Ep 048 – Conquering Crisis: Jillian Burns’ Story of Resilience and Success

Jillian Burns John: [00:00:00] The Roots of Success podcast is for the landscape professional who's looking to up their game. We're not talking lawns or grass here. We're talking about people, process, and profits. The things deep within the business that need focus to scale a successful company from hiring the right people and managing your team to improving your operations and mastering your finances. We've got a brain trust of experts to help you nurture the roots of a successful business and grow to the next level. This is The Roots of Success. Tommy Cole: Hey, welcome to another episode of Roots of Success, and I'm your host, Tommy Cole. Man, we have another amazing guest. And yes, I do say that on every single show because all the guests are amazing. But I got a new challenge. This is a new, my almost new friend. I don't know her that well, but I have sort of semi behind the scenes, got to know Jillian Burns. In the Boston, Massachusetts area. Welcome, Jillian. How are you? Jillian Bruns: I'm good, Tommy. Thanks for having me. Tommy Cole: [00:01:00] Yeah, so let's talk about let's talk about you. This is, this is, this is going to be such an amazing story. You're such an influential person. And you, you are you're with Burns Landscape and Snow management in Boston area, along with your husband, Mr. Burns, I would probably assume. And then so I am so intrigued by you being involved in the Landscape Company and I want to know more about it, but also, most importantly, also as well, as your co founder of Influential encounters which is empowering women in the male dominated industry. Good luck, right? That is no easy task at the end of the day. But I want to give all the credit to Mr. Bob Marks of EMI in Pennsylvania. He got us connected. I said, I want to know more about that person. Like weeks later, here we are. This is amazing. This is gonna be great. So let's just jump right in. How did Jillian get into Landscaping and Embezzlement in the business Tommy Cole: How in the world did you get into landscaping, you and your husband? Like, are we like pushing [00:02:00] mowers or what, what, what happened there? Jillian Bruns: So my story is unique. I joined the landscape industry during one of the most challenging times in my life. My husband and I discovered that a financial embezzlement within our family business, which really put us in a significant deficit. So, I stepped in to help, even though I didn't have a background in landscaping or snow and. At that time, I, I remember it like it was yesterday, I was pregnant and balancing the weight of rebuilding the business. And it just, it was a really, really hard time for us. But, you know, what started as a necessity really turned into a passion for me as I discovered, like, how rewarding it was to build something back up, but also support my family while doing so. And so, you know, in that time I learned so much about perseverance and adaptability and [00:03:00] the importance of relationships along the way and, and how important that is. Tommy Cole: That's great. Investing in People Tommy Cole: So tell me more about the company. Like what's the setup? How does it, you guys are heavy in the snow. I, I, I can, I got the snow presence. What's your involvement? I guess it kind of came down and build it back up. Tell me about some of those steps. Jillian Bruns: Yeah. So. That was not easy at all. So at Burns, we're really big on investing in ourselves and in turn investing in our team. Because we know that that's really what drives success. So, you know, whether it's providing training, or creating opportunities to grow, or just making sure everyone feels valued we try to build a culture where people thrive. Tommy Cole: Yeah, Jillian Bruns: Yeah, we focus on open communication and giving our team the tools. They need to do their jobs well and also feel good about it. When we invest in our people, it just strength strengthens the whole company and, you [00:04:00] know, helps us. Deliver for our clients. So that really is what our focus was af like in the rebuilding stage, Tommy Cole: that's so amazing. It's almost like, you know, I always tell everyone people are the number one asset. Like it's not the fancy equipment and the facility and you know, whatever it may be, but we always can think that that is it, but it's the people and when you invest in people that equals success. A hundred percent. Now, you, you could have a buy to hire, right, Julian? I'm sure you've had some, right, but you got to walk through that. You got to cultivate through all that. Tell me investing in a team. What does that mean to you guys investing in the team? Is that through education? Is that through like weekly one on one meetings? What is, what is all that? Jillian Bruns: all of the above. So it's so important, you know, whether it be leadership trainings or, you know, the one-on-one meetings are so important every week. There's, there's so [00:05:00] many different things, trainings, you know, taking somebody out to lunch, making them feel valued talking about their families, not just about work. There's, there's so many, you know, different layers to that. Tommy Cole: Yeah, I, I always love the, the, the power of a one on one meeting. I mean, you know, I've said this many of times. I'll say it again because this is going to be great. You know, say you have five direct reports, that's a one hour meeting with five people. What's five hours in a week of your 30, 40, 50, 60 hour work week? What's five hours of undivided attention with the five people that report to you to make sure that they are okay? Right? And like, what do you need from me? How can I help you? Right? It's not just about your career or your work. It's also the personal. Tell me more. What happened over the weekend? What are your biggest struggles? What's stressing you out? What's keeping you up at night? I, I love that. That is fascinating, awesome stuff. And I love landscape. You don't know me that well, but this is great. Landscape's awesome. The most amazing industry. I love it. We get to put smiles on [00:06:00] people's faces. That's sort of my, my mission. We're here today doing this and, and nothing is more rewarding. My wife says, she's like, sometimes you get all stressed out all the time, but like, look what's the impact you get to do every day, put things in the ground, make cool projects, put stripes in lawns and get the snow the heck out of these facilities. So you can put a smile on her face. Right. How is birds today? Fast forward. You're doing like getting this house built. How are you today? Jillian Bruns: Yeah. So we're, we're doing really well where we've shifted our focus. You know, we've, we've had many failures along the way, but that, you know, allows for growth personally and professionally. We've learned so much. We are heavily involved in the snow business. We have a very small Smaller company anyway now, and we're focusing on commercial snow, commercial landscaping, and we're doing a lot of design build out there [00:07:00] now. That's, that's really what we're, we're shifting our focus now, because we're really good at that. Tommy Cole: Cool. And that's still going on today. Your husband's running it. Everything's good. Jillian Bruns: Everything's Tommy Cole: Are you still part of the organization now? Jilllian's Role in the organization Jillian Bruns: I am Tommy Cole: What's your role? Jillian Bruns: oof. Tommy Cole: Everything. Jillian Bruns: so I guess my role within burns has really like evolved over the years. You know, initially I was. In the trenches, learning everything from the ground up. I had a business background, but I was doing, you know, anything from operations to finance to client relations, you name it all the things. Now I really focus on leadership and strategy and ensuring that we're just maintaining the business, but continuously growing and improving. I'm super passionate about developing systems that work and empower our team. I do oversee our snow operations, which is a major part of our business, like I just mentioned, but, you know, I'm just making sure that [00:08:00] we're prepared and we're delivering, you know, the quality service that our clients really depend on. Tommy Cole: Yeah, it's something that always needs to be evaluated, right? Jillian Bruns: Absolutely. Tommy Cole: ongoing thing. I've got a great question. I'm going to throw you a curveball. Don't be nervous. Did you play soccer in college or high school? Jillian Bruns: I may have. Tommy Cole: Yeah, yeah. Tell me about playing a sport, being an athlete, has carried over into your career. I, I, I've been there. I, I know where you're going. I know part of this, but tell our audience. What that means. I'm raising a teenager right now. We're heavily involved in sports. Everyone knows this. If anyone knows me, they, I'm highly invested into it. Tell me about the things that you learned that has carried over to your career. Jillian Bruns: So I did play college soccer. And I was a defender and I always, you know, the way that I look at the position that I was in in college, I was a defender [00:09:00] and defenders don't really get the recognition that the forwards do. They're protecting the net, which I feel as though my position at Burns is, is very similar. I'm, Tommy Cole: yeah. Jillian Bruns: I'm behind the scenes. I'm protecting the net. I'm not getting the recognition. Not that I want it, but I, it's, it's a very. important role within the organization, just as it is on the soccer field. So I, that's where like, you know, you're always working, you're always, you know, preparing yourself for the next day for that next, you know, making sure you're, you're, you're keeping your teammates, you know, abreast on what's, what's going on or what's going to happen or what the right, the next move should be. Tommy Cole: That's, that's amazing. I I did a small stint of, of college athletics and I was tennis. That was, that was my gig. I loved it. It was. The loneliest sport known to man. It's the only sport that has no coach, during the match and you have to figure it out on your own. That [00:10:00] taught me and I'll share this mental toughness. It was great. I love it. I was had to figure things out on my own. And when you're in a one to two hour grueling match, it's, it's you, the opponent and, and all the obstacles and the court and the wind and the weather and you name it, you got to figure it out. I mean, someone can yell something, but it doesn't, there's no coach, there's no caddy, there's no halftime, there's no intermission, there's no, there's no nothing. It's just, it's just solely an individual sport. I love, I love athletes. They're, they're great because they they, there's a sense of team, there's a sense of camaraderie, there's discipline involved. You got to show up on time when you don't, when the weather's cold or it's hot, you got to embrace your failures. When you get your butt kicked, it's tough. So I like that. That's why hopefully you didn't, go there in a different route, but soccer. I used to play soccer in high school. I had to choose soccer or tennis. I chose tennis. So don't hurt don't hurt me but all's good. What I would [00:11:00] love to get into now is is Influential encounters. This is the cool part and I I think this is the juiciest part. What are influential encounters Tommy Cole: First off What what is influential encounters? Jillian Bruns: So, influential encounters, so Val and I teamed up to create influential encounters. So it was born out of a desire to create a space for women and male majority industries to connect, inspire and grow. When I entered the snow and landscaping industry, I realized how like, how few women were in these roles. But I also saw our potential for change. So. I really focuses on bringing women together to share experiences build support networks and empower one another. So we really focus on creating opportunities for women to have a voice develop their leadership skills and feel seen and valued in industries where they've often been overlooked. So, you know. Our mission with Influential Encounters is to meet, inspire, and influence [00:12:00] women to know that they can succeed no matter what the industry is that they're in. Tommy Cole: Yeah, that's long has this been going on? Is this relatively new? Jillian Bruns: It's relatively new Val and I started the company, in October. Tommy Cole: Okay. Yeah, right. So how did you meet Val? Jillian Bruns: So, I met Val through her husband, Scott, who's in the industry. I've met, I've known Scott for many, many years now after attending a couple of different, conferences and he's, he's been fabulous and he, at the Sima snow symposium in June, I spoke on our panel for women in snow and I was out there by myself and he invited me to dinner with, you know, five or six other gentlemen. And at that dinner, he was like, you need to meet my wife Val. You guys were get along great. So the next week we hopped on a call. Tommy Cole: Wow. Jillian Bruns: hit it off. I pitched my idea and she pitched hers and I, we just said, let's do this and we, we hit the ground running and it's, we haven't stopped. Tommy Cole: Yeah, Jillian Bruns: of [00:13:00] fun, a lot of work. Tommy Cole: that's that's awesome. So What what what do you guys do? What what are the is it? It's a meetup. Are we, I think you guys do some coaching or something, but tell me, tell me what your, the, the, the message that the day to day message that you're doing and what, what are the meetups about? Jillian Bruns: Yeah, so we're hosting networking events where you know, they're essentially dinners. And where we have a keynote speaker that comes in and we do, we go through different exercises. And we'll have a topic for each event. We're hosting an event in April in Pennsylvania, and we're doing another 1 again in June in Michigan. And then we'll be back in Boston for December. And it's, you know, workshops and we're also doing coaching where, you know, we have a lot of big ideas. We're taking it sort of slow. But we have a [00:14:00] lot of a lot of things that we're working towards. Tommy Cole: Yeah. What are, what are some of the challenges in snow and being in the mail industry? I don't, obviously don't have a lot of experience. I do have experience in this industry starting out as a kid. You know, I went to, I went to college I got a landscape architecture degree and I'll never forget my very first job. I, I lived in Phoenix, Arizona and moved from, moved from Texas. And so here I am, this Texan sort of, you know, and boots and, and jeans and, you know, I go to work at this design firm and I'll never forget one of the first days on my job, I, I meet this guy that's about 60 years old and you could tell he is been very well experienced and I get on the job and he goes. Basically, you don't know shit. And, okay, there's a little, little bit of that. I get it. There's also like, man, that's real welcoming. You know, here we go. I got a guy that's 60 years old and has probably been in the industry for 30 plus years that knows a [00:15:00] lot, but also can bring something else. And I want to learn, I want to understand Roadblock entountered by women in male industries Tommy Cole: what are some of the roadblocks that you face along the way in this male dominated industry that you've Successfully like yeah, I've conquered that Jillian Bruns: So, I mean, a lot of the feedback that we've received from hosting the December event in Boston was, you know, like, there's this unconscious bias, right? How do you handle that? And, you know, even simple things like asking for a raise or having difficult conversations. How do you navigate those? How, how do you show up, and just to be respected and understood within the industry? You know, there's I'm a mom of 3. There's there's moms out there. There are, you know. There are a lot of women that wear many, many hats and it's not an easy industry to be in, but to feel supported is, you know, the number one takeaway from our Boston event is how do we, how do we get more of these women in the same room? Because it's just so [00:16:00] powerful. Tommy Cole: yeah, I I What do you think this is? What do you think? Do you think when people go to these meetups? They feel more empowered to have the tough conversations about a raise or Move for different division and not be so like intimidated. Is that right? Jillian Bruns: A hundred percent. I You know, after the event, we talked about Bob in the beginning of our conversation. I had a conversation with Bob after our event, and he was just like, you know, I love what you're doing. And here's an example of why. And he had sent 1 of his employees there, Katie, and he was like, Katie came back and she's, she's using her voice. She's but the thing is that voice always existed, but now she's more confident. And she definitely felt empowered. So like, that's what we want. We want it to, you know, empower her, but also be, you know, something for the company to, to [00:17:00] reap the benefits of that, right? You want to empower your, your females within your organization just to, you know, have that voice. Tommy Cole: Yeah, great case. Bob's fired up about Katie. We're getting Katie all this love. I met Katie last year last June. Rockstar, by the way, employee account manager, by the way. I, I do believe, and I'm with you, women, you know, women can seem like, it's, it's on the inside. They know they have it. But there's not a, a platform or some sort to understand it. I have many, several women, and I think I have women in every ace peer group of mine. All, all of mine. All four. And they, I actually have a lot of men and women, husband and wife. It's been fascinating. I will tell you this though. For the wife being there, thank God, because I'm not [00:18:00] sure the husband will be like where he is today without that, that person sitting next to him. And there's several of them out there. I won't, I won't name them, but they will listen to this episode and they're like 100 percent right. And they will, they will nudge and check on the husband going, that's not happening in our organization. Why? That's it's almost like an accountability. Peace because, tell us what, what you believe women have the capability of doing that a lot of men are like, not happening, forget it. Women's capabilities in the workplace Tommy Cole: We're almost like too black and white, like myself. And they have this ability to see the soft side, but then go something about raising kids. And having patience along the way, I think I may be tipping it off a little bit, but tell me more about that. Jillian Bruns: So I, you know, when I, when I first started with Burns, I, you know, I had Every aspect of the business, [00:19:00] and then it came time for us to be, you know, meeting with our leadership team and presenting to our leadership team and stating facts. And I, you know, I love the data and I love the systems that we have in place. So I would put together a presentation and spit out the facts and it was like, nobody wanted to hear it from Me Tommy Cole: mm hmm, Jillian Bruns: and I didn't understand why. And then I just changed my approach because it facts are facts, right? And once I shifted my, you know, focus and, you know. The way that I went about the conversation, it was, it was definitely received a little bit better, but that for me was like, oh, my gosh, here I am. Putting together this presentation, putting a ton of work into it. Going through everything with a fine tooth comb and it wasn't received as I had expected it to be. And after that, I really shifted my focus on how [00:20:00] can I deliver this message so that they understand it, so that they think that I'm, you know, they, they value me. Tommy Cole: mm hmm. Jillian Bruns: to help them. I'm not here to hurt anybody here. And that was really, really hard for me. Tommy Cole: Yeah, I would have done the same thing. I would have, I would have been just like you do. I would have been like, this is how it is. Gross profits here, net profits here, revenue's short. We're like, that's totally the wrong approach. I'm with you. I'm black and white. I'm a little harsh sometimes. I just can't tell how it is. But at the end of the day, that's not how they should be treated. They got feelings. They need clarification. Everyone interprets things differently. Right? Some of the audience I talk to, they're like, I love it. I'm ready to jump on. I'm ready to run through a brick wall with Tommy. A lot of people are like, well, hold on. Tell me the value in it. Tell me where we're going. Like, what's the reason behind this? Where should we be at? That's where leadership and especially women [00:21:00] can, can provide that. I think men oftentimes struggle with being so direct with their things. So I, man, give you all the credit. Talk about women have patience. And how does that translate into the business in the world? Or anything that they're doing. Jillian Bruns: You know, I think of myself, I have a ton of patients. With my kids, with my husband, with my peers but I often, you know, my husband will react. And that's not to say it's a bad thing, but he, he will have the answers just like that. And for me, I have to. You know, digest the information, really think about it before I make my next move and. Sometimes, you know, an email or something will come through that really ticks me off and I want to respond. I want to react. But I don't because I have to be patient with that. I have to [00:22:00] be patient with my own emotions. I have to, you know, really let set in to say like, is it worth it? Or like, no, it's not. Just do what you do and you will be fine. Just be patient. Tommy Cole: Yeah. Oftentimes I think listening is, is women do really good at listening. Men don't, men don't really that's okay. That's why we coexist, but women are great at listening. Almost pausing. I've had to do that over the last many years of learning of just listening more, listen more as people discuss and understand where they're coming from. The importance of team feedback Tommy Cole: I'm sure you've had to learn that in a leadership role. Like you got to listen to what the team is telling you, right? So tell me about, there's gotta be some ways where they want to be involved and they want to provide feedback. So you can't go into that leadership meeting and say, I got this idea. We're going to do this. it or leave it. Although [00:23:00] some of my old bosses would say that, but, tell me about the feedback from people that you got to receive and how that's really good for you. 100 Jillian Bruns: Oh my gosh, feedback is so, so, so important. And It, you know, we'll when we walk into meetings and we have these great ideas, we do bounce it off of our team members just to say, like, this is what we're thinking and this is why it will be good. Or this is what, you know, what will work for us. Or so we think and we want to know your thoughts and they will come back to us and they might say things that we might not have didn't occur to us and. That's usually when, you know, like I like to say magic happens because now our brains are all working together. And how can we make this work or tweak something? So that that really has helped us. And then in turn for influential encounters, we've, you know, after our Boston event, we sent out, you know, a questionnaire for feedback, the good, the [00:24:00] bad, anything, send it our way because we want to know what's working or what worked. And, you know, for that event, it was just more like, how can we do, how can we, Bring more of these events to life. Like, what can you guys just I want more networking. I want, you know, more coaching. I want retreats. I want all these things. So, like, Val, and I really had to, like, put our brains together and say, all right, this is what our focus is. And we need to, you know, shift things here or there and let's just make it work. You have to listen to the feedback. Tommy Cole: percent continuous feedback. That's like my most favorite thing. When you get continuous feedback and you invite it, then people are willing to share their thoughts and ideas. The teams that we run, they're full of energy and full of ideas. We have to sort of like women are really good at dropping down the barrier and walking them in and provide feedback along the way. I was, I was on a trip the last few days in Florida and [00:25:00] And I was talking to someone and he said, yeah, it's like a two way street. If you just keep going and driving your direction, you driving your speed, you doing your own dashboard and expected one, everyone in the rear view mirror to follow you with no feedback coming the other direction. This is a great analogy, right? Then there's no road. There's a road by myself with, I might have a few followers, but that's it. But if I can encourage the feedback to come the opposite direction, I got to hold on that steering wheel a little tighter. I got to pay attention. I got to be aware. I may have to listen, right? And that feedback loop coming the opposite direction is, Importantly super, super important. So you guys have the ability to, to, to listen, to learn continuous feedback along the way. God, this is, this is, this is great stuff. If you're not getting excited like me, then you're crazy. What's, what's what's, is there any challenges or lessons learned along the way that go, man, that really stuck out [00:26:00] my memory bank, anything Jillian Bruns: Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Tommy Cole: We have all day. Yeah, Jillian Bruns: mean, you know, it's really challenges have played a huge role on my journey. You know, from the betrayal from the embezzlement and to rebuilding the business from the financial hardship. Those, those times really shaped who I am today. But like I said, in the beginning, one of the biggest things that I learned was, you know, yeah. Perseverance and adaptability are everything. You know, success isn't, isn't really about like avoiding problems. It's, it's how you handle them when they come your way. Cause they will. And Tommy Cole: to write this down. So bear with me. So what you said, this is so good. Success is not avoiding problems. You got to hit them head on. Jillian Bruns: hundred percent. Tommy Cole: I love this. God, I love it. Great [00:27:00] stuff. You know, you know, there's always moments in our life where we look back and go, gosh, wow. You, you never want the embezzlement to happen. You never want the hard time. But looking back, it was kind of like, okay, that's probably a moment I had to go through. Or, actually, we had to go through. In a million years, you'll probably never want to go through that again. So it's not like you, you encourage it or, or, or, or. want that to happen. But that's what you built as you. That's why you form. That's why burn, snow and landscape is growing, thriving. That's why IE, Influential Encounter, is now thriving, right? Because of that success story. So there's always those little, those, those moments in life that are almost going to happen that we just have to embrace and go, how am I going to react? I can sit here and hide under a rock or I can pick up the rock and chunk it. Jillian Bruns: Absolutely. And it's, it's so important to, you know, surround yourself with the right people too. And, you know, whether it's your team or your clients or mentors or just the [00:28:00] people around you that, that do make the difference and. Again, failure doesn't mean it's over, right? Tommy Cole: Yeah. Jillian Bruns: of what I like to say, something better. Tommy Cole: Right. Future of Influential Encounters Tommy Cole: What's the future of influential encounters? Like, what do you, what's, what's the big dream here? What, what do you, what, if you could just sort of like magic wand poof, is it. This is what I, this is what I envision. Jillian Bruns: So the future for me and everything around me is all about growth. You know, for myself, for my business, for influential encounters, I guess like on the burn side of things, we're focused on scaling sustainably developing our team and really honing in on like our service offerings. But for influential encounters, like I really envision it becoming a movement. You know, connecting women across male majority industries hosting events nationwide [00:29:00] and creating simply a lasting impact. Tommy Cole: Yeah. I, what you're doing is, is fascinating. It's almost, we got to get people like you more involved. We need to have a pure group of women only. At our, our company and you guys get to travel and see the women that do landscaping and do speaking and we got to figure out a way to get you involved with our business and help your business. I think that something in the works there that I'm going to try to put together. I know a lot of amazing. I met some, some women last week in Orlando. They were just, they're taking over. One of them was taking over their parents business. She's a little shy. She's not sure. She's under the wings. She's the woman, right? And she's like, how the heck do I do this? And I'm like, you got it. You can come. So she's going to come down to to new Orleans in March for our ACE discovery event, where we introduced new ACEs. I said, you can do this. This is it. And she had a little smile on her face. Like, I think I got [00:30:00] that, that right there. I need to push her your direction too. I think she's up in the northeast as well. So I'll have to push her your direction. Jillian Bruns: Love that. Tommy Cole: Jillian, I noticed a couple of things. You put out another curve ball. The improtance of structure and accontability Tommy Cole: You had a couple of books that I recognize on your website and it was traction and it was deep work. Did you, did you know that was there? Jillian Bruns: I didn't you know what I did? I did know that was there. Yes, they are. Tommy Cole: Okay. Why are those two? I didn't recognize the third one, but I do recognize the two deep works and traction. Why do those books mean so much to you to be on the face of your website? Jillian Bruns: You know, I believe structure and holding yourself accountable is like, is so important. And following systems, right? You. You have to set yourself up for success, whether it's through books and mentors and, you know, it's important. Tommy Cole: Yeah, I love those two books. I was like, there is something between us that [00:31:00] is pretty cool right now because I, it's, it's really small. But if you go to their, if you go to their website, influentialencounters. com Awesome website. You and Val have done a phenomenal job of branding. Let's, actually, this is great. If you're a landscape company, go check their website. It's fascinating. It's very simple. There's a branding, there's sort of like a page there that I saw that's got some swag gear, a beanie hat, this sort of empowerment that it's got all the right colors, it's got the right gear. Am I saying it right? But anyways, look at this page, it's good quality photos, you guys are engaging, a little here and there. Tell me more Branding and Importance of Website Design Tommy Cole: how you came up with that fascinating website. Jillian Bruns: Thank you. Yeah, so we are really, set on our brand. Personal branding is so important. We are [00:32:00] putting ourselves out there and, and we're very passionate about what we're doing and, and we want those around us or those that are, Looking into our, you know, events or our coaching or anything to see like we are who we are. And we take that stuff seriously. You know, we, the call from the colors from the events. Everything is is an experience for all those involved. And, you know, from the 2nd, that you sign up for 1 of our events, we mail out, swag or whatever it is tailored to that specific location. Like our Boston event, we, we mailed out those Boston sweatshirts that are in that photo. Just a simple little touch that, you know from the details. All the details are so, so very important. And in, you'll see that translated in the events that we host. Tommy Cole: Yeah. Oh, that, that's great. You know, you and Val, you know, you're laughing, you're cutting up, [00:33:00] you're engaging. You can, you can feel the energy on the website. Which is, which is fascinating. Jillian, we're getting close to the end. This is always my favorite part. I'm going to ask you a question. What's one advice that you can leave with the audience, but let me back up and do some Tommy takeaways, little cheesy, but it works very well. So, I'm going to say Burns Landscape and Snow Management is the company that I like a lot because they went through some major financial hard times and they didn't give up. So if you're in your business right now and there's challenges, hit them head on, encourage them and pound them in the face. You will, you will overcome it. 100 percent Just keep grinding. We're here for you. I learned a lot about an athlete, a college athlete that's defender. I love it. My son is a catcher, teenage catcher in baseball. It's his favorite sport. Catcher gets zero recognition. No, no awards, no MVPs, no nothing. But the minute something goes wrong [00:34:00] behind the plate. They, they complain, but as long as they're not complaining, I think my son's done his job. You know, some other things look, you know, people thriving leadership one on one meetings. You know, I love all that this is this is facts, you know, if you go into a meeting, you got all these facts and kind of blow them up and you don't listen to the feedback that's coming your, your direction, then basically you're talking to the wall at the end of the day, you're going to clam up and, and get no feedback. I love the fact of structure and accountability, the systems. My thing about your website I just learned is everything is an experience. Everything's an experience, right? Good or bad, right? You might have ordered the food, it come in wrong, bad experience. You might have ordered food, it came out perfect, it was the most amazing meal you've ever had. Great experience. One of my most favorite things, I'm taking all this, these are quotes with me. If you're okay with that, [00:35:00] success is not avoiding the problems. Hit them head on. Ah, you're full of them today. If there's any words of advice, Jillian, that I've missed, or you want to really hone in, what is it for our audience? Jillian Bruns: Oh. So don't let your past define your future. Tommy Cole: Yes. Jillian Bruns: You know, no matter where you've been or what you have experienced or the challenges you've faced, you know, you're the, you're the 1, you have the power to change the narrative and build the life that you really want. And every setback is, is really an opportunity to be stronger. keep showing up, keep learning and, you know, remember that that being successful is, is, is essentially a journey. You know, not, not the destination. Tommy Cole: Now, life's a journey. We get to choose it, Jillian Bruns: For sure. Tommy Cole: right? That's, that's the best life's a journey. If you keep focusing on the results every, you know, way down the road you'll never [00:36:00] get there. It's just putting them in the work every single day, putting the time with the family and the friends every day. Getting 1 percent better and enjoy the journey. Jillian, it is a huge pleasure to have you on. Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule. Go, go check her out. Awesome person. Once again, influentialencounters. com. Her and Val on the face of that website. Hit them up, follow them on social media. They're on LinkedIn and Instagram. Is that correct? Jillian Bruns: Correct. Yep. Tommy Cole: So go hit them up, follow, like, and enjoy all their travels. There's several events that she mentioned throughout the year. They're on the website. I saw those, but give her a follow, give her a shout out and and give her some good vibes. Thank you. Thank you again, Jillian. It's been awesome. Jillian Bruns: Thank you so much for having me. John: Ready to take the next step? Download our free Profitability Scorecard to quickly create your own baseline financial assessment and uncover the fastest ways to improve your business. Just go to [00:37:00] McFarlinStanford.com/scorecard to get yours today To learn more about McFarlin Stanford our best in class peer groups and other services go to our website at McFarlinStanford.com And don't forget to follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. See you next time on the Roots of Success.