Get Them to Give a Fck
Doesn't it feel like no one gives a fck anymore? Well, good thing I have enough passion and lots of fcks to give.
Hear from Julie Wanzer, LEED AP, author of Get Them to Care, in her podcast series talking about business-to-business (B2B) corporate training topics such as: business development, marketing, personal branding, company branding, email newsletters and women's etiquette in business.
Hear from a range of guests including Julie's colleagues, peers, mentors, influencers and other people who give a fck.
Get Them to Give a Fck
Episode 104: “We have to build each other up” ~Megan Cohill, Women in Construction
About the Episode
Julie Wanzer, LEED AP, hosts the "Get Them to Give a F*ck" podcast, featuring industry experts like Megan Cohill from Emprise Concepts.
Megan shares her journey from tech to construction, highlighting her role evolution from admin assistant to operations executive at Emprise Concepts. She emphasizes the importance of collaboration, mentorship, and continuous learning in the industry.
Megan discusses her experiences on the I-25 South Gap project and the value of creating scalable systems.
She advocates for women to bring their unique perspectives and skills to the table, fostering a culture of mutual support and growth within the construction industry.
About "Get Them to Give a Fck" Podcast
Doesn't it feel like no one gives a fck anymore? Well, good thing I have enough passion and lots of fcks to give.
Hear from Julie Wanzer, LEED AP, author of Get Them to Care, in her podcast series talking about business-to-business (B2B) corporate training topics such as: business development, marketing, personal branding, company branding, email newsletters and women's etiquette in business.
Hear from a range of guests including Julie's colleagues, peers, mentors, influencers and other people who give a fck.
About Julie Wanzer, LEED AP, Podcast Host
Julie Wanzer, LEED AP, is the author of Get Them to Care: How to Leverage LinkedIn to Build Your Online Presence and Become a Trusted Brand, and Owner of Business Rewritten, a marketing consultancy, with 22 years of experience. She also owns Get Them to Care, a training-based consulting firm.
Ms. Wanzer is a marketing strategist and trainer of various communication topics, including online personal and company branding, seller-doer business development best practices, and email newsletter workshops.
LinkedIn Connections
Host: Julie Wanzer, LEED AP
Guest: Megan Cohill
Company Links
gonna start, okay, all right, so welcome to this episode of get them to give a fuck podcast. That's right, I already cursed in my own podcast. You're allowed to Megan as we go through but there's a podcast where we cut through the noise and talk about real issues and get people to care. I'm your host, Julie Wanzer, I'm the owner of get them to care consulting and author of the same book, get them to care your LinkedIn, personal and company branding guidebook. During these podcasts, I'll be joined by industry experts like Megan, thought leaders and other people with things to say to give you the audience you this perspective on the B to B service industry. So today, obviously, I'm joined by Megan. Megan Cohill, she is the operations executive at Enterprise concepts, and I was actually introduced to Megan through Krystel de Herrera, who is the owner of course, of Arrow marketing, and her episode actually is gonna be was will be played a couple episodes before yours. So make sure you tune into hers as well. Tune into hers. But now I will shut up for a minute or two and let Megan introduce herself. So please take it away. Megan, yeah,
Megan Cohill:hi. Thank you so much for having me on the show, Julie. I really appreciate it. And yeah, no. So just to give you a little bit of background about me. I'm from the East Coast, originally came out to Colorado about six years ago, actually, seven, almost seven now, and yeah, kind of fell into the construction industry. I, you know, got started on a pretty sizable project, and fell in love with the industry and decided, I was like, Yeah, let's go ahead. Let's make this a career, and figure out what that looks like, and kind of come alongside some really great men who have been willing to help and give me an opportunity, and that's been a really fantastic experience. So I recently moved over to enterprise. I've been with them about a year and a half now, and yeah, have had some really great opportunities to kind of just help the business grow and see what the guys can do, and they've been crushing it. So it's been fun to be Oh, definitely.
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:Well, I love that. Megan, so tell me a little bit more, though. So where did you did you, do you have a degree? Did you go to school? Or how did you kind of end up in the working world? I mean, tell me,
Megan Cohill:yeah, absolutely. So I've actually been in business now for almost 14 years, I did not start in civil engineering and construction. I actually started in tech. Okay, my degree was in political science, and then was in technology for a couple of years. And was like, You know what? Tech too volatile? You know, this is when the.com boom was happening and all the crazy stuff. And I was like, You know what? I want something a little more stable. So I moved over to finance right about the time that the housing market decided it was going to crash, oh 2008 they moved to a really solid company and worked in investment management for about four years, and decided, after about four years that I needed a change. And I went and traveled for a year and a half so and was doing short term, yeah, short term volunteer work all over the world. So I was in Africa for three months, Asia for five, and then I was in Central America for another three, and then I went back out to be, you know, in the Himalayas. And so did some problem there as well, yeah. And then kind of came back, and I was like, You know what, I'm going to be in the States for a while, and decided I was going to move out to Colorado. And then, you know, came out, was on financial fumes. Just really needed a job at this penny area, you know, yeah. So it was one of those things where I decided, You know what, this is going to be my first opportunity, and I applied for an admin assistant job on a construction project. Wow. No idea what I was getting into, and it just kind of blew, ballooned and grew from there. I i My first boss, Scott McDaniel, actually looked at my resume the first time around, and it was like, she's over qualified. I tossed it. Okay,
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:I know Scott, by the way, I love him. I'm gonna have to tell him that story.
Megan Cohill:Oh yeah, he knows your story. It's actually give
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:him shit later. But go ahead.
Megan Cohill:Called back, and he was like, well, we're interviewing now. Do you want to come in for an interview? And yeah, so he did. And you know, he was like, Oh, you have project management experience. I was like, yeah. And he was like, oh, okay, so you, I was like, Yeah, I laid concrete while I was overseas. So I was like, I know enough to be dangerous. And he was like, Okay, great. Well, we got this project. It was the I 25 stock out project. Wow,
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:that's a huge project, huge.
Megan Cohill:Yeah. So it was a, it was an amazing experience. So that was basically how I ended up in construction, how I ended up out here.
Unknown:Oh, my God, at small Scott
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:McDaniel, like he noted the industry. And if you don't know him. You should get to know him. But yeah, and I love that. That was your entrance. So you started out as an administrative assistant, then kind of tell me more about your progression there. I mean, obviously you're not still sitting behind the admins desk. What does that kind of look like for you now in terms of your growth over the past years? In terms of
Megan Cohill:your role? They definitely transformed over the, you know, the last seven years for sure. So I, again, I was on the gap, and it was one of those things where I just kind of picked up whatever needed to be done, started sort of just doing, you know, form one, oh, threes and consolidating, and, you know, doing a little bit of Doc controls. But, I mean, Cami apostolitis, she was fantastic at that, and really had it under control. And so I was kind of just, you know, gathering, you know, cats and hurting them and trying to figure out where, where all the paper was so but then also, yeah, used to build monthly progress reports. I worked with Courtney Ruhr on some control stuff, and, you know, some inspections at that point. So I did inspection on the gap for a little while, and then really kind of got to, you know, get out in the field. Absolutely loved. It was also put on a couple of other projects at the time. So worked on, you know, some data analysis, and did some, you know, traffic data analysis and consulting that together. Okay, so helped with that. Also did some initial document set up for another project at the time. So just trying to get their infrastructure in place, get them rolling. And so did that for the first couple of months. And then, you know, also started to get into pursuit help. So we were actually chasing Floyd hill at the top, another great project, by the way, yes, it was yes, yeah. So we started chasing Floyd Hill. And I was like, yeah, like, I would be willing to, you know, help out. And so again, started pitching in with whatever that looked like, consolidating, you know, here's all of our project infrastructure that we had in place. And so kind of giving all that documentation. And then, you know, site visit, and then, you know, doing some drafting. And then, you know, we fortunately won that project. I was rocks all at the time, and so then we started that up. And then I did all of our project infrastructure at that point. So came on early on to the project, built out our racing models, so built out our workflows, all of our standard operating procedures, got the team trained up, you know, helped get the project kind of set up, and going from a construction management side, yeah. And I was like, I kind of need a change. So I was, you know, ready to transition. I was like, you know, I've got some great skills. I would love to be able to give them. And at the time, you know, was just putting my feelers out there. And, you know, Preston petty, who's the owner of enterprise concepts with Jacob grass bank. He was like, I kind of need an operational unicorn. And I was like, Well, I will give it a shot and share what I can do. And I Yeah, so I, you know, had ended my service with, was like, this was a challenge, and so I came on in october 2023 with M prize, and I think I was literally given everything but the kitchen sink. So
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:they're, like, figured out, Megan, you got this right?
Megan Cohill:Yeah, pretty much. But I learned over the course of that year that I actually thrive in that like, Hey, throw me in the deep end, and I will. I learned I can do a lot more than I think I can. So I'm very thankful for just that opportunity and just continuing to have that opportunity. And the guys have been so good about teaching me and letting me go, and, you know, saying, Hey, you're actually good at that. Why don't you just keep doing that? So I'm like, Oh, okay. Oh, thanks,
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:right. Like, thanks for recognizing that. Guys. Like, yeah, that's awesome. Well, I guess what I'm hearing from your story is that, again, starting out as the admin assistant, and it sounds like you didn't really even know where this path was going to take you, right, and, but you just kept going up, up, up, kept leveling up. And I'm like, Oh, seriously, no. And that's to me, that's one of the great things that I love about construction, is that no matter how you enter it, right? However you entered the industry, there's always a place for you, right? If you're willing to work hard, show up and keep asking questions, right? I mean, it sounds like, again, you were thrown into the deep end, where we know you can swim thrive, right? But it sounds like you were willing to also willing to learn right and take on things that maybe you didn't even know you could do or needed to be done. How has that perspective now changed the way that you approach projects? Now
Megan Cohill:that's a really great question. I would definitely say I've had some great mentors, like the guys were again so willing to be like, well, this is why we do this, and this is how we do this. And now I think coming onto this side of the house, being more on the business development, business to business side, being like, okay, yeah, like, let's think about like, what is the scope of work? Like, understanding
Unknown:how construction,
Megan Cohill:like, how it actually progresses, understanding what those needs are, and being like, you know what it's there's so many different facets to it, right? Like, I mean, there's the personality components of it, and you're like, okay, like, who are the right people to bring on who, you know, they can bring this type of an energy to the project. Like, maybe we need somebody who's, like, very detailed oriented, and is going to be very specific, and I'm like, Yes, I want you on this project. Or, like, this is a great place for you to fit. Or, you know, what does it look like to understand our client's needs and understanding how that influences a project and what the priorities of that project are. And you know, where do we dial up? Where do we dial back? And understanding those different levels, yeah, you know, even understanding some of the technical which, again, I don't know, I'm not well versed in by any means, but knowing enough to be dangerous, I think that might just be my motto. I'm
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:writing that down, right?
Megan Cohill:Like, you know what that person is actually incredibly knowledgeable of that? I want to go ask them those questions. Or, you know what they're the person that you bring on, and you're like, yeah, how do you what can you bring to the table? How can we use this unique knowledge to make this, make this a reality. So, you know, definitely, you know, providing some of that perspective. And then I have a numbers brain, or at least there's a part of the brain, and then, you know, being able to look at the data and be like, okay, yeah, so what are we looking at from budget, like, what are we looking at in terms of our scope? How does all of this play together? And so it was great to have all of those pieces brought together and understand kind of that scope and go from there. So yeah, for sure. Well, I
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:guess what I'm hearing Megan is that you're a great connector, right? Like we were talking about Christelle, who's a great connector of people, sounds like you're also a great connector of people, but also, like the the numbers part, right, the number side of being able to bring that into it, because guess what? Guys budget still affects it and all the things, but yeah, does come down to numbers. But I love to hearing how you have that perspective, or at least that forethought to say, okay, yeah, we need a detail oriented person, right? We need that person who is going to be very exacting, and, you know, can keep us on track. But then also you need the person who's the dreamer, right? That's like, hey, what about this? Right? Like that might seem completely out of the box, but you need that person too, because you just never know, right, on a project, what could happen? Or it just sounds like to having that diversity of personalities and strengths project more successful?
Megan Cohill:Yeah, is what I'm hearing. Yeah, I think that that's a good way to explain it, where it's like, how do you like knowing your team, knowing the things that they're great at, and then being able to bring bring those things to light and be like, you know, what? Actually, this would probably be a good fit for this person, or this might be a good fit for this person. And, you know, seeing that come together, these people have been really great to work with, and they bring a lot of great people to the the job, like, let's see if we can partner with them again. And like, yeah, you know, it's one of those things where, for me, and clarity of my role, like, I'm still growing into these things. So I offer the suggestions, and I'm like, Well, what about this? Or, Hey, have we thought about doing this? And it's more of a, you know, get that dreaming piece, right? And so I guess, you know, bring a little bit of the dream, and then I'm, you know, my more experienced and really great mentors and really great team. They're like, Yeah, okay, like, let's think about this. Or I didn't think about that. Let's, you know, reconsider it. And they're really been to listening. So it's, it's been a great teamwork, or team, for sure,
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:definitely. Well, I and I guess too, like being able to have all those sides, but I love what you mentioned about having the people that have more experience, right, being able to almost, dare I say, mentor you a little bit, right? Okay, so then I'd love to kind of get into specifics. Who
Megan Cohill:a construction industry that is a great clarifier. Because I right, yeah. No, i She, there have been so many in so many different seasons, I would have to say, like, Christelle has been amazing coming to the side and giving me a little bit more perspective, because she knows, like, she's like, Yeah, you came from financial services, and I was like, investments like this, that's how you campaign. And she's like, that's not how this
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:industry works. Yes.
Megan Cohill:Like, I would have to say I would really want to give a shout out to the i 25 South Africa,
Unknown:and that, really, you down, you can do this. And he again that I can throw me something like this, a middle log, and being like, Here, go ahead and go through the specs and write everything out. And I was like, Yeah, okay, I don't know what I'm doing, but sure the sound.
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:I love that. Well, no. And I think, too, it takes a village, right? Like you said, there's not just one mentor or one person who's had an influence in the within your career, within the industry, and it's great too. I think, obviously, we are here to talk about women, right? Women in construction, but I love to that there are so many men out there that are willing to support other women in the industry, right? Keep an open door policy. Unfortunately, come from the side where men have immediately dismissed me, right? They're like, I'll walk onto a job site. They give me a pink hard hat, and they're like, I like, let me just tell you that this is wrong, this is wrong and this is wrong. How do you know that I'm like, Well, I've got, like, 15 years in construction, buddy. Like, maybe should pay attention, right? So it's almost, you know, obviously, but being able to hear the other side too, of working with those gentlemen that are willing to teach and to help you learn about the industry, I think that's so invaluable, right? And and being able to know that you can rely on them, and even have someone who's your cheerleader, right? It's like,
Megan Cohill:yeah, absolutely, honestly, like working with Jacob and Preston has been that for sure. So, like, Jacob is stupid smart. He is tunnel engineer PhD. And I was like, wow, you, you talk at a different level than I even understand. And so he was explaining finite element analysis to me, and I was like, I didn't know what this was, but he did such a good job. I was like, Okay, now I understand what you're trying to do and what you're you know, where you're looking at this pressure from the TBM. And I was like, oh, okay, now that makes sense. And so
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:that definitely
Megan Cohill:continued where they're like, Hey, we see your sponge,
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:possibly take it.
Unknown:But here's the information.
Megan Cohill:They've been absolutely phenomenal to work with on that front. Yeah, they've definitely the one I got the this podcast. They're like, way to represent I was like, okay, that's what I'm
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:telling you, right? So, and again, transitioning then back to you. The theme right for women construction Week this year, for 2025 the theme is, together we rise. So what does that mean to you? Together we rise? What does that mean to you personally
Megan Cohill:within the construction industry? Yeah, I mean, I would say it's really about filling each other up. And I think my experiences historically with women in other industries, more about like, this kind of secret competitiveness that now is like, Oh, well,
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:it's let's just put it out. That's right, I hear you, yeah. And
Megan Cohill:so it's one of those things where I, I've really loved coming into this industry, and so I, you know, I think about folks like Christelle, who is phenomenal about, like, being like, yes, you can do this and being such an encourager. When I'm like, Am I doing the right thing? Like, am I, am I supposed to be here? Do I need to go back to some of these old industries? And she's like, No, like, you're, you're where you need to be. You're doing a great job. You're learning so much. Like, keep going. And then even, you know, like, we had actually a very sizable amount of women on the gap project. And I think everyone was again, like, hey, it's about building each other up. It's like, I mean, the inspector who trained me on environmental inspection, she is phenomenal at what she does, and she was always so good about she was like, No, we're really like, let's do this together. And so she and I would always be like encouragement to each other. And that was definitely an amazing friend in that season. And even on the contractor side, like, you know, working with Samantha Marco, with Kramer and Man, That Woman is, like, on top of her stuff, and so, like, again, she's, it's one of the things where you just saw you're like, hey, we're building each other up. And like, let's talk through when we're having a hard time. And it's not about us competing. It's about us saying, like, Hey, you're doing a great job at what you're doing. Like, keep doing that, you know? So, yeah, that's what I would say, is, like, what I think of when we say together, we're rising so definitely,
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:you know. And I think you brought up a great point of the environmental woman who was like, no, let's do this together, right? I think that inherently, like, whether you're man or woman, that you learn better that way, right? Instead of saying, Oh, well, let me just you sit over here. I'll do it. You just watch me. No, I mean, you need to get together, right? And to actually work on something to learn. I think that's the best way to to make mistakes together, right? Like the again, shits gonna happen, right? Things are gonna go with, okay, yeah, this didn't go as planned, right, but here's what we're gonna do about it, right? So being willing to be that problem solver, I think, is definitely helpful, and it's great to hear that again, that those women were willing to do that, right and leave the competition aside because we're not in high school anymore. Megan, I mean,
Megan Cohill:yeah, no, I played out at this point. So thank
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:you. No more, Mean Girls. Okay, we're over it, right? Like we need to do this. And I think to being able to have that experience of being on a larger project like that, how do you feel that that has kind of influenced the types of projects that you're working on now, Megan having that first experience on a larger job, and now going to, I'm not saying smaller jobs, like minuscule but kind of what the work that you're doing now, how has that influenced you?
Megan Cohill:Yeah, no. And so, to clarify, so I actually have kind of transitioned out of projects for the for the majority, okay, I'm pretty much completely back office at this point. So it's still important. Yes, yeah, it's still, it still has a lot of value. I think it's been great to give the guys the space and capacity to run where I'm like, I want to make your job less difficult. And I think we, you know, we onboarded the accounting software, and they were super they were troopers about it, and I appreciated them every step of the way, nice, but it's fun to think so now I'm completely back office. But I think what, honestly, those larger scale projects like help set up for scale, you know, so right now we're a firm size of 22 you know, on the gap project, we easily had more than that on the construction management side. And so it was, how do we manage systems? How do we create systems that are repeatable and scalable and like that? There is a way to continually grow. And so it was a great kind of think tank for that, and being like, oh, okay, so this worked, but this might not work. And so now that we're looking to do the same and scale and grow as a company. It's like, okay, yeah, I can bring that experience in and be like, okay, yeah, I learned these things. Okay. You know, maybe we don't need this amount of detail, like this helpful or constructive, but how do I create simple, digestible tools that people can use and refer back to? And that was something that was, like, a big success from some of these larger projects, where I was like, here's your cheat sheet. Like, right? This is checklist. Yeah, there is a checklist. And here is how you do this. And this is all I need from you. And it just like synthesized all that information with all of the, like, rich, you know, standard operating procedures behind it. And so it's like, you're like, No one's going to read this after, like, the first or second time. Like, they really just kind of need to know, like, Oh, this is where I'm putting this. This is how I'm doing this, and this is what I need to name it, you know, and keep it very simple. So no
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:for sure, well, and I think, too, what I'm hearing is like, and what I love about too, about construction, is that it is mostly right. We mostly follow a lot of the same processes, whether, like you said, it's the bigger project, down to other projects where, like you said, you're working more in the back office. So to be able to take that experience and have it transfer right to other positions, I think, is so critical, because you don't want to start all over again, right? I mean, every time you change, it's like, Oh, good. So it's great to hear that you were able to kind of take that Learn, learn knowledge from your your first company, transfer it over to your second one, and still be of great asset, right? Sounds like to be able to set those SOPs, standard operating procedures, guys, again, so many acronyms in this industry, right? But to be able to do that, I think, is phenomenal, and it's one of the, one of the great things
Megan Cohill:that I love about, you know? What I really loved about it is like, it's honestly, this ability to create and to create something that's bigger than yourself, and to be able to give that back to the public and to say, one of my favorite things of listening to the guys talk, was like, Yeah, I was on this project, in this project, in this project, and I was like, your name, like, no one may never know it. Like they may never know that you, you know it was you, but you are a part of the history and the makeup of this, of the state. And that's just like the coolest thing to me, right? So, yeah, it's been amazing to, you know, be a part of that building, and now it's a different kind of building. It gets, I get to, actually, I get to build, you know, a an infrastructure, which I absolutely love. So it's getting to be a part of it in a different way. I would 100% and say, leave it to the technical experts. But I was like, this, this part I can do. So,
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:yes, right? This, this is my jam over here, right? Like, we got you on this project well. And I think too you can now, you can still say you're part of the i 25 gap project, again, one of the biggest projects in Colorado at the time, right? And will continue to be. And what a legacy project, Megan. I mean, gosh, like, and I will say to that again, the vertical side. So there's a hotel in Cherry Creek. Every time I go buy it, I make sure to tell my friends I worked on that right, like I was helping with these specifications and getting the drawings and everything together, because I worked at an architecture firm at one point, was the marketing manager, but it was all hands on deck, right? I mean, were several hats, and like you said, I didn't have that specific technical expertise, but, man, I was a sponge too, right? You just soak it up. Tell me what to do. I can replicate, right? And hopefully to make it better. But yeah, being able to point to things and and saying that was me, right? Like I was a part of that, right? My name's not on it either. But absolutely, that knowledge, I think, too, it's almost Well, it's, for lack of a better word, it's taking pride in your work, right? Being able to to have that, and I think that's something very unique to the construction industry. So kind of thinking back now, hopefully, but thinking forward right to the next maybe, you know, 1015, years. What do you think that looks like for you within the construction industry? Where would you like industry, where would you like to be within the next 1015, years?
Megan Cohill:That's a really great question. I'll be honest, I don't think that far ahead. I am. Okay, fair, yeah, no, I'm more of like, what's the opportunity that's in front of me? And like, what does it look like to kind of go all in on that opportunity until, like, you see the next one that comes about, you know, and so I'm with enterprise for a while, and, you know, we're going to be around. And I was like, Yeah, I'm excited to see where we can grow, what we can do, how we can diversify, and getting to be a part of that. And, you know, just continue to learn. I would love to learn more on, you know, the structural side. I think that's fascinating. You know, even just some of the geotechnical work that Jacob has been doing, I'm like, I did not know that you could, like this, that soil mattered this much. Like, right? Exactly I did it. I didn't understand it. And then I was like, I, you know, so you hear about expansive clays. And I was like, I remember us dealing with that when we were on the i 25 South gap, and the guy has handled it incredibly well. But I was like, Well, okay, and now I understand what that impact is to a road, right? But then you think about foundations, you think about, you know, what does that mean in the long run? So I mean, I've gotten the opportunity to learn a little bit on that side, so I'm just, you know, continuing to learn, continue to explore different parts of the industry and kind of see where that takes us as a company. So how? Yeah,
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:well, and I love to again, needs you're building the infrastructure right. Like you are, you will be, whether you stay at mccor or not, you're a part of that company, right? And part of those systems that you're building right within there. So I guess too. So let me flip the question then, what do you hope to see in the next 10 to 15 years for just women in general, in construction, what do you what do you hope to see?
Megan Cohill:That is a good question. I think, yeah, I think, I think what I would want to see for women is the collaboration with, you know, with men, both that are in front of you and behind you. I would say, like, you know, where it's not us necessarily separating ourselves and saying, like, it's us against the world. It's us as a Yeah, I again, it's us together as a community, building something better. Like, you know, where it's like, Yes, I see your strengths. Like, I want to call those strengths out, and I want to say, yes, you can do this, you know? And then at the same time being like, hey, I have these strengths to give. Like, I have this ability, you know, this is what I can do to contribute to this project. Or, you know what, I see a gap here, and I think it's just like breaking down those silos of it's, you know, men versus women, and being like, no, let's do this together. And, you know, appreciate what is unique about each of us as individuals. So I would say, like learning more,
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:definitely, and I think too collaboration, again, it's an overused word, and some people are like, Oh, collaborate, collaborate. No, but it's true. At the end of the day, we all have to work together. Because if you think about it, Megan, everybody, men, women, they them, whatever. We all are impacted by construction, whether you like it or not, right? Like you can't get to work, get to school or wherever, without being on a road that someone built without, you know, going into, let's say you're going into the office if you want the heat on. Guess what? Construction did that too, absolutely right. Like, and once you start thinking that way, it's like, Oh, okay. Well, if you think about heating and air conditioning, men and women, we have different temperatures, right? Like we're more comfortable with hot, cold or whatever, so that we, all you know, have something to add and have perspective, because we experience construction every day, right within our lives, and I think it's important, like, yes, we have differences, but also, like, we got to do this. We got to wrap this up, guys. We got to collaborate. We like it or not, so yeah, I'll say, get on board, right? Well, well also, then, kind of within that same vein of thinking about the future, what advice would you give to young women who are looking to get into construction, right? What advice would you give to them? Megan, I have to say, I'll probably
Megan Cohill:quote Scott McDaniel on it. It was probably one of the most things that I had ever I had heard from a boss, and he said, I don't want to hear that's not my job. So Oh, and I was like, whatever job needs to be done, you do it. I mean, we do jobs that are hard. We do jobs that we don't always necessarily like. And, you know, hey, let's just like, let's get our hands dirty and let's do the thing that needs to be done. And being that kind of a team player goes a really long way.
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:No, for sure, and I think too young women to understand that it's not have to get your hands dirty, right? And work in the soil. There are many different ways that you can support the industry, but still grow within the industry too, right? Like we talked about this before, how that it's not stagnant, right? Like, you can start as the admin, become a project manager. You know, work back of house, all the things work on, proposal pursuits, but you're still making an impact, right? Like, you know, if you didn't have those procedures in process, or those procedures in place your guys in the field would be screwing up left and right, right? I mean, yeah, they need you just as much as you need them, right? It was
Megan Cohill:one of those things, like, where it was so great, where it was like, they're like, Hey, who do I call her? Do you have this person's number? And I was like, Yep, here you go. Like, this is an easy way to do it. And, like, you know, again, because it wasn't necessarily, like, always out in the field doing that type of work. It was, they were like, hey, where do I go to find this? Or, hey, what does this look like? And I'm like, yeah, here, like, this is where you go for this. Or here I can get that for you super quick. Or, quick I can do that too, or, you know, checking 266 is if they were in a crunch, or whatever that looked like. It kind of, it always, always different. Yeah,
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:well, and I guess what I'm hearing too, Megan, is that you're with that advice that Scott gave you, is it always be willing to help, right? Like, I feel like construction is, again, one of those unique industries where you can't do it alone, okay? Like, I've never heard of one person doing an entire project, right? I mean, maybe, like something on their house, but like, I'm talking commercial construction, it doesn't happen with one person, right? And we all have to be willing to pitch in when we need it, because, guess what, guys, we're on a budget and we got a schedule, right? The owner is expecting I 25 to be open at this point, right? And if you're not Johnny on the spot and willing to help each other out things,
Megan Cohill:it's not going to get done, right? Yeah, and I would definitely say so. I have a lot of friends that work in the trades, and as well, there's definitely more than one of them at my house the other day, like, working on some
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:projects for me, like, so, yeah, it was, it took, it took a village, for sure, right? And too, I think again, one of the unique things about construction, for the audience that may not know is that Megan mentioned the trades. So there's, you know, electrical trade, there's the HVAC trade, there's, gosh. I mean, I could list a million of them, right? Exactly, yeah, but welding, yes, yeah, all the things. But the point is, is that in order to build that school, or whatever, that commercial building, we all have to work together, right? Because the electrical guys, they need to get behind the wall and put in their conduits before they can hook up the HVAC system, right? So regardless of what you're doing, man, woman, whatever, you still gotta work together, right? I feel like that's the central theme here, whether we're pulling it out or not. And to me, I think again, that's the beauty of it. Is that without all of us working together, things aren't going to get done or right.
Megan Cohill:Anyways, right? Yeah, I think it always kind of where you don't, where you have individuals that are, you know, in silos, you're like, Oh, I really like, I want to bring you in. I want your your experience, your expertise, like, and if it's not there, it's just like, it's not as beautiful, it's not as good as it could be, you know? And so there's like, there's a lot to bring from having lots of varying viewpoints, and honestly, even varying viewpoints that don't always necessarily disagree, sometimes that's a healthy thing to have. So yes, no,
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:exactly. Because, again, without those kind of open conversations where people are willing to be vulnerable, willing to bring up the maybe not so popular opinion, right, or whatever that might be. I think through those discussions, you're able to land at a solution that works for everyone, right, like and again, without having those considerations, if we just all had our blinders on and we're going down the same road. Oh, well, this is the way we've always done it, and this is the, you know, we have to do it this way. Guess what? The same old shit, right? I mean, nothing will ever change. So, yeah, it's kind of one of those things. Go ahead,
Megan Cohill:yeah, I was gonna say, yeah. So talking about that collaboration. So actually, all of the PES that are, you know, professional engineers that we have here at empires, they got together, and they were like, throwing back and forth best practices, and what does this look like for us to build something that is strong? And like So Neil kind of had, like, this vision in his head, but then he he let it go, and then he was like, let's just see what this like turns out to be. And like, the guys built something really great. And I was like, it was cool to be a part of and it was cool to see them bringing forward these things and bringing their feedback. And, you know they, yeah, I would just say, like, I really appreciated like, Neil and him being able to say, You know what, let's let's be open. Let's see what everything says. And he was such a great synthesizer of, here are all the different ideas. And these things worked in these things didn't. And I think they come together with something really great,
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:no, for sure, as you were saying, Bring someone's vision to life, right, whether that's Neil's or yours or someone else's. Again, the beauty of construction is it doesn't like you see an open field that, like, what is that Field of Dreams? Right? That could be a future subdivision, that could be a future, you know, parking lot or whatever, right, whatever we might need, but it doesn't happen. Yes, you need the vision, right, but you need all of those people like you were saying, with those different viewpoints, to bring that vision to reality, right? It's a doesn't happen in a vacuum. All right, Miss, I can, well, I could talk to you forever, right? I know we just kind of having this back and forth, but I did want you to kind of wrap up and maybe leave our listeners with one message. So what do you feel like if you could leave them with a message about the importance of women in construction? What would it be? I would say,
Megan Cohill:Oh, that's a good Oh, yeah, I remember
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:I'm leaving my softball questions at the end.
Megan Cohill:I was gonna say, short and sweet, I would say, I would say, I don't know, bring your but I don't know, bring your best ideas and your best self to every team. And so I would say, yeah, like, bring, you know, don't say, like, Okay, I'm bringing this because I'm a woman, bringing it because that's who you are and what you've been uniquely crafted to bring forward and that, you know, it's you're like, I have something you know value, and it doesn't matter what the team looks like. And so I'm going to bring that forward in and to help this become a better product for something that's bigger than myself?
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:No, for sure. And I think too adding to that would be just having the confidence to show up like that, right? I think sometimes, especially when you're new or new to the industry, or like, kind of sitting in the corner, like, I don't really know what's going on, whatever. And yes, Listen, I'm not saying that you should jump right in and say, Oh, I know everything. Because, Oh, absolutely, that does not go over
Megan Cohill:well. I've already No, no.
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:Nobody likes to know what. Okay. But once you've been there, right, and you've been listening to these other people, don't be afraid to speak up, right, and to to bring your unique perspective, whatever it is, because you just never know what kind of impact that could have on someone, right and and what that could be and how you could ultimately contribute to the success of a project.
Megan Cohill:Yeah, absolutely, yeah. No, I appreciate you. Said it much better than I did, so
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:no worries. I'm like, This is what I'm hearing, and this love we're gonna wrap up and do it. I love it. That was perfect. Thank you. No. Thank you, Megan. Seriously, well, no, so I really appreciate your time today, Megan, that is a wrap on this episode of get them to give a fuck. Thanks so much for listening. Don't forget to subscribe to get them to give a fuck podcast, leave a review, share it with others. You can also connect with me on LinkedIn. I'm sure you can connect with Megan as well. If you send her a request, be sure to check out my training resources at get them to care.com and until next time, stay passionate. And most importantly, stay committed. Thank you, Megan. Take care. Thank you, Julie. All right, I'm going to stop the recording. Awesome. Thank you again. Seriously, this is great.
Megan Cohill:Oh, you I like I said, your energy was definitely what I needed at the end of the day. So thank you so much.
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:You're so welcome. Yeah, I was gonna say, hopefully
Megan Cohill:there's some good content there. And then, okay, good deal for sure. Oh,
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:I was listen i I'm already hearing it. So yeah, next steps. I edit the entire thing, and then I send it to my sound engineer at Spotify. They make it sound really good and all the things. So these will actually be episodes. We'll be going live during WIC week, which is March 2 through the sixth. I don't know exactly what day Spotify just kind of releases them during that week, but once it comes out, I'll definitely send you the link. Megan, feel free to share and share a like. I've had 12345, yeah, six interviews. So far, everyone has been able to bring something different. And so again, I really appreciate your perspective. Megan, so Yeah, awesome. Do you need any other like, names or anyone that you might want to, like talk to or what are your thoughts. Actually, I was gonna say I am for this, for WIC week, I'm, I'm at capacity, right? But I will be continuing forward, so I'm, would definitely call on you, Megan for other episodes, right? Because I would love to keep talking with people, man, woman, whatever, because I think that too many people don't really understand the construction industry, right? And so, yeah, I'm trying to kind of bring voice to all the things that happen, how we have to work together. So I'll definitely be calling you new for future episodes. Okay, yeah,
Megan Cohill:no, I was gonna say I had some, you know, there were some other folks that I was thinking. I was like, Oh man, like, Serena would be amazing to, you know, like, get in front of that. That's okay next time. Well, yes,
Julie Wanzer | Business Rewritten:no, definitely. I know. I was like, unfortunately with WIC week, because it's all it's during that week. I was like, Oh man, okay with my Spotify spots. But anyways, yeah, all right. Well, thank you again, Megan. Have a great evening. And, yeah, I'll definitely be sending you the link once it goes live. Okay, cool. Thank you. See ya. Thank you.
