831: Architecting short-term goals and long-term visions w/ Burck Schellenberg

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Hey, what is up?

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Welcome to this episode of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur Podcast.

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As always, I'm your host, brian LoFromento, and I'll tell you what.

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You listeners know that my word of the year this year is building, and today's guest fits perfectly in with that, because he is an incredibly talented architect who also loves growing his own business.

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So let me tell you about today's guest.

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His name is Burke Schellenberg.

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Burke has been working in the architecture industry since the age of 18 as a summer intern, and he's worked in multiple aspects of the field, including as a TA, a designer, a contractor.

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He's worked in 3D visualization, as a researcher, a project architect, a project manager and now he's the founder of Burke Schellenberg architecture.

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Over the past 32 years, he has worked at all scales and throughout many different project types, developing a comfort in diving into new arenas and continually looking for new things to learn.

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Burke Schellenberg architecture is currently focusing on single and multifamily housing and commercial office spaces, while carving out time for research and speculative architecture.

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It's gonna be so fun to get into his mind, not only as an architect, but as an entrepreneur.

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So I'm not gonna say anything else.

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Let's dive straight into my interview with Burke Schellenberg.

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All right, burke, I'm so excited that you're here with us today.

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Welcome to the show, hey there.

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Super excited to be here too, and I'm actually very tired listening to that intro.

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Burke, I need you to bring the energy today because I'm fired up.

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Honestly, I'll say this you're only the second ever architect that we've had here on the show, and the one thing that I know about your industry is you guys think different.

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We're gonna talk long term.

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We're gonna talk short term.

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There's a lot we'll get into, but first things first.

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I want you to take us beyond the bio.

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Who the heck is Burke Doing this stuff since 18,?

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How'd you fall into this stuff?

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So I'm one of those people that was lucky enough, guilty enough, to have figured out what they wanted to do very, very early on.

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I was six years old when I first told my parents that I wanted to be an architect.

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Yeah, that was speculative, adventurous and silly for a six year old, but it stuck, and I think that's important in how I've catered my career all along.

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It's been while touching different things, like you said contracting, research, all sorts of different places.

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It always comes back to that original thought of I just like making things, I like to build, I like to draw, I like to think about space, I like to think about people in my spaces.

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And I think that last point is key how do people use your space?

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How are you making things better for other people?

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How are you making things better for other people?

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And that's you know.

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If I had to sum up my career goal, that's it make people feel better, and you know, and do better in their spaces.

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Yeah, I love that, burke, it's fun hearing you talk about this.

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So the first architect that we ever had on the show is at the end of 2023, and it was John Gresko, and it really made me start thinking, because it sounds to me, like you architects, burke, you are more aware of all the stuff around us.

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You've even said the word space already is here today.

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It's just that you view space in a more intentional way than most people do, which really, for me, as an entrepreneur, as someone who also loves building things not physically, like you may enjoy, but for me, I love that act of building because it is such an intentional process and it's such an intentional thing.

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What is it about that intentionality behind it?

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That when you look at things, you think about the building that went behind it, whereas most people take it for granted?

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Talk to us about that part of your brain and the level of intentionality that you view the world with.

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Well, I mean, some of it just comes from experience, right, the more you see, the more you notice.

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Hopefully, you try to avoid ever becoming blasé.

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You don't wanna look at something and not find newness, excitement and I think working with a variety of clients actually is one of the keys to that is that as much as I bring something to a project and as a different set of ways of looking, a different lens whether it's space, problems, solutions, any number of things it's that you are also actively listening.

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So space is not something that is necessarily manifest, but it's something that requires all the senses, and so that listening component listening to your clients, how they interact with space then informs how you look at it with the next client, how what you bring to the table in each of those scenarios is that accumulation, that buildup of knowledge, feel, investigation, but also, with that, just that knowledge that other people have given you.

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And so I think in a lot of ways it's a that sensitivity comes out of tying all those things in your life together.

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So it inspiration comes from every different corner, but so does knowledge, and I think that's one of the big things that makes people architects look at space differently.

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It's because they're asked to, and trying to remember how it felt, how to project yourself into somebody else's position, and it's something that you develop continually.

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It's a process.

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Yeah, I think a really important word that you just brought up that I want to call out for listeners is accumulation.

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I think that for so many of us as entrepreneurs whether we're building an actual building or we're building a business or we're just building a life we are all the accumulation of all of those different things, and it's why so frequently we see on this show that amazing entrepreneurs they have these non-linear paths.

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Burke, you called it out at the top of the episode.

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You're fortunate that you've known it since you were a kid, but for so many of us, we've accumulated different businesses, different failures, different wins.

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You've accumulated so many different projects in your career that those all add up and give us really a repertoire of all the things we're good at and can call from.

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So I love those insights from you.

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It also makes me ask, though, because when you talk about these things, I can't help but think about the planner.

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Part of your mind Is that if you and I are going to build a building gosh, I don't even know all the steps that go into it.

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How far out are you?

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Do you view yourself as a short-term thinker?

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A long-term thinker?

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Because obviously it's got to be all of it, but give us some insights.

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Yeah, no, it definitely has to be all of it.

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I mean, with architecture projects, typically you're looking at a minimum of a year for design and 18 months or more for construction.

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So you know they're inherent in the product.

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Is a timeline you know there is, you know you don't have three months to develop things, you've got years.

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And so it takes a little bit of stamina, a little bit of forethought, but in a lot of ways it's going back to a process.

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And I think this is one of the hardest things to explain to clients.

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And I've noticed this in particular situations where you bring somebody into a house.

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They've seen it in plan, they've seen it drawn on paper, but it's not real, it's not concrete yeah, excusing the construction term but it's not manifest in any way.

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And so when somebody comes onto site, you can help describe that process and you say, look, you're in your space, it feels this way now, but wait until we put walls up, wait until we put paint on those walls, wait until we put furniture.

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And having gone through that process, and beginning to explain that process to somebody you know will help them see it, I get shocked, you know, when I go into a space that I've drawn at times where, oh my God, I didn't expect it to look like this.

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But if I wait six months, it'll look even different during construction and I think you know it is a long term vision with a series of short term goals.

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And being able to explain that process, know the process and get buy in from a client, I think is absolutely vital into the way that an architect can make a big difference in a project.

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Yeah, long term goals, short term or long term strategy, long, short term goals.

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I absolutely love that.

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I do think it's that blend and I think it's it's something that we all need to incorporate in our businesses.

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But, burke, it makes me ask the obvious question that I actually don't think we talk about often enough.

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We love talking about business planning and business strategy, but, gosh, we got to talk more about things don't always go to plan.

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I'm sure in your field that is so true.

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Walk us there.

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Yeah, and I mean I think this goes.

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I'm going to talk about architecture, right, the things that happen in architecture, but I think it happens in any business as well, is it?

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You are confronted with issues at some point.

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There's no way that you can plan out a building perfectly.

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There is no such thing as a perfect drawing set.

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Nobody can figure it all out.

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And you know and I say this also, I should just take a step back and saying that an architect is not working in a vacuum.

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There's a client relation, there's consultants, other engineers, other factors, economics, all sorts of things come into play and those change over time especially.

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You know, I was working on a tower and we had it all designed, set for construction, and COVID happened, and so, all of a sudden, how do we deal with this?

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How does that change the building process?

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You know, and we managed to get the building built through.

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You know it literally was starting construction in March of 2020.

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But we got it done and we found a way.

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Wasn't easy, but that's true when you come to other things like, oh my God, we discovered that in the ground there was a building that was built 120 years ago and it happens to have eight feet.

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You know thick walls.

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You know how do you deal with that, how do you adjust to that, and I think architects are uniquely positioned to be to come up with solutions to bring a team together.

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These are things that don't happen in a vacuum.

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You're not going to be the genius that solves everything, but you can be the genius that gets all the right people in the room and you know finding solutions together.

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Sometimes you happen to be the hero, other times you're just the guy writing down the hero story, and that's okay.

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I think it's important as long as there is a hero somewhere in the process.

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I think that's such an important thing that you called out there about it not happening in a vacuum, because probably very few things in life happen in a vacuum, for sure in business.

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And so, with that in mind, well, I guess it's a two-part question for you, burke, which is one what is that role that you see that architects play?

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Because what I'm hearing is I'm just like gosh, you guys are more of the quarterback than people probably realize, is you're actually distributing the ball in a lot of different ways.

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When we see construction projects, that's after a lot of things have happened behind the scenes.

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So that's the first part of the question.

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And then, secondly, assuming that you are somewhat the role of the quarterback, talk to us about how your skills and talents and experiences have grown and gotten better over time when it comes to assembling those right pieces.

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Because, burke, the older I get, the more I realize that is such a hard role that we all have to learn.

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Sure, no, absolutely.

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And I think quarterback is the correct analogy.

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I mean, one of the funny things about a quarterback is they touch the ball at every play, almost right, and the architect is kind of the center of the building process.

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Now, by no means are the I wouldn't say that they're most important there's coaches, there's all sorts of you know other players and God knows.

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In football, if you don't have a good offensive line, you aren't doing anything.

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Everybody's getting sacked.

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What makes that central position a little bit different, I think, is identification of issues.

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It's not so much oh my god, there's an issue.

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It's no panic that you sit there, you think about it, find out what is really at stake, because often the concern, the issue at hand, is not really necessarily the core issue.

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It might be something like a cold, it's a symptom of something else, and so I think a good architect is able to sit there and say, all right, that's what's really at stake.

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You're concerned about this thing, but it's this other thing that's really the important thing.

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And if we don't look at that simultaneously and obviously I need to answer your question as the client and answer your concern but it's what is really happening here, and I think a good architect can discern that partially out of a little bit of crisis management keeping your head and somebody who's running with their hair on fire is never going to figure out what the problem is.

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But it's also being able to draw from those other people that are around you to look at a situation slightly a scans.

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And that's what that left brain, right brain, discussion, whatnot the artist, yada, yada, yada.

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It's the ability to look at it at a slightly different angle, think about something slightly different than anybody else in the room and then explain it right and bring everybody else onto that.

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You know on board with that, with your view of how things are.

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Yeah, it almost it feels like a dichotomy, though, and I'm sure it's hard to balance this, because I'll use parenting as the analogy.

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So I'm not a parent, I'm an uncle, so I get to see my brother deal with raising two six year old kids.

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But, with that said, it really is this weird situation where you talk about identification of issues, but you're kind of that, that central cog that is quarterbacking all these simultaneous things going on.

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I'm sure that at some point you want control.

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We all want control, and as business owners, we're constantly assessing do I outsource this, do I delegate it, do I handle it personally, versus I have to let people do what they're going to do, and issues will arise and I have to have some sort of degree of that letting go.

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How do you balance that?

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How much of a role does this play in your work?

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I think, for me at least, part of that comes out of knowing somebody else's responsibility as well as they do, and I think, of acting right the when you're on stage and you're trying to learn your lines, what not, it's just as important to learn everybody else's lines.

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If you learn your lines in a vacuum, you're you're not going to be a good actor.

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Architecturally, it's to know what the other people are capable of responsible for and what they do better than you.

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I think you know a certain level of humbleness goes a long way in knowing.

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Look, I understand this, I can speak your language.

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When I'm talking to a structural engineer or a mechanical engineer, I talk differently because the information is different.

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But I also know that as much time as I've studied in architecture, they've done equal or more time in their specific field, and so it's really important to be able to listen to those people, to.

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You know, give seed that control.

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But it's also, you're not seeding control, you're just putting people in the best position to help the project, and that sometimes means putting yourself in a different position, and you know it's.

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It's tough to make that break at times to.

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You know to to give up control, but at the end of the day, you are, you know, going back to.

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That accumulation idea is that you are figuring out all the things that you did wrong in the past, but also all the things that you did right, and so you know it is a, it's a balancing act to figure out between those two, but I think that's that's part of experience and that's, I mean, one of the reasons why I think starting a firm later in life is great, because you have you've screwed up so many times that you can, you can see those happening before they happen.

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You can and you can find ways to circumvent and reposition issues even before they become truly problematic.

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Yeah, I really love and appreciate your open willingness to acknowledge all of the things.

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You actually said it right there.

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We're still trying to figure out all the things and gosh, have we all had failures along the way.

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So I love your readiness and willingness to openly share that with us.

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But the other thing that really sticks out to me, burke, that I didn't expect to hear from an architect per se, because I always picture you guys just kind of sitting behind the closed door in a in a dark room just drawing and with a pencil and an eraser and doing all that work.

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But what I keep hearing from you is that word listening.

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Talk to us about listening, because that in and of itself is a skill.

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How has that skill developed for you?

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I'm sure you're way better at it now than you were when you were 18.

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Oh, 100%.

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And yeah, first and foremost is it isn't just listening, it's active listening, right, and that's a term that's bannered around in all sorts of different ways.

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But for me, what active listening means is one you engage people, right?

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You, when you're listening, you're hearing information.

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It's about getting that information back to the people that are telling it to you.

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And so you say I'm hearing this, I understand what you're saying, you know you're telling me that there's a problem with this, you know ductwork, but I'm hearing, actually, the ductwork is being pushed down because of something else, right, and then it's a discussion.

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So you're listening to them, but you're also bringing in stuff that you're listening from other people.

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So it's not just receiving information, it's about a dialogue, and I think that's the key to really, really good listening.

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Now, sometimes that means shut up.

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Just, you know this person needs to say what they need to say and you got to let them go.

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Other times it is prodding them, asking them what they want, and you know, with clients a lot, that's the first step in a project is what do you want, please tell me?

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And I had one client the house down in Maryland, and she's like I just want color, otherwise I don't know what I want.

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And so we spent a lot of time working through that listening, and that wasn't something where I could just receive information.

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I had to pull information out of her and get her to understand certain decisions that were being made and why we were making those and why they serviced her needs and what her needs really were.

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And so, you know, things that came out of that were special locations for her art.

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Her art, the artwork that she had collected, wasn't really important.

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She also wanted a space where she could close it off and nobody could see the garbage that she collected and the mess that she was making.

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And these are all things that came out of a process of listening.

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It wasn't I heard this, I did this, it was the two of us working through it together, and I think that's that's a real key point is, you know, real listening is interaction, it's cooperation and, you know, coming together.

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Yeah, which speaks to this is something that stood out for me.

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Listeners know that we always ask our guests what their zone of genius is, and it stood out to me how much your answer there.

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You talked about relationships and really being of service.

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It's a word that you just used when it comes to your clients, but I think that it also ties in with that short-term versus long-term thinking and it's such a clear example of how you do think as an architect.

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With that building of I'm going to lay the foundation today.

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It doesn't mean the whole structure is going up today, but we're going to work towards that.

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Talk to us about that attitude towards those long-term relationships and how that's shaped, I would imagine, not just your business today of your own self-employed business, but throughout your entire career.

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Oh for sure, and I mean you know it's one of those funny things like entrepreneurship often is seen, as you know, the guy who's got the better mousetrap right, it's got this thing that's going to revolutionize the world and change everything.

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In my mind, entrepreneurs are people who are out there doing for themselves and they're trying to sell a product that is unique.

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And for me, architecture is a service industry and therefore what is unique is you, it's that relationship, and you are selling that which nobody else can give, whether it's your history, your attitude, you know certain connections you have, but most importantly is your, the way that you relate to others.

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And so some you know I might be a great architect.

00:21:58.300 --> 00:22:07.698
That would be completely wrong for one client because the way that I interact, the way that I talk about things, the way I think about things, just doesn't work for that person.

00:22:07.698 --> 00:22:09.414
Something it doesn't work.

00:22:09.414 --> 00:22:11.055
It's just not a perfect match.

00:22:12.630 --> 00:22:20.680
And you know some clients are that forever client, right, you just hit it off and you do the job.

00:22:20.680 --> 00:22:24.819
You do another job for them in five years, another job for them in 10 years.

00:22:24.819 --> 00:22:26.675
I mean, we love those clients.

00:22:26.675 --> 00:22:36.942
They're very hard to find but you know, relationship maintenance and catering to that person will bring that person back.

00:22:36.942 --> 00:22:38.111
There's other clients.

00:22:38.111 --> 00:22:43.074
You know you do three months of work and you never hear from them again in the rest of your life.

00:22:43.074 --> 00:22:45.392
And that's okay, it's a.

00:22:45.392 --> 00:22:55.641
You know it's important to be able to nurture and cater those people that you work great with and that you really truly build up a relationship with.

00:22:55.641 --> 00:22:59.174
And then other people it's fine to be like.

00:22:59.174 --> 00:23:01.038
You know what just didn't work out.

00:23:01.038 --> 00:23:01.579
I'm sorry.

00:23:01.579 --> 00:23:03.795
Good luck, I hope it works out for you.

00:23:03.795 --> 00:23:07.175
And you know it's.

00:23:07.175 --> 00:23:08.779
I've often used the term.

00:23:08.779 --> 00:23:09.421
It's like dating.

00:23:09.421 --> 00:23:15.703
You know, sometimes you get married, sometimes it's six months, sometimes it's a one night stand and you're happy to be done with it.

00:23:17.231 --> 00:23:17.472
Burke.

00:23:17.472 --> 00:23:18.615
I love that analogy.

00:23:18.615 --> 00:23:20.981
This is the real stuff.

00:23:20.981 --> 00:23:26.378
I'm going to call it out for all of you listeners what Burke is telling about here, and it obviously has a dash of humor in it.

00:23:26.700 --> 00:23:39.142
This is the truth and, burke, I want to pile onto what you just shared with listeners that all of those scenarios are a okay, and all of those scenarios are things that we're all going to experience as we grow our businesses.

00:23:39.142 --> 00:23:40.730
They're things we're all going to experience in life.

00:23:40.730 --> 00:23:46.818
So I think it's it's something that people don't always call out, but I think it's really important and powerful that you are calling that stuff out.

00:23:46.818 --> 00:23:48.656
So I love that you're sharing this with our listeners.

00:23:48.656 --> 00:23:59.834
It also makes me want to switch gears and not just talk to Burke the architect, but Burke the entrepreneur, cause I think it's so interesting when someone has been a practitioner for so long, what was it that made you?

00:23:59.834 --> 00:24:00.836
Was it a moment in time?

00:24:00.836 --> 00:24:01.638
Was it a project?

00:24:01.638 --> 00:24:02.732
What made you say you know what?

00:24:02.732 --> 00:24:08.377
I don't just want to be an architect, I want to wear all the millions of hats that entrepreneurs also have to wear.

00:24:09.339 --> 00:24:15.321
Yeah, no, it's a hard thing because we're taught as architects in the solo genius right.

00:24:15.321 --> 00:24:18.636
The Frank Lloyd writes the Lucubusia is the.

00:24:18.636 --> 00:24:26.901
These heroes, these mammoth individuals that you know, you're taught to look up to and emulate in some manner.

00:24:26.901 --> 00:24:34.002
And you know the reality is most people don't want to start their own thing.

00:24:34.002 --> 00:24:40.022
They don't want to create a business because they were never taught to be business people.

00:24:40.022 --> 00:24:45.362
They were never encouraged and given the tools of how to be a business person.

00:24:46.170 --> 00:24:50.141
I happened to be one of those people that totally bought into the singular genius.

00:24:50.141 --> 00:24:51.954
I'm going to change the world.

00:24:51.954 --> 00:24:54.413
When I was in college, I started working.

00:24:54.413 --> 00:25:01.111
Like you know, a nice, steady paycheck isn't a horrible thing, but it always not on me.

00:25:01.111 --> 00:25:30.037
And so that desire for control, but the desire for a voice and always to be the one at the you know that's there to set the table, you know, eat at the table and clean up the table afterwards, to be able to touch each of those pieces, is always something that's been really important to me, emotionally and so but I don't think that's true for everybody, and so you know it's one of those things when you go to.

00:25:30.217 --> 00:25:31.500
I'm going to start my own firm.

00:25:31.500 --> 00:25:34.816
In a lot of ways it's.

00:25:34.816 --> 00:25:37.201
The first question is why?

00:25:37.201 --> 00:25:43.321
What are you going to bring differently that somebody else can't but also should be?

00:25:43.321 --> 00:25:45.635
Am I going to really enjoy this?

00:25:45.635 --> 00:26:07.317
And I found that for me, one of the things that I enjoy most is getting in early, being able to be the person that, even before you've landed a project, that's there talking with the client, helping them to understand what architecture is, and then we can get into the architecture.

00:26:07.317 --> 00:26:12.960
But then, you know, that part is a little bit self-explanatory, the architecture part.

00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:17.778
But then what comes afterwards too, is that that client maintenance.

00:26:17.778 --> 00:26:20.898
How do I publish my work?

00:26:20.898 --> 00:26:21.752
Who do I talk to?

00:26:21.752 --> 00:26:27.737
Getting on a podcast is, you know, a great opportunity, but I've also been publishing a couple places.

00:26:27.737 --> 00:26:30.298
How do I continue that discussion?

00:26:30.298 --> 00:26:45.019
And that all ties into the business aspects of it, because you just, you know, in a lot of ways you want your current clients to just keep doing what they're doing, but you do need to grow right.

00:26:45.019 --> 00:26:47.959
And that's where the entrepreneur part came in.

00:26:48.609 --> 00:27:03.479
I found myself in a situation where I no longer was happy at a firm for a lot of reasons, and then I found, you know, it kind of just took a leap and you know I've been thinking about this for years, trying to plan it, work it.

00:27:03.479 --> 00:27:06.178
You know I need such and such resources.

00:27:06.178 --> 00:27:13.278
I need all this money behind me before I can ever do it and at the end of the day it was like I have enough money to make it.

00:27:13.278 --> 00:27:15.814
Three months my wife's got a job.

00:27:15.814 --> 00:27:17.493
I've got health insurance from her.

00:27:17.493 --> 00:27:20.875
You know what it's why not now?

00:27:20.875 --> 00:27:22.835
And I didn't have any clients.

00:27:22.835 --> 00:27:29.715
I didn't have any prospects on the near future and a lot of people I'd worked for over the years.

00:27:29.715 --> 00:27:35.814
But then I just started doing work for myself and that's now turned into.

00:27:35.834 --> 00:27:36.496
This.

00:27:36.496 --> 00:27:37.980
Past year has been awesome.

00:27:37.980 --> 00:27:42.630
I got very, very lucky, but I also worked my tail off.

00:27:42.630 --> 00:27:55.884
I mean, I'm doing 60 hour weeks or something like that, but because it's fun and it makes me feel good and that is includes marketing outreach.

00:27:55.884 --> 00:28:26.980
You know, even doing the books and I you know it's a lot easier doing the books for somebody else because there's no emotion in that right and all those things are in service of a voice and you know I do feel like I can do it slightly differently than anybody else and that's not necessarily the sales pitch for anybody else, but that's a sales pitch to myself is that you can do this and you can make it so that you're happy doing what you're doing.

00:28:26.980 --> 00:28:37.000
And I think making that sales pitch to yourself is that's just the greatest way to start a company, because if you buy into yourself, it's a lot easier to sell it to somebody else.

00:28:38.009 --> 00:28:39.574
Yes, amen to all of that.

00:28:39.574 --> 00:28:46.436
Burke, that was a real time soliloquy to entrepreneurship, because some people would listen to that answer that you just said.

00:28:46.436 --> 00:28:48.442
And you lose the steady paycheck.

00:28:48.442 --> 00:28:50.438
You work a heck of a lot more hours.

00:28:50.438 --> 00:29:01.038
You have to do all these other responsibilities like client maintenance, the books coming on, shows being published, all that extra work, but, gosh, you make it sound, and I so agree, that the juice is worth the squeeze.

00:29:01.038 --> 00:29:02.142
So I absolutely love that.

00:29:02.142 --> 00:29:14.465
And I'm going to say this for listeners, because we see a lot of guest questionnaires and I love you're the only one that there's a section of the guest questionnaire, listeners, where we ask the guest is there anything that you want Brian me to know before our interview?

00:29:14.465 --> 00:29:14.605
And?

00:29:14.605 --> 00:29:18.721
And Burke wrote on his hero this stuff is fun y'all, and so Burke.

00:29:18.780 --> 00:29:20.385
I knew before you came on today.

00:29:20.847 --> 00:29:21.529
You're a crazy one.

00:29:21.529 --> 00:29:24.121
You're just like one of us, so I love hearing those insights.

00:29:24.121 --> 00:29:30.593
It's so much fun for me to get to talk to someone like you, who's not only an amazing practitioner but entrepreneurship's in your DNA.

00:29:30.593 --> 00:29:31.477
So much of your story.

00:29:31.477 --> 00:29:33.463
What I hear is you couldn't resist that.

00:29:33.463 --> 00:29:36.214
For years, you were thinking about it and you caved.

00:29:36.214 --> 00:29:40.191
So yeah, I guess I'll ask you this question to see which direction you'll take it in.

00:29:40.191 --> 00:29:41.272
Is, is it worth it?

00:29:41.272 --> 00:29:44.761
Is it everything that you expected it to be, having thought of it for so long?

00:29:48.170 --> 00:30:00.103
so it's scary, it's really scary, but it's like a roller coaster in that regard, right, the scare is half the fun like I can't believe this is going to happen.

00:30:00.103 --> 00:30:04.053
And then all of a sudden you're like I can't believe this is actually working.

00:30:04.053 --> 00:30:12.070
People are buying my shit, holy crow, you know, and I, you know it's.

00:30:12.070 --> 00:30:13.553
It's one of those funny things.

00:30:13.553 --> 00:30:14.734
Where is it worth it?

00:30:14.734 --> 00:30:17.299
Yeah, absolutely for me now.

00:30:17.299 --> 00:30:22.914
Um, I, you know, I hope my story kind of inspires some people.

00:30:22.934 --> 00:30:29.978
But also, if you know, I think it's important to remember and take that step back, like are you having fun?

00:30:29.978 --> 00:30:34.551
You know, is this something that is a benefit to your life?

00:30:34.551 --> 00:30:38.904
You know, not everybody's cut out to be an entrepreneur and that's just great.

00:30:38.904 --> 00:30:57.095
But if, at the end of the day, you can look at it and go like you know what I'm doing, that thing that I wanted to do when I was a six-year-old yeah, there's all sorts of other stuff that I have to deal with, but I'm still making that six-year-old happy then it's worth it yes, oh gosh, you're giving me chills here on the air as you're saying these things.

00:30:57.179 --> 00:31:00.066
I totally agree with you, burke, and this is the real stuff.

00:31:00.066 --> 00:31:06.997
This is why I'm so grateful for having the opportunity, as we do, to bring this show to people in over 150 countries around the world, which is crazy.

00:31:06.997 --> 00:31:21.335
To me, it is a bit of a dream come true, because these are the real conversations that I wish I got to listen in on when I was 19, when I started my first business, and I'm so fortunate and grateful for so many amazing entrepreneurs like you to talk about this real stuff.

00:31:21.335 --> 00:31:24.141
Because this is the real stuff it is hard, it is scary.

00:31:24.201 --> 00:31:27.500
So, burke, I knew two things before we hit record today.

00:31:27.500 --> 00:31:31.057
I knew that we'd have fun on air together, and I also knew we'd be running short on time.

00:31:31.057 --> 00:31:35.887
So I always love asking this last question, because I have no idea what direction you're going to take it in.

00:31:35.887 --> 00:31:41.544
And that is what's that one takeaway, knowing that you have a direct line of communication to our listeners around the world?

00:31:41.544 --> 00:31:47.652
What's an action, what's a mindset shift or perspective that you hope everyone walks away from today's episode with thinking.

00:31:47.652 --> 00:31:56.700
Gosh, burke pushed me and I'm gonna do this, or I'm gonna think about this a bit differently sure, and I think the biggest thing was getting over fear right.

00:31:57.059 --> 00:32:00.372
So for years I'd seen what it took to run a company.

00:32:00.372 --> 00:32:11.157
I paid attention, I'd listened, I was nosy, I got in there as much as I could, but at the end of the day I took a jump and it was.

00:32:11.157 --> 00:32:18.803
It was scary, crazy, what the you know, how do I convince my wife that this is a great idea?

00:32:18.803 --> 00:32:21.431
How do I convince my daughter that she's gonna go to college?

00:32:21.431 --> 00:32:30.701
Um, but I took that chance on me and I think that's the big takeaway is taking a chance on yourself.

00:32:31.315 --> 00:32:51.800
Yes, absolutely Really powerful advice, and I think when we layer on all that accumulation of the wisdom and experiences in perspectives that you gave us today as an entrepreneur, but also as an architect, with that building, that foundational background behind you, that strategic planning, I think when we combine all of these things, it leads to a really fruitful thing.

00:32:51.800 --> 00:32:59.704
That gosh you and I I mean people are going to think we're crazy because we're so excited about all the things that we get to do and it's because we are living these things that we've always wanted.

00:32:59.704 --> 00:33:01.058
So it is a dream come true.

00:33:01.058 --> 00:33:02.604
So I so appreciate those insights.

00:33:02.604 --> 00:33:05.123
Burke, I know that people are going to want to check out your work.

00:33:05.123 --> 00:33:11.619
You're not like any other architect out there, so drop those links on us for people who want to learn more about you and all the great stuff that you do.

00:33:11.619 --> 00:33:12.996
Sure.

00:33:13.076 --> 00:33:17.840
We can find myself on Instagram, not post so much, but definitely looking connected there.

00:33:17.840 --> 00:33:36.617
Most importantly, if you want to drop me a line, info at shellenbergarchcom that's S, c, h, E, l, l, e, n, b, e, rg, a, r, c H dot com, and you can also check out my webpage at Burke Schellenberg Architects.

00:33:38.261 --> 00:33:42.003
So yes, listen to it and please contact me.

00:33:42.515 --> 00:33:44.362
I'd love to hear everybody else's stories.

00:33:44.943 --> 00:33:48.324
Yes, you see the way that Burke shows up here today.

00:33:48.324 --> 00:33:49.934
Don't be shy about reaching out to him.

00:33:49.934 --> 00:33:57.605
This is someone who not only loves architecture, but loves building things not just buildings, but businesses a life that he's passionate about.

00:33:57.605 --> 00:34:00.775
He has so much energy to give and he's so generous to share all of it with us.

00:34:00.775 --> 00:34:04.578
So find those links down below, or ever it is that you're tuning into today's website.

00:34:04.578 --> 00:34:06.075
We're going to link to Burke's website.

00:34:06.075 --> 00:34:08.664
We're going to link to his personal LinkedIn, as well as his Instagram.

00:34:08.664 --> 00:34:14.298
So don't be shy, and Burke, on behalf of myself and all the listeners worldwide, thanks for coming on the show today.

00:34:14.860 --> 00:34:15.844
I appreciate it.

00:34:15.844 --> 00:34:16.626
Thank you so much.

00:34:17.759 --> 00:34:23.340
Hey, it's Brian here, and thanks for tuning in to yet another episode of the Wontropner to entrepreneur podcast.

00:34:23.340 --> 00:34:27.302
If you haven't checked us out online, there's so much good stuff there.

00:34:27.302 --> 00:34:33.764
Check out the show's website and all the show notes that we talked about in today's episode at thewontrapnershowcom.

00:34:33.764 --> 00:34:36.543
And I just want to give a shout out to our amazing guests.

00:34:36.543 --> 00:34:45.304
There's a reason why we are ad free and have produced so many incredible episodes five days a week for you, and it's because our guests step up to the plate.

00:34:45.375 --> 00:34:47.380
These are not sponsored episodes.

00:34:47.380 --> 00:34:48.965
These are not infomercials.

00:34:48.965 --> 00:34:52.445
Our guests help us cover the costs of our productions.

00:34:52.445 --> 00:35:03.324
They so deeply believe in the power of getting their message out in front of you, awesome Wontropreneurs and entrepreneurs, that they contribute to help us make these productions possible.

00:35:03.324 --> 00:35:11.903
So thank you to not only today's guests, but all of our guests in general, and I just want to invite you check out our website because you can send us a voicemail there.

00:35:11.903 --> 00:35:13.259
We also have live chat.

00:35:13.259 --> 00:35:17.862
If you want to interact directly with me, go to thewontrapnershowcom.

00:35:17.862 --> 00:35:19.266
Initiate a live chat.

00:35:19.266 --> 00:35:28.702
It's for real me, and I'm excited because I'll see you, as always every Monday, wednesday, friday, saturday and Sunday here on the Wandrupner to Entrepreneur podcast.