest failures. And at first, they stung.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not like, oh, yay, I failed. Like they stung and I maybe sat in a valley for a while.

Angela Gennari: Yeah.

Sheley Brien: And then I like worked through it and I was like, what can I pull forward? That I hopefully won't learn that lesson again and, and two can, can apply to whatever we're going to do next.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. Absolutely. So tell me about restaurant ownership, because that seems to kind of not fit the, well, there, you know, you have a lot of diverse experiences. Tell me what it was like to own a restaurant.

Sheley Brien: Um, yeah, I could give you, we could do a whole another episode on why not to own a restaurant and why not to buy into a franchise.

I can give you, like, we could talk for hours and, um, I have, you know, about seven figures too that tell you why not to do that.

Angela Gennari: Yeah.

Sheley Brien: But when I was in, [00:13:00] uh, the pharmaceutical industry, so I was first in finance and then I moved over to the pharmaceutical industry where I spent about 16 years. Wow. Wow. And I was just.

split between two organizations, right? And I was with one organization for 13, almost 14 years, and I got recruited away to another one for a lot of money. Um, the first one I was at, just to kind of, I'm, I'm painting the picture just so everyone maybe like resonating with this right now, right? Like you've been with this company forever.

I was told like, get the job, stay at the job, get the 401k, have the health insurance. Like this is what you do. Right. And so that's what I did. And I joined this pharmaceutical company, um, after my financial years, which were highly successful, I just couldn't do it anymore. And my first company, the culture was fantastic.

I was like, wow, they really cultivated, um, intrapreneurs. Um, that's what we're trying to bring in in our, our company right now is entrepreneurs. We just don't want, um, I think there's [00:14:00] a place for people that just, uh, that want to be an employee and part of a team and then want to be kind of those entrepreneurs, do crazy things, bring crazy ideas and, and give it a try.

I had that until I didn't. The company was at like 200 million when I started with them, and they were at 2. 2 billion when I left. And as you can imagine with that growth, a lot of that freedom disappeared. Yeah. And so another organization recruited me away. Um, I had obviously strong relationships in the Valley.

Um, really kind of the Western half of the United States that they recruited me away for a lot of money. And I was like, yeah. Yeah, of course you want to pay me this like right over there. And, um, it was a tough decision I will say, but it was one that was definitely very ego driven. Um, and I thought the grass was greener.

Well, once I got there, the. Grass was dead. It wasn't greener at all. The money wasn't enough to outweigh the horrible culture. [00:15:00] Like horrible culture. And I left in under three years because I was like, I mean, I was invested in my 401k. I didn't like, I was like, I'm out. I can't even stick this out. I'm done.

And, um, the culture was so bad. And that was such a great lesson learning the two different cultures. But. The reason why I'm setting this up is because I went over there for lots of money and my ego pulled me over there. I knew lots of people in the industry, like the leaders, the executives pulled me over.

Makes sense, right? I had long established relationships with them over a decade long and they were like, Sheley, come work for us. Whatever. And the culture was so bad. So when the culture is bad, what do you start doing? You making emotional decisions at this point.

Both: So first

Sheley Brien: I made an ego decision to leave.

And then I was making emotional decisions because I was like, this money is not worth it. This culture is horrible. I need to get the heck out of here. And the emotion took the lead. And one day. We're, [00:16:00] we're very entrepreneurial. Chris and I, one day I get an email from Chris and he's like, Hey, what if we did this?

And it's an email to start a franchise that we love in San Diego. And it, they just, it's a single shop and they wanted to start franchising. And he's like, what if we did this? That was it for me. I was like, there's my, there's my escape. There's my, you know, like savior. I got to get out of here. This is what I can do.

Both: I made a

Sheley Brien: very emotional decision to buy into this franchise. But with my achiever mentalities, Angela, I was the first franchise to open. I like got it. Right? So I went through all the headaches. I went through all the heartaches. I went through all the wasted money and challenges with a company that hadn't started franchising and didn't have systems and processes, yet I was paying them as though they did.

Right.

Angela Gennari: Right. And

Sheley Brien: so I started this restaurant and It was, it was pure emotion [00:17:00] to get into it. Um, I think you can hear kind of the, like the, how the, how it went along. So if you're in this position right now, I implore you to step back and be like, wow, am I making an emotional decision or a data driven decision?

Both: And,

Sheley Brien: and, and pull back there. I talk about this a lot on my show because I'm like, it cost me over a million dollars, like lost. Wow. And, um, what ended up happening. Is 11 months after opening, uh, within 30 days, I'm like, these numbers aren't working out. This isn't working out. Our cost of goods and our labor were way out of the numbers that they gave us.

And franchising is very strict. And this one was out of the state of California, even more strict, right? And what we found out with data, right? Data is making the choices now, um, is, is that none of the numbers that they gave us. Yes. We're accurate. And so we actually with a few other franchisees [00:18:00] went to the state of California.

Like we didn't just like go to, we went to the state of California. They launched a full fledged investigation and found fraud and misrepresentation. And so after 11 months we shut that sucker down because there was, it was going to be six more years before I even made a dollar. And I'm like, I'm not going to work for free for six years.

Like this hurts and this is horrible, but I need to get out of here. And, and shut this down. Um, so it, that's how the, the. I was like restaurant ownership. That sounds fun. Let's go do that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that, that's what came from it. But remember the culture thing.

Both: That

Sheley Brien: I was able to create on my own. I trained teams at both organizations I was with.

But having my own restaurant, hiring my own team, getting all the A players, training them, getting moving past the ones that didn't fit. Yeah. I was able to create such an incredible culture. [00:19:00] That was the hardest thing for me to do when we had to shut it down because of the fraud and misrepresentation from the franchise or the hardest thing was letting go of this incredible team and this incredible culture that we had created.

Angela Gennari: Yeah, that's one of the things that I value most about my company is our culture, you know, our culture, we take it so seriously. And I mean, to the point where we don't, I don't hire anyone, my team hires, you know, like I might bet them. I'll interview them, but it is everything we do is a collective decision and that's how tight our culture is.

And so, you know, it's, it's just too important to make sure everybody's on the same page and we're all rowing the boat in the same direction at the same speed. So yeah, it's, it's very important and culture is. I think everything, everything, you always have the grass is greener on the other side mentality.

It's like, well, I could go work for this big company, but then you have big company, corporate ladder problems. And so, or you could be [00:20:00] with a company who is a big company, but has a great culture because leadership is highly involved in making sure that happens. Have you ever read the book? The CEO only does three things.

No, I haven't. It's so good. So, you know, women, we're multitaskers. We like to do like a hundred things all the time. And I am one of those, and I have a hard time pulling myself out of the operations of the business. You know, I'll, I'll attempt to delegate and then I'm like, But I'll still oversee it. And then next thing you know, I'm doing all of it.

Yep. Yep. Totally get that. So, so I have, you know, really just kind of tried to figure out how to, how to really put myself in a position where I'm really just running the company and I'm not working in the business. I'm working on the business and I'm doing all the things I'm supposed to do to grow and scale and everything.

So this book, the CEO only does three things is. One of the best books I've ever read. So the CEO only does three things and one of those three. So it's, [00:21:00] it's of course money, right? So making sure you've got money coming in cashflow. Um, the next thing is culture. And the next thing is people. So, you know, I hire all the key people in the company and I set the culture and setting the cultures.

And I think that's the most important thing I do.

Sheley Brien: I could not agree more. No, culture I think is, is everything. And it's um, been a fun challenge.

Angela Gennari: Yeah.

Sheley Brien: In a good way for construction. Because we have our internal teams. But we also work with subcontractors, right? So they are contracted for a specific scope of work.

But they don't work for us. However. They are representative of us. Like everything answers to us as the general. And so that culture that we create on the job site. It's got to bleed into everybody, whether they are wearing a Brian contracting shirt or not.

Both: And

Sheley Brien: so like what you're talking about that culture, I mean, it can either bring you up or bring you down.

And at the end of the day, we have, um, [00:22:00] Warren Buffett has a, he has a, he's been known to have a strong filter for people. And I, we, we like literally live by this. And when it comes to people, people will be like, wow, you're so good at like picking the right people. And he's like, no, I just have a really strong filter.

A yes is a yes. A no is a yes. A no is a no. And a maybe is a no because they weren't strong enough to be a yes.

Both: And

Sheley Brien: so we literally, when it comes with our subs, we give everybody a second chance. If there's like a, it's construction stuff happens, give everybody a second chance, but how they respond on that second chance.

And that's it. There is no like, oh, this or, oh, that. It's like, no, this is the standard. We have a certain cleanliness standard. We have a professionalism standard, communication standards. We have like certain things and y you know, it's. The, the, we are, if one of us fails, like we all fail. And so bringing that culture together, even with people that we don't [00:23:00] directly lead, um, has been a really fun challenge.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. Yeah, you're a hundred percent right. So how do you, how are you scaling your company right now?

Sheley Brien: Um, right now, a lot of it is coming, it's people. Yeah. So as you, as you have said, right, like the culture and the people that you bring on and there is another great book. I'll throw a book for you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, it's called 10x is easier than 2x. It's by Dr. Benjamin Hardy and it's a fantastic book. He also wrote Who Not How, I don't know if you're familiar with that one. That's more of his, like one of his earlier books. This one I just love though. It's more of a technical guide and a lot of it comes to finding where the bottlenecks are in our business.

And then hiring what we, you know, whoever we need to be there. And it's not just, um, you know, this is what we're doing right, right now. I mean, literally right now I was writing job descriptions, uh, over the, over the weekend [00:24:00] and last week, like these are going out is, um, The the type of person that we went in and It's very interesting for me Because while i've been around construction like we've had this company since 2017 I've been around construction, but I was never forward facing in it And something that I think goes along with, uh, man, this might just throw, throw some men right under the bus, but it is, um, is in male dominated industries.

You'll hear a lot. That's the way it's always been done. Oh,

Angela Gennari: I hate that phrase so much. Yes. I've heard it a million times. And every time I would just roll my eyes and I think, really, that's, that's how you get here.

Sheley Brien: I'm like challenge accepted. We will do it a

Angela Gennari: different way. Thank you very much.

Sheley Brien: Yeah. And so with hiring in this industry, I'm changing the way because I've worked in sales.

Organizations, right? I'm changing the way for like business development, how we [00:25:00] actually want to reward results.

Both: So

Sheley Brien: I'm, this isn't done in this industry. So people that we're talking to, it's going to be different, right? Executive levels. We are investing. We want the best. I don't want someone. Okay. I want the best.

And so if that means that we put additional financial resources to that person, That's what it is. And, um, I think, you know, it's like what you get, you know, what you put in, what you get is. the concept of 10 X is, um, really important when it comes to hiring people. Um, that book 10 X is, is easier than two X.

Just help kind of clarify, uh, some different things that we're doing in personnel, which is. Ultimately going to help us scale. Which you had already mentioned earlier comes back to cashflow. Yeah. Business development. So there's kind of just like a process to get this going. But in construction. It's very interesting.

And those tuning in right now, if. You've [00:26:00] maybe we, we only do commercial, so I must say this, we only do commercial, only do business. We love the sense of urgency of working with other businesses. Um, we're a business owner too, so like we get it, we want to get you up and operating because I know that you have, you know, people to feed and uh, we want to do the same versus residential where it's like, there's no timeline and there's no real budget and like all this stuff.

We, we don't operate in that, uh, ambiguity when it comes to

Angela Gennari: commercial. We don't do a B to C either. We are strictly B to B. We only work with, you know, we provide security guard and event staffing services and we will not do personal events. I think we've done three in nine years and all three of them were a disaster.

Like, cause they changed the game. They, you know, they try to low ball you, they come back, they don't pay, they want a refund. It's a, yeah, we don't do that. We, we want to work with professionals. So yeah, exactly.

Sheley Brien: And I just think it, it elevates the game all around, but yeah, that's the thing is, [00:27:00] is general contracting.

Typically I love it when I'm in a scenario and people like see me, a woman, and they're like, what are you doing? I'm like, I'm a general contractor. They're like, Ooh, like, Oh, I don't like general contractors. Right. Cause they probably had a really poor experience. Um, Which means the bar in our industry is set relatively low.

Um, not all, not all, but most. Yeah. And so with that, we are coming in kind of changing the game in the way that Chris and I, uh, lead the teams internally and externally. It's like causing a lot of like sticker shock, like, what, what are you guys doing? Like, Oh, what, is that okay? Can you do that? Like, yeah, just kind of challenging old ways.

And when that comes in of this is the way that we've always been, it's always been done. Even if I hear that internally from someone on our team, I'm like, Yeah. Let's talk about that for a minute. How can we, like one of our, one of our core values is how can we, [00:28:00] so like there is always a way to get something done in construction typically comes down to cost and time, but there is always a way.

So don't tell me that that's the way that it's always been done. How can we do it a different way, changes your mind in, in able to create solutions than being like, Oh, well throw my hands up. It's the way it's always been done. We're like, Nope. How can we do it?

Angela Gennari: I love that. It's I have a similar one with, with all of my employees.

I always tell them, don't come to me with problems. Come to me with solutions. If you're just calling to bitch, you just, you just want to complain. You just want to vent. You can call. I'm going to put you on speakerphone. I'll walk around, make dinner, do what I, I'm not listening. Like I'm not, it's not coming, you know, you're not telling me something that I'm going to immediately launch into problem solving mode on, because it just tells me that you don't.

All this is your version of helping is venting. But if you're going to call me and say, listen, I'm experiencing a problem, but here's the solution I have. Even if your solution is garbage, it tells me that you've thought enough about it to at least [00:29:00] present something and risk, you know, putting it out there.

That tells me you're vested, right? Like you, you are invested in solving a problem and I am more than happy to listen. So I always say, don't come to me with problems, come to me with solutions and. Even if your solution doesn't work. I'm happy to help at that point.

Sheley Brien: Yep. No, I, I a hundred percent agree with you.

It's, you know, it creates, when you create solutions, you create opportunities. And when you change your mindset to be able to approach things differently from finding solutions, it completely changes the way that you process. Um, process problems or challenges. I mean, that's all we face all day long on construction is what it is.

And so it's retraining your team to think differently about what is going on in front of them.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. Yes. So what obstacles did you have to overcome when you were starting your construction business?

Sheley Brien: You know, I think in, in, uh, [00:30:00] with, with any business, but I mean, in construction, there are a lot here in the Valley, and I'm sure this is probably the same across.

You know, the nation is that there are the companies that are generational, right. That have been around for a hundred years. And it's very aspirational for us to be like, wow, like that's incredible. What did, and we just, we think like, what did they do to be here a hundred years and be able to like, whether all of the different markets, like that, like we don't look at them as like competitors.

There's like. Oh, we're never going to get that. We're just like, wow, that's incredible. Like, what did they do? I want to know, can we use some of that and all those things? So I think right off the bat, just the way that we approached it when we, when we, and we've had a, we had a different, um, construction company before this one.

We actually did crushing. So we had like these huge machines and like did more civil work. Um, but it's all about for us, it was all about delivering.

Both: Yeah.

Sheley Brien: [00:31:00] So delivering on what we say. Delivering on communication, delivering on professionalism is that at the end of the day, we could only control us. And so until we get more people to know about us, right, then we get those more opportunities to bid the work.

Then we win the work, then we produce and they go, Oh, we like these guys. We're going to tell someone else about it. And it's hard in the beginning. I mean, I know in any business that we've launched being new to market. Can be an advantage and it can be a challenge, but it's all how you approach it. And that's how we looked at it.

It's like, okay, these companies, right? So we'll look at it and be like, there, I mean, there's so much business out there. I, if anyone's starting right now, I just hope they know there is so much business. There's so much opportunity, like don't ever feel like, oh, I'm late or, oh, I can't do it. Like there is, I mean, we started a construction company in 2017.

We're competing against a hundred year old companies. You would be like, you're, you guys are crazy. Right. Yeah.

Angela Gennari: [00:32:00] Yeah, I agree. But one advantage

Sheley Brien: that we have that they don't is agility, right? Hundred year old company. Do you know how much like debt they have? Do you know their labor force? They are not able to make agile moves like we are.

And so we could appeal to different clients that maybe don't know us or we don't have that reputation yet. However, the word is yet.

Both: We have

Sheley Brien: the agility to be able to deliver at fast results. So we found our ways that we could show how we could shine. And those are the clients that we went after in the beginning.

Now we're, I mean, just in the last couple of years, um, the companies that we're competing with are these 50 year old, a hundred year old companies. You know what I mean? Because we have built up a relationship of action and delivering on what we say we're going to do. And that's like, if we stay grounded in that, in the things that we can control, [00:33:00] there's, there's nothing that can stop us.

Angela Gennari: Yeah, I agree with you. It is. It's tough to compete against those big companies. I mean, we have, we have what we call like our big three in the industry. And you know, they dominate and it's so hard to compete against them because they've been around forever and ever and ever and everybody knows their name and, and it is hard to be the one who comes in and like, you know, you have to prove yourself over and over again.

But it's also a great underdog story. You know, I love it when we're able to get a great client and show them the difference of working with a small agile company, because you're right. I mean, the agility that, that matters to people, you know, when they say, Hey, I want this to change the answers. Okay. You know, and, and the next day it's done, you know, there's no levels of leadership they have to go through.

There's no approval process. There's no, you know, legal team that has to get involved. The answer is yes. And we're going to make it happen for them. And so the clients start to become really like, wow, what a difference in working with a company who, you know, I'm talking to the [00:34:00] CEO, I'm going to get this done.

This is not something that I have to like. They have to go back to their manager, get approval. Well, we don't know, like it's a pretty quick process and that agility definitely comes in handy for sure. Yeah, absolutely.

Sheley Brien: Absolutely. So tell me what it's like working with your husband. Um, it's like everything that I'm sure everyone listening in right now is like, I could never do that.

You know, no way. Like, you know, I mean, it, it has its ups and downs. It's like a marriage. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. Um, what we have found is that the, the most important thing for us is to make sure that our strongest partnership is our marriage over everything else. So that is like the number one priority for us.

You heard me mention already, um, our, our date night though, we have two dates set every single week. Um, and then we have actual like executive meetings. So we have like separate. Things now, I'm a huge advocate of not [00:35:00] having strong boundaries between light personal life and and business Yeah, I know this is not the social norm out there that you hear like yes on our date nights We talk business and then we talk other stuff like we just it's just what we love talking about So it's not like a boundary of we can't do this or we can't do that What I can say is, is that probably one of the coolest things is that our strengths, each other's strengths, is the opposite person's weakness.

Both: That's good. And so

Sheley Brien: we are very fortunate and blessed in the sense that we balance out each other really well. And we can Through through long learning of understanding how to communicate through each other from like business, not just being married or parents and and all the things that come with that is just how do we communicate with each other and learning the other person's communication style

Both: so that

Sheley Brien: we can effectively communicate with them what we want to get.

Done. And at the end of the day, [00:36:00] remembering that, you know, for us, our end goal, like we are, we are set, we, we have a floor goal annual, and we have a, and we call her FEA goal. So we have our floor goal and our FEA goal. Um, and that's just our annual, and then we project everything out 10 years after that.

So we, we go very long after that. And we know, and we are totally aligned on these goals. What the difference is, is how we get there. And so being able to respect each other to hear how we're going to get there. You know, and sometimes it's like, you know, Chris takes the field. So he's leading the field. He has superintendents under him, but he's like the overall on the field right now.

Both: Yeah. And

Sheley Brien: that's going to be changing, which is crazy. Um, and so I hear things that he's saying to me, even though I'm not experience it. And I think this can happen a lot of time, a lot of times to any of us running a business is like, you might have an [00:37:00] executive team that manages one arm of the business.

And you're like, okay, they're doing, they're doing an amazing job, but I keep hearing these couple things and I don't think that they are, they're just taking care of it because that's just what they do. Right. But then when we come to a meeting and we look at like different challenges or rocks that we need to move, we will like, I'll be like, I keep hearing you say this.

Is this a, is this a problem? Like, did you realize this? How much time is this taking from you? From, from the main goal that you have, like the main tasks and, and responsibilities that you have. So being able to kind of like hear each other, uh, and be able to say that back to each other has really helped us make sure that we keep moving forward towards our, towards our goals, whatever those are.

So. It's hard at times though. I'm not sitting here like, please. Yeah. Yeah. It's tough. It is tough at times, but I think the thing that keeps us really grounded is making sure our marriage stays the priority. And the other [00:38:00] thing is just. Respecting each other's view on how to get to the goal. It's like, we're going to get to the goal.

We know we're going to get to the goal, but what is the exact route based upon what is happening in the field and what's happening in the office and the, and the industry. So that's kind of what, what we look at and move through and just setting those times that are dedicated to us.

Angela Gennari: That's interesting. I love it.

Well, I'm really glad that you guys are finding a way to make it work. Um, you know, I, I have the same experience. I was married to my, I was married to my business partner. So he and I started a business together the year we got married and we ran our business and our marriage and had our son in within a 10 year span.

Ours did not work, but I can tell you it's because we did not prioritize the marriage. You know, we were really great business partners because just like you and your husband, we complimented each other's strengths and weaknesses. Um, so we were great business partners and we were great co parents and we were great roommates.

And, and I [00:39:00] felt like everything was a trade off. Like you do this, I do that, you do this, I do that. But then we just, we didn't put the marriage in there anywhere. So, you know, after, after, uh, Period of time of not prioritizing the marriage now trying to prioritize the marriage feels weird It feels like you're kind of trying to force something in there Like I don't want to go out to a romantic dinner with my business partner, right?

Like it just kind of feels weird after a certain time So I think it's really smart that you guys are putting your marriage first in terms of partnerships.

Sheley Brien: Well, thank you. Thank you Yeah, we uh, we come from both of us have divorced parents. Yeah, and so we just kind of what not to do. Sure. Yeah. You know, in, in it, which again, it's it's, um, It was hard and, and like understanding that, but it just gave us a new perspective.

I think all these experiences in life just give you new perspective and what you do with it is up to you.

Angela Gennari: Yes. A hundred percent. So. As women, we give away our power all the time, [00:40:00] you know, and I'm sure as a woman in a male dominated space, you're constantly trying to hold on to that power. Um, but can you tell me about a time that you've given away your power and maybe another time that you've stepped into your power?

Um,

Sheley Brien: given away my power. This is such a great question. I'm trying to think of a time. Um, that I gave away my power, you know, I think I'm going to what's coming to me right now. When you ask that question, Angela is when I was in the pharmaceutical industry, right? And just as you and I are right, we're achievers.

We're going to go do the things, climb the ladders, break the glass ceilings, whatever. Yeah. You want to use. Right. For me, that, that was a very male dominated industry. All the executives were there. So if you wanted to do that, like you should be a man, right. And I'm like, again, challenge accepted. Let's go.

Right. And so obviously like my performance was very high. Everything [00:41:00] was really high. And I kept like pushing through trying to get to this point. And it was very interesting. I remember, um, you know, And this is, I just always had like a very strong, um, gauge meter sense, you know, when I was at events and it's like all men and me

Both: and

Sheley Brien: what the optics was in that.

And so I always made sure that I was first to leave, first there, but I was also first to leave. Yeah. Because I didn't want the optics to be anything else than like anything that I was able to earn was based upon my merit and, and my, my, it was earned. It wasn't deserved. There was going to be no rumors, no nothing that we're ever going to circulate in, in the industry.

And it was something that I remember feeling it. It was a play. I was in, I was young. I mean, in [00:42:00] my late twenties, maybe.

Both: And I

Sheley Brien: was like trying to navigate this space because I felt very uncomfortable, but I wanted to also assert myself to be like, I am, I can be here. I can have these conversations. I grew up with Cowboys.

All men. I, I understand. I don't understand the male mind. I am in no way that I do that, but like how they talk to each other. Right. Appropriately all these different things. It never bothered me. Cause I grew up with cowboy. Like that's just. It was normal to me. So like being in these conversations, like I could add to it, I could be a part of it, but I always felt like I had to always step away because more to protect me and, and like my morals.

And so I don't know that if that fully answers your question about like giving my power away, but it was, it was a space that I had to navigate, um, very delicately. Because I wanted to push forward, but I knew that I had to protect my integrity.

Angela Gennari: I totally, totally can [00:43:00] relate to that. I mean, a hundred percent.

I used to do that all the time because like, even though I was in the events industry and there's quite a lot of women in the industry, I was a business owner. And so what I, when I would attend things like chamber of commerce or, you know, You know, different meetings or conventions, or I was trying to, um, go and get business advice.

I was so careful, like, you know, never meeting anyone after four o'clock, you know, like if we're going to meet and I was going to get advice, it was coffee in the morning or lunch and that's it. And it was, you know, very public, but I was the same way. It was very. Careful about how people saw me and I'm the same way I do what I always call it the Irish exit where I just quietly leave, you know, I just, just quietly duck out of the room and make sure everyone sees you like go and do the round.

Everyone knows you're there but

Sheley Brien: everyone knows you left.

Angela Gennari: Um, so I, I do the same thing and I, and I usually leave without really saying goodbye to anyone. And the reason why is because I don't want anyone [00:44:00] to leave at the same time I'm leaving again, because optics, right. And so I'll usually come in and say hello to everybody and then I'll just gently leave and nobody knows until they're like, Oh, did you leave?

I did. Yeah, I was tired, you know? And, and so it's the same thing. I deal with that with the security industry all the time, because I don't want anyone to feel like I've gotten in trouble. To where I am in the security industry for any reason outside of merit. So yeah, yeah, you're absolutely right. So that's interesting.

It's a very interesting perspective because I can 100 percent relate to that.

Sheley Brien: Yeah.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. So, yeah. So what have you found with your husband being in your industry though, as it is a little, I assume much better now you're married, it's, it's not the same situation. I imagine that, you know, with him being with you, it's a very different scenario.

Sheley Brien: Um, yes, when we're together. Absolutely. Yeah, it's it's still very interesting. Um, like I'm part of a group here in [00:45:00] town. It's a nationwide organization, but I'm part of the like Arizona chapter for this group that's specifically focused on commercial real estate. So like all parts of commercial real estate.

Right. And, um, it's still very interesting because in the group, um, I still step in as the business owner. Like I've come to these events. As the business owner, I'm thinking about things very differently than, than some of the attendees that are there purely as a business development, you know, team member for these organizations.

And it's very interesting. Um, it's very interesting. I'm smiling because I'm, I'm trying to figure out how to say this. And I, I have stopped having to filter. This is my old corporate filter. Like my brain is like trying to filter what I say so that I don't hurt anybody's feelings. But like as a business owner, like I'm not here, I'm not here to make enemies, but I'm not here to make friends.

I'm here to do business. And so when I go to these [00:46:00] events and I see these business development people and the things that they say to me, not knowing I'm a business owner or assuming. They're assuming that I am not the business owner, even though my last name is the name of the company. That's the best part.

Angela Gennari: Right. Right.

Sheley Brien: That I'm like, the things that they say to me, I'm just like, what are you doing? Knock it off. Like I will never hire you. I would never hire you. And I don't want to hire any of your friends either. I just, I look at things differently. Now that being said, there are some that are wonderful that I've been able to meet with and talk with, but overall I still walk into rooms.

I still walk into rooms. The last name, like my last name is the name of the business. Yeah. And they still assume Chris runs everything. Uh huh. Yep. They don't assume that we both run it together. They don't, they, they immediately assume it's Chris and. That's fine. He's in the field. He's the one having a lot of these conversations with the field teams and everything I don't want.

That's not my space. Like I'm not going to be there, [00:47:00] but everything else that's happening behind the scenes, y'all want to know how you get paid? This girl, like, like it's, it's just very interesting that it still happens. I just smile. And I'm just like, because it's one of those things. Like I, I. Uh, this is another great book.

It's called Relentless. It's by Tim Grover. If, I don't know if you've ever heard of it, but, uh, it's a great book. He talks about your dark side. And so I love it when people underestimate me. It fuels me. It puts me in the zone. And so when people underestimate me, I'm like, Mm hmm. Okay, great. And then it just like, gives me more fuel to like, go kick butt and be dominant.

And I'm like, so I love going to these events. I love being underestimated. And I do love the people that look at me and they're like, holy cow, you're like, a look at what you're doing. Like, this is incredible. Like how could we work together? And so having that mentality walking into these rooms, like I don't get offended.

I just like. Again, it fuels me. I'm like, ha, thank you. Thank you for a little bit. I'm more in the [00:48:00] zone now. Thank you. Um, but it also weeds out the people that you don't want to do business with. I find the more that you are who you are, you find the right people that you're like, I want to work with you.

How can we collaborate together? Like, I hear that a lot with Other business owners, these other business owners that have come around. They're like, can we, what can we do together? I don't know what it is, but like, can we do something? I'm like, absolutely. You're my people. Like, let's go do something big. I think it's a, it still happens

Angela Gennari: weekly.

It still happens weekly. Yeah. I had, I had one of my employees come up to me and now my, my ex husband had never had anything to do. It's just always, always been my company. And he asked me when my husband started it. So, I mean, okay. So it's fine. So this has been really, really fun, Shelley, but I have one more question for you.

What do you wish more people knew?

Sheley Brien: The thing that I would say. Can I give you two? [00:49:00] Yes. Okay. I'm going to give you two. Number one is change your timeframes, the timeframes that you think about business, right? Starting it up, building it up, you know, creating a sale, saleable business, like all of these things, change your timeframe.

You know, when you change your timeframe, if you heard me, I said, we have like an annual and we have a tenure. Yeah. The way that we approach when you set those goals like that, your mind changes. If you think one year, two year, five year, 10 year, it can't like gather all of that. But when I think one year and 10 year, my brain completely changes on how we're going to reach these two goals.

And so it opens up the opportunity. To like, to approach things differently, to challenge norms, to maintain the course, knowing that you're doing the right thing. And so changing your timeframes out from, from short to long, I wish in every, in your, in every area of life. Yes. [00:50:00] Along, and it will change the way that you approach it and problem solve for it.

That is fantastic. Number two is I can't shout this enough. Um, you know, I, I hope everyone tuning in can, can relate and be like, holy cow. Angela, Sheley, like they're go-getters, achievers, they wanna go do all these things. Is that in order to go do all of these things, you have to take care of yourself first.

Both: Mm-hmm .

Sheley Brien: Yes. Is that your health? Mental, physical, like those have been my secret weapons, um, that I don't think it talked a lot about, especially in my industry, in the EC industry. We, not health I do, but like, no. Like, everyone's just like, oh, what did you do? What's your revenue? How many employees do you have?

Like, like all this stuff. And I'm like. Yeah. You look like death. So like, that's great that you're telling me you're reaching these milestones, but you literally look like death. I don't want that. I think, no, thank you. I'm good. Yes. So for me, not only, like I said, maintaining our, [00:51:00] our marriage is number one, like Chris and I health is a huge priority for us.

So, um, I'm a huge on, uh, nutrition. Back after having my daughter's, this was over 12 years ago, I did a span of, uh, fitness competitions, actually, Chris and I both did them, um, but it taught us nutrition, obviously, um, exercise, and, uh, for me, like, the mental side of it is learning. So I'm an avid reader. You heard us, like I hear you are too.

Um, and being able to grow avid reader and podcast listener, I'm very protective. I always say like guard your heart, right? You do that through your ears, your mouth and your eyes. So I guard my heart in what I ingest. Um, and make sure that has a purpose. I have no problem closing a book once I've started.

If I'm like, this one's not for me and I move on. Um. Um, but the more that you can take care of yourself, the better that you can be. I am a, a huge advocate of that because when I was in the financial industry, when I went over to the, the pharmaceutical industry, I'd [00:52:00] worked my body so hard and I was 24.

Okay. We're all invincible at 24. Oh, absolutely. Yes. Yeah. Like nothing's going to hurt us. Yeah. No. I was completely invincible. Um, until I wasn't and I worked my body so hard that it couldn't fight itself against or couldn't defend itself against a virus that most of us have. It's chicken pox. You have the virus too, comes out in adults as shingles.

Well, it came out in my eye on my optic nerve

Both: and it

Sheley Brien: left me blind in my left eye at 24. Um, so I am literally days away by the end of this week, it will mark 20 years that I went blind in my left eye.

Both: And

Sheley Brien: it's a pretty incredible, um, Pretty incredible thorn to be left at my side because it didn't change who I was in the sense that I'm still an achiever.

I'm still going to go kick butt. I'm still going to go do all this stuff and be an amazing mom and wife and, and, um, you know, follower of God. But [00:53:00] it reminds me. When I'm pushing too hard and to come back and take care of me.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Golly. I've loved talking to you. This has been so much fun.

I really, really appreciate it. Oh my gosh. Um, I am so cheering for you and wishing you so much success because this has been an amazing conversation. Um, and, uh, Yeah. I love the ending of take care of yourself because there's nothing more important than your health. So. Yeah, absolutely.

Sheley Brien: Absolutely. No, I think this has been wonderful.

Thank you. Yes.

Angela Gennari: Well, thank you guys for joining us for another episode of the pretty powerful podcast. And how can they find you Sheley? Uh, the

Sheley Brien: best way is on LinkedIn, Instagram, or YouTube. Um, you will find me there. I also have a podcast as well. It's called more action. I think you can see that trend in what I talk about.

It's all about taking more action. So I share. share stories, um, and, and get into kind of the nitty [00:54:00] gritty of just a whole bunch of stuff. So I invite you to come join me over there too.

Angela Gennari: Awesome. And you guys can also find her on pretty powerful podcast. com until next time guys have an amazing day. Bye bye.

Thank

Intro: you for joining our guests on the pretty powerful podcast. And we hope you've gained new insight and learned from exceptional women. Remember to subscribe or check out this and all episodes on prettypowerfulpodcast. com. Visit us next time, and until then, step into your own power.