The Success Architect
Success doesn’t happen by accident — it’s designed, built, and reinforced brick-by-brick. On The Success Architect, builder and business strategist, Jake Lewendal brings a craftsman’s mindset to personal growth, wealth, and high-performance leadership.
With raw honesty and practical frameworks, Jake breaks down the systems, habits, and decision-making principles that separate the overwhelmed from the unstoppable. From building multi-million-dollar companies to coaching ambitious people, Jake’s philosophy is simple: success is a structure, and every person can learn to build it.
Each episode blends actionable strategy with real-world conversations featuring high-impact, career-driven entrepreneurs and operators who are building lives of purpose, discipline, and momentum.
This is for the ones who build. The ones who take responsibility. The ones who know they’re meant for more — and are ready to architect a life of depth, strength, and true success.
The Success Architect
Before The Build: Allison Bryan of Physical Space
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Today's guest is Allison Bryan, AIA — founder and principal of Physical Space (formerly Open Studio Collective), an award-winning architecture and design practice that has quietly reshaped how the West thinks about place. Allison's projects have landed in The New York Times, Dwell, Forbes, Dezeen, and Archinect, and her portfolio spans everything from residential commissions to work for Nike, Kit, The Nature Conservancy, and Knot Springs.
With more than 24 years leading international, award-winning work across architecture, interior architecture, and graphic design, Allison has built a career on a simple but disruptive belief: conventional design thinking stifles creativity. Physical Space exists to challenge that convention — to reimagine, question, and problem-solve in service of spaces that elevate human connection, not just square footage.
Her path there wasn't conventional either. Allison started with an undergraduate degree in graphic design from Indiana University before earning her Master of Architecture from the University of Oregon — a combination that shows up in the way she approaches every project, blending visual storytelling with structural rigor. Today she's a licensed architect in Oregon, Montana, and Wyoming, a licensed contractor in Montana, a LEED-accredited professional, and — closer to home — an owner and developer on projects right here in Bozeman.
In this conversation, Jake and Allison dig into what it actually means to lead a design practice that refuses to default to "the way it's always been done," how she's navigated the rebrand from Open Studio Collective to Physical Space, the throughline between commercial giants like Nike and the residential work that shapes everyday life, and what placemaking really requires when you're building for the West's most demanding — and fastest-changing — landscapes.
It's a conversation about creativity as discipline, risk as a design principle, and what it takes to build spaces — and a career — that actually mean something.
Welcome to the Success Architect, where we don't just build homes, we build legacies. I'm your host, Jake Lewendahl, custom home builder and coach. Each week, I sit down with builders and entrepreneurs who are ready to 10x their business, their health, and their mindset. This is where blueprints become breakthroughs. Let's get to work. What's up, guys? Jake Lewendahl, back on The Success Architect. Today I'm here with a lovely guest, Allison Bryan. Very happy to have her here. She's a founder and principal of Physical Space, which is an architecture firm in town, which we'll get to hear about because I call it an architecture firm, but I think there's probably more to it. So I'm excited to do that. It is an award-winning architecture firm, and her work has been featured. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but New York Times, Dwell, Forbes, how do you pronounce this one? Dizine. There we go. Perfect. And are we allowed to say who you've worked with here? Yes. Okay. She has done work with Nike, the Nature Conservancy and Not Springs, as well as many, many, many other clients. So super excited to have her here today. And we're going to talk about a lot of stuff. I uh wish we were recording a minute ago because I told her what we're going to talk about and some great conversations came out of it. But Allison takes a completely different approach to architecture. The way she sees space, the way she understands how people interact with space is something that we're going to talk about. We're going to talk about company culture, holistic lifestyle, because Allison also, you have two locations, correct?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So how does she balance two different locations nationally, all the traveling she does, the investing she does, all the things that she does as well as being a parent. So we're going to talk about it all today. First things first, I know it's a really unfair question or a statement for me to make, but I always say, like, hey, give me, give me like the two-minute who are you? Take as long as you want, but tell us who you are, and then we can jump in.
SPEAKER_01That is a tough topic. I know. Um, firstly, I'm a mother, lovely 13-year-old girl. And I'm an architect. I was trained in graphic design, got my master's in architecture. So I've always had a multidisciplinary approach in my work. Started my career in high-end residential and retail, went to Nike for several years, did global retail where I was churning and burning 50 some odd stores a year.
SPEAKER_00So you're designing all those stores for them in like an in-house architect, basically.
SPEAKER_01Basically, yeah. Awesome. So telling the brand story, it was all over the world, Asia, Europe, a lot of US. Then I had my daughter in 2013 when I was working at Nike and I had a bunch of people reaching out, asking me to do freelance on top of my full-time job. And I was thinking, these people are crazy. How could I possibly Yeah, there's not enough hours in the day. Yeah. And then I thought, wait, if I do this two days a week, I can spend more time with my daughter. So I basically crafted a lifestyle that allowed me to make the money that I needed to to spend more time with my daughter when she was young. Wow. And then at first she was in daycare two days a week, and then it turned into three, and then it was four. And so Open Studio Collective, which is now called physical space, was born in 2014, essentially, after my daughter was born, completely organically. So it was called Open Studio Collective because I wanted to base it on the premise of being open to all things, relationships, mediums of design, everything, culture. After working at Nike, it's a very unique place to work. And that's a whole other podcast. But I felt I had always felt a little pigeonholed in my work and what I could do. And I really wanted to have an expansive opportunity. So that's why I was called Open Studio Collective. Very cool. As we grew in the last 11 years, it felt a little confusing for people about what we did. And so ultimately we do physical space. And I love it. That's a little bit more about how I got to the business.
SPEAKER_00But that's awesome. I love that. Okay, going back to Nike, like you said, Nike itself is a whole nother podcast. But you talked about how what caught my ear in that was you talked about telling the brand story with the spaces you were creating.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_00Tell us how you do that. And like, like what are you doing when you tell that story? And how does that make people feel? How do you tell a story with the space?
SPEAKER_01Yes. So that's probably my most favorite thing about my job is through the years and all the different typologies of work that we do. I've I've come back around and right now we're doing a lot of retail and restaurant. And I love it because it's it's the client and the brand. Yes. And I can design a restaurant on the East Coast and one on the West Coast that might have the same type of food, but it the client and that story of the brand can make it a completely different volume of space. So basically, through materiality, graphics, volume, everything from the moment you walk in, we try to kind of share what this brand is all about and what they care about. And then ultimately what the product is. You know, if it's beer or food, you know, wine, whatever, like you want to feel that this is the place to get that product when you walk in the door.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah. Okay, very cool. And so you said you know that, like, you know, you're getting this product when you walk inside the door because you're telling the brand story. Yeah. Now you also are the queen of understanding how you want people to feel within the space. Yes. How do you do that?
SPEAKER_01First, we it's funny, I was thinking about it this morning when I was thinking about this podcast, residential versus commercial. I do love residential as well. And I think about both spaces or projects as storytelling. Okay. So when I'm meeting with a residential client, I'm thinking, how do you want to live your life? We all live in an aspirational state. Yeah. Most of us, I think. Yeah. It's like, I want to do this, I want to get to this thing in my life. I want more spirituality, et cetera. I want to cook more. So I basically want to get to know them very well. And we end up becoming friends with most of our clients because I'm very personal and with them. I want to know how do you want to live? What do you like to cook? What do you guys like to do with your time? That basically dictates what the house will be, right?
SPEAKER_00Got it. Yep.
SPEAKER_01Or the space will be. And then we do the same thing with the brand. How do you want your clientele to feel? How do you want your product represented? All of the things we we work that out, get the intel, and then we start to unfold it through plan and materiality.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Very cool. That's amazing. I love that. So along the same lines, you've gone through some iterations in business, the rebrand, all of that stuff. What kind of impact are you trying to make with your brand, with physical space, with the company, with the people you employ? Like multifaceted question. What is the impact that you are going for?
SPEAKER_01That's a great question. I feel like I'm on a five year cycle with my career. I've always had have been. And right now we're, you know, we're 11 years in, but in the second, basically second five years of of this business. And I feel like I'm always looking at that moment of are we doing what we really want to be doing? What is the impact we're trying to make in the world? I'm not interested, you know, when I meet new clients, I always say, we want your we want every project to be published. And I don't care if it's published for the sake of being out there in the magazines. Sure. I want it to be that good.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_01Good enough that everything could be in a magazine. Yeah. Because I want people to feel that good in the space. And so I think the main mission for me personally right now, and I think it trickles down to the team, is human connection. And obviously, everywhere you go, all you see is everyone craning their necks down, looking at their phones. And it's really sad. People aren't connecting. That's my favorite thing on the planet is to connect connect with people and have relationships with people. So how do you do that? And then how do you improve the relationship that one has with themselves within their daily life? And that's their space.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01So I grew up in a way where I moved around a lot and I I was kind of always bouncing among communities. And I think that I always felt like I really wanted grounded community where I could stay put. And I I think ultimately that's my mission with my clients is how can I create that feeling of groundedness and fulfillment and reaching your potential within these spaces? Because I do think that it's just something I see around me all the time as people are kind of seeking how and how can you help that mission.
SPEAKER_00How do you scale while having that tight of input on each project?
SPEAKER_01It's hard. We've gone through iterations. So we recently went through a huge growth trajectory. Now we're we've flattened out a little bit. Um I also think that's probably a part of the account where the economy is right now. I'm trying to see it as you know, this is a good moment to look back at all of the work that we've done, get our system super organized, and really think through what do we want, what kind of projects do we want to take in. Who do we want to be working with? Awesome team. The team is everything. Yep. I just had a conversation with somebody yesterday about how I'm not as much in the work right now as I'd like to be. Yep. Because I've taken over that I'm running the business. And so we're actually looking at right now is how Alison is not running the business anymore.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_01Because what brings me joy is being in the work and being more connected to the clients. And when you start to run the business and you're more kind of running the financials and the operations and the team and kind of HR kind of stuff, you don't get to do that other side that my brain is actually meant for.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So I think that's the plan right now is kind of step back and get me into the work more so that it can actually be more joyful for me personally. I think for the team as well. Very cool. But in order in the growth that we've had thus far, like my team is just awesome. I've had multiple people have been with me for 10 years. Wow. And the rest of them at least three or four. So I'm very, very lucky in the team that I have and I appreciate them very much. They're all incredibly talented.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Talking about the team, tell me about team culture. How do you build it? How do you keep it? Especially while you're scaling, growing. And like what's yours like? Like, what's good culture mean to you? So sorry. Start with how do you keep the culture? And then maybe, or or actually let's flip it. What is good culture to you? Yeah. What does it mean? What does it mean to your team and what people say about it on your team? And then how do we keep it?
SPEAKER_01I feel like I should have this meeting with my team next week and ask them what good culture is. Yes.
SPEAKER_00It's a great question to ask.
SPEAKER_01Architecture is a really unique field in that, particularly my age group and above, it's always been known for just you burn them in oil all the time. Like there, there's the passion is there. You're always underpaid. Yep. But you do it because you love it and you work all the time. That's how I grew up. I grew up my my graduate school class, it's such a strong class, and now everybody's doing amazing things. And we all have that same underlying the fire.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Right. So I work, even if I'm out to dinner, I'm always working through a conversation with no intent for it to become anything. It's just, it's just because I enjoy it. I love that piece of it. I think for the younger generation, that that fire is different. The fire is more for work-life balance.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01And so I think that that's been an interesting, I don't want to call it a challenge, but a what would you would call that?
SPEAKER_00Like it's like it's a challenge because there's like a dichotomy between you as the leader, yeah, and the younger people coming in. You're hiring people out of school or younger, which is how you scale a company, how you make it long term, right? Yeah. You want people to stick with you for the long term. But the times have changed essentially. And so how do you how do you keep balance mixed with drive and fire to work? And how do you lead your team to do that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And on top of it, hybrid work cultures. So Bozeman's very expensive to live. Right. A lot of my team has dispersed. Yep. So we have a beautiful office space with a lot of remote people. So I, you know, it's just I'm in this moment right now, and I'll be totally honest that like what makes a better culture, people on the ground or no office and people remote, and you create that remote culture. I will say that I had a bunch of the team members in yesterday in town, and we all had coffee, and it was lovely. And I I know that that brings me joy to be in the same room with people.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_01But also, and you probably experienced this as an entrepreneur, and since entrepreneurs will be listening to this, I'm barely in the office. I am running around, I'm traveling, I'm going to photo shoots, I'm, you know, doing this kind of stuff. And so, how do you, if you have a full office full of people, how do you create and continue that culture when you're not even there?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So it's honestly, if you have the answer, please let me know because I'm looking for it.
SPEAKER_00I was just talking to a coach yesterday about how to do that because uh episode we just did right before you came here, we talked about change and how we are making big changes right now, and that those changes take investment and being okay with making less income for a year or two to make the changes for then a jump. But along with that is figuring out what's my position in the company. And right now it's sales and getting out and networking and talking to people, which means I can't be a part of the operations. Yeah. So I now have to trust my team and make sure to put people in place to do those operations. And the one thing that I have found is that I don't know if this is the answer, but my understanding of what the answer is from various sources, of course, the systems and processes, but you have to have someone who's willing to keep people accountable to those. So having a general manager or in the EOS world, an integrator who is the boss below you, the visionary.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And my issue with that right now, if we're telling all, is that I have been told by people on my team that they could have worked anywhere, but they came here to work with me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Not to work at momentum.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And unfortunately, that's a problem for scale.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So how do you transition that to find someone who they are still willing to work for who's not you, even though you're still there, but someone who they're talking to every day who, as my coach said, maybe can do even better than I can.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So how do you find that person? How do you find a person who's got the skill in your specific industry, but can do better than you with culture?
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00The person's out there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I've read track traction. Yep. So that's something that we are working on as well. And I have someone that's been with me forever. I literally was on the phone with her when I pulled up. And she's my the other side of my brain. And would the thing that I always find hard about that integrator role is like she would be great at it, but then she's an amazing designer.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01So how do you gotta choose a lot of our portfolio is not it's not just me, it's the entire team. And a lot of it has come from conversations that she and I have had together. Yeah. So how do you get the operational history from someone that someone like who's been with you for 10 years would have would be great at it, but then not lose the design, which ultimately I'm in this for design.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01That's the love. And so how do we keep design as king?
SPEAKER_00I mean, if we're talking tactical, can she teach?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay. So it's a long-term play, but she teaches the team and stays involved in it, but doesn't actually do the work.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Gives feedback, teaches, says, hey, no, maybe you know, a five-minute conversation like you've had with her, probably of what do you think about changing the space this way? And then she goes and does it. Now that has to go down the line.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's a long-term play and it's difficult. And I haven't found that person. You know, there's possibly people within my team right now that could move into that spot. And I'm at a spot where I don't know what the solution is. Yeah. But I hope to find it.
SPEAKER_01And I think for every entrepreneur, it's a thing.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah. 100%. Because I was one of my teammates, it was warm to my heart, called me the culture king the other day. But it also made me very scared because I was like, Well, there's someone else better than me at it, but I have to convince everyone here that that person will be better at it. Yeah. And they have to transition to calling them the culture king. Yeah. And be willing to follow that person. How do you find that person? Yeah. We'll figure it out I'll let you know when I figure it out, and you do the same. So what would your team say is the best thing about your culture?
SPEAKER_01I would love to ask them. But I my hunch is that they have a lot of freedom, flexibility, and freedom to basically you don't come to physical space and become a drafter. Right. You get to design right away. Nice. And part of that is because we're always really busy. We always have a crazy range of projects. Right. And I can't, or my senior leaders cannot be in everything all the time. Yep. So the junior designers actually get a lot of leeway to get in there and explore, which I think is as a person that's been through it, you know, in my 20s, that's unique.
SPEAKER_00It's very unique. Yeah. Most of the time you're like, here you go, here's a closet. Go draw. Yeah. And do what I tell you to do.
SPEAKER_01No, we don't have time for that. So we kind of let them swim as far as they can. And then when they need a life preserver, we throw it out there. Very cool. But we do like to be engaged as much as we possibly can. You know, I always jump in and want to design review at a certain point nearly every week on a project.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But we're also trying to find that cadence too is how much, you know, do I need to be involved to keep things rolling? Yep. For my own joy, but also to open doors for me to get out and do sales like you. Like I need to be business development all the time.
SPEAKER_00Yep. 100%. So interesting. Okay. Sounds great. So tell me a little bit while we're on this thread of culture and let's talk a little bit of holistic lifestyle. You're an entrepreneur, you do a lot of photos, shoots, you're a hard woman to get a hold of. You're traveling a lot. You have two locations and you have a daughter. How do you hold on to a holistic lifestyle that makes you happy? And what does having a holistic lifestyle mean to you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, I'm working on that too. It's funny. This weekend was going to be, I was supposed to be out of town. And last minute I decided to stay in town. It's the first free weekend with no plans I've had, probably in like two years. Oh my God. Amazing. And I'm giddy about it. Yeah. I'm like, I'm going to buy a bunch of canvases and do some artwork this weekend. Nice. So I think that coming to a holistic approach, I could see in myself I'm burned out right now. Yep. Today I don't feel burned out for the first time in a while because I think I see the weekend, the openness ahead of me, and that I'm going to be able to unleash some creative juju that has been on my brain for a while. And that is like what my like for my soul, what I need to do to feel good in life. When I can't do that, it's really I'm like running into a brick wall all the time. So what I've realized when I'm feeling burnt out or don't feel balanced, the number one thing I need to do is make my space as open as I can. And I don't mean my physical space. No, just my calendar.
SPEAKER_00Calendar. Calendar runs the life.
SPEAKER_01It has to be open. And my associate principal and I were joking literally on the way here. I was talking to her because a couple of my employees put every single to-do item on their calendars. Oh. And when I have anything on my calendar, I freak out. I I love an open day. It makes me it makes me be able to breathe. Sure. And I fill it really fast.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. But that's the problem. I know.
SPEAKER_01And I, but I I love the openness. I need that freedom. And I think probably it's just I'm a high D, high I brain. Um, I have so many things that I want to do. So if I don't have openness on my calendar, then it kind of like I get I kind of freak out because I'm like, when am I going to get to express this thing that I've been wanting to do or this idea or this, you know, or I also am really good at filling my calendar with business coffees, personal coffees, exercise, nice, all the things. But I also really have worked hard in the last five years to push away that instinct when I have an open day. Just sit with it. Yeah. And let the day come. Don't fill it up. Do what I want to do in that day. Even if it's a Tuesday. I might, you know, randomly hit you up on a Tuesday and be like, hey, I've got a free day. Do you want to have a coffee? Yeah. But I'm going to, I've learned to kind of let's not fill up every single moment. Yeah. And I might have every single moment the rest of the week filled up, but Tuesday, I can see it's free. And I'm going to let it be free because it gives me reprieve to know it's free. 100%. So just like learning those little bits about myself. And it's funny that I have a reputation of being hard to get a hold of because I try so hard to show up at all the things. Yeah, of course. And there's I'm a very curious person and I'm a very driven person that really likes to live life. And so that keeps me on the road, doing projects outside of Bozeman, traveling. I like to travel to keep my mind excited and yeah keep the creative energy going. So I don't know if that that helps. I I am an athlete, always been really into exercise. So that's a huge part of my my world. As I've gotten older, I've had to shift it due to injury and things like that. But 100% exercise, eating right, having balance in that way. And then we were talking earlier about spiritual fitness. Yeah. Which is easy to fall off so easy. When you're busy and you're traveling, but when I do have my openness on my calendar, I always make time to do readings or I'm not great at meditating, but you know work on it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's on the list.
SPEAKER_00Excellent. I love it. Okay. Following in the more like tactical thread with that for listeners, how do you use your calendar? Like calendars are difficult. Some people live and die by their calendar. Some people have their whole to-do list, some people have their blocks. So their calendar is literally full, but it might be like exercise, free time, meditate. How do you use your calendar and and like how's that evolved?
SPEAKER_01It ebbs and flows based on what is working for myself and the team. I am pretty good at not taking meetings until 10 because I know I I kind of move a little bit more slowly in the morning. Yep. And I like to have the expansiveness to do whatever I need to do until 10 o'clock.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Usually from 10 to two, I'm pretty meeting heavy around three something with my daughter is usually involved. So I try to I stop the day mostly at three on the calendar but I'm always working after I get her at home or wherever I just I don't love being on meetings like even she's 13.
SPEAKER_00So it's she's fine.
SPEAKER_01But it's just kind of always been I just check emails and stuff while she's home and I'm in those same space. Love it. So it's a constant evolution but I've found I I call them A B blocks. I don't put in every little sliver of the things I'm going to do in those blocks because I like the open space. But I try to do two hour blocks at a time where I feel like I'm going to need a little bit of breathing room.
SPEAKER_00You've been reading books about flow then.
SPEAKER_01Yeah oftentimes they do get eaten up but I'm I'm I'm starting to get really strict about it. Yeah. Because it's just even if I a great business coffee comes along or meeting or potential client, I try really hard to keep it in my window of excess like where I'm yes where I've had given myself the space to just get my stuff done because I'll be better in that meeting.
SPEAKER_00100%. My wife and I have been having a conversation about running at 100% and how if you're running at 100% 247 and this especially goes with kids then you have zero room for the shit that comes up and you're falling asleep at the end of the day on Friday and you know what you need the weekend to rejuvenate. How does that hit true or not true in your life and what percentage are you striving to go for and what what's the reason?
SPEAKER_01As opposed to running 100% all the time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah or do you like running 100% all the time?
SPEAKER_01I I can do it for a little bit and then I completely crash. This winter I was sick for two months. Yeah. And it was because I think my I think I was legit in burnout mode and my system kind of crashed. So I learned a hard lesson from that and I try really hard to not be 100%. If you look at my day on a calendar you might say like oh wow there's a lot of A B blocks.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01But typically in the evenings I'm usually doing something that is somehow work related. Of course. Yep. So I used to feel a lot of guilt towards my team when they're very specifically on this nine to five program and I'm kind of on a 6 a.m to 10 p.m program yeah but we stretched throughout the day.
SPEAKER_00Yeah exactly I'm the same. Yeah there's a lot of guilt that comes with that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah I mean I always have guilt because I want to be in the office or on the Slack available for them all the time. But if I'm on that 6 a.m to 10 p.m program there's really no way I can do that. No. You I mean I this wouldn't be in existence if I was continuing to do that. Yep. So my goal I guess would be to be more at like 75%.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yep.
SPEAKER_01And leave that 25% for rest and rejuvenation and hanging with my daughter and I mean she's been at so many job sites in her life. Like I have pictures of her as a two year old with a hard hat on and oh yeah I'm sure you have the same but she's used to it and she she actually this morning I was on a Zoom meeting and I had it pulled her in for her opinion.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. I love it. That's amazing.
SPEAKER_01So it's fun because it's it's work is life and life is work.
SPEAKER_00Yep. 100% I love that so you mentioned the guilt how do you deal with that guilt? Have you figured it out? Do you still have it? Would you like to get rid of it? Yes. Okay. Okay.
SPEAKER_01I think that's interesting because you do have guilt. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah big stuff and it's and yeah very recently been working on it a lot and it's spilled over into my personal life with my wife and we just recently had pretty big to do about it. And uh I realized about that it's like this this uh this operating system that's been running inside me for a long time that I didn't know was there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Are you a people pleaser?
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah all day long.
SPEAKER_01Yeah that must be the makeup of an entrepreneur guilt and people pleaser. Yeah. Um yeah I'm working on it. I'm trying really hard to just be an integrity say no when I have to and not apologize. Yep. You know I try to be just an open honest person and like I cannot make everyone happy.
SPEAKER_00Nope.
SPEAKER_01Nope and never go into one of your employees is one of my dear friends and she has said to me before if everyone likes you you're doing something wrong.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah. So true.
SPEAKER_01That's really good for me to hear because I think sometimes I will bend or not sometimes oftentimes I'll bend or make myself incredibly uncomfortable just to make someone else feel comfortable.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_01And it doesn't make sense. Yeah. It's like why would we do that? Yeah. So I'm really working on it.
SPEAKER_00Very nice. Yeah this is probably a totally stupid metaphor and I don't know if it's actually even a fact but I heard one time so nickelback the band I heard one time that they are officially one of the most hated but officially the most liked also the most liked band in the world to like complete polar opposites but they're so popular and have both ends of the spectrum yeah they have not only made ass tons of money because of it but have raving fans but also people that hate them and my guess is they're probably okay with it. And it's it comes down to the same thing. And I've just started to think about that like you know what yeah if like if everyone likes you you're doing something wrong.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And if you have people that don't like you like as long as you're being authentic and you're being you like and you're keeping your integrity you're being honest like then who gives a shit.
SPEAKER_01And there's nothing you can do if someone doesn't like you. I mean 100% you can try to change their mind but why?
SPEAKER_00Why it yeah that's a lot of effort too for someone like the point of changing their mind like what's I gonna do for you what's I gonna do for them like yeah letting them be authentic in their dislike or their like probably just better.
SPEAKER_01And I think that's part of being an entrepreneur. I just in the last few years have accepted that I'm an entrepreneur. And I think probably like for the last 20 years most of my best friends would say Alison's a total entrepreneur. Yeah 100% I was really resistant to the term yeah because I just always thought entrepreneur entrepreneurs were it's just like almost like a little slimy of a term you know totally could be yeah yeah but now I actually am proud to say that entrepreneurs are just I think we're trying to push the envelope out of the box thinking. And if you are an out of the box thinker, chances are people are not going to like you. 100% so I think we can both agree to lose our guilt.
SPEAKER_00Yeah I agree. 100% done it's gone. I think that's how it works just say bye-bye. Yeah I love that that is awesome. Amazing okay all right we'll come back to the architecture thread. So a couple questions specifically about architects like what in your mind makes a great architect beyond just being creative because you have to be creative and you have to be able to put it on paper to show your creativity. Yeah. What else?
SPEAKER_01I think that's an excellent question I saw earlier today. And I sometimes I'll be really hard on myself because I'm not as in the work as some architects, you know, soul practitioners for example. Yeah of course are they doing the drawings themselves. And in this culture of architecture particularly like a male heavy field I've always felt a little different that I'm more of a conductor and a synthesizer of pulling the right talent together or the right consultants things like that. And and literally like I I I've talked to Norman the conductor who would be a great guest on the show actually amazing. Okay. We've talked about it when he talks about conducting the symphony I I feel the same about conducting these different skill sets and architecture. And so and I've I'm really into music and I've been getting more into songwriting and I think architecture and songwriting are like very very similar. You're kind of like placing all these different disciplines together and working in unison. So I think that that to me for me specifically is what architecture is it's it's having a this vision and being able to pull the right elements together to make it all happen to make a beautiful project.
SPEAKER_00Wow so very well answered very nice where let's put Norman on our guest list for sure.
SPEAKER_01I love him.
SPEAKER_00That is awesome that is awesome you've kind of answered this so we talked about you use storytelling and you tell a story with your space tell a brand story how people live all of that what is the difference between a space that people simply use and a space that people feel truly connected to yes I've been thinking a lot about this in terms of AI.
SPEAKER_01So I think we can look at this with AI for example in design I think there's so much use for AI that is really helpful with operations and admin and I'm still trying to figure it all out I see a lot of design happening in AI right now and it scares the shit out of me. Yeah because one for AI and sorry to push this to AI but I think it will answer the question. For AI I think that it's it's everything's pulled from different input that's already in existence with AI. 100% and I think the thing that and and I'm anti that I'm really into the human engagement piece figuring out what people specifically need and how to execute that with your intellect and your heart I think that that's really can carry over to the difference between just a regular space and a design space is you know a lot of the stuff that we see going up around Bozeman is just like how can we do this for the least expense expensive construction costs? Such a bummer and shove people in them.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01That's a sad quality of life because when you actually think about how it doesn't take much more to actually be thoughtful about a space and how everyday life can be better because of the way your space is designed in terms of connection to the outdoors use of the kitchen connection to your neighbor connection to nature all of the things.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01So I think that basically sums it up is it takes the human brain and and time to create good design. So whether it's through AI or cheap spec housing that is space that's not going to be inspired and therefore you know it's gonna be hard to be inspired in.
SPEAKER_00Yes. So inspired space. Yes and it doesn't take that much extra effort to do that. If someone even was doing a a simple apartment building taking an extra couple hours to actually put time in to create an inspired design on how people are going to live there would then change the lives of arguably hundreds of people who are going to live in that space instead of just like cram in this many bedrooms and a space for a kitchen. Like how can people live here and how can we make their life better?
SPEAKER_01Yeah even if you say you have a program, you know, two bedroom, one bath that AI cranked out sure but then you have two bedroom one bath that our team or another architecture team cranked out the little bit of true heart yeah that would go into it and functionality it would be a thousand times a better space. Yes. I do think there's merits of AI but in terms of designing for humans a human should design for humans.
SPEAKER_00I agree 100% I say that a lot like when sometimes I've had people ask like like when I'm doing sales and like kind of what I tell my team and and our clients is quality is non-negotiable. It's not worth talking about because it's a guarantee that we have and a lot of people use it as like something that sets them apart. And I like I said it I don't think it sets us apart. I think it's a non-negotiable that everybody must have and that we absolutely have to provide. And so sometimes I'm asking like what like what does that mean? And I can't explain it. It's how you feel the moment you walk in something that we've built compared to something someone else has built that maybe didn't have the heart yeah into it. Yeah maybe just didn't care as much. There's many other builders who have heart and care and it will feel similar but like when you walk into something we've built I walk in and I'm like okay yep this feels like it feels right. Yeah it feels it feels tight it feels put together it feels like someone had intention when they put it together. Yeah you walk into something that did not have that intention it feels loose it feels not well put together and that's the only way I can explain it is you have to walk in and just feel it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah I'm really good at turning off my design goggles sometimes when I'm in space I don't if I go to someone's house or whatever it's not I don't judge. I don't I'm not like that. But when I love a space I'll put my goggles on. Oh hey hold on I want to check out I'm like what's happening here especially I love cities. I love New York London you know when you name it and the the layers and the the history and the textures that are in these places and then when you go into restaurants and when you we've all been in restaurants that you just are like yeah you're like oh my God amazing. Yes. And I spend time a lot of time just kind of well take little notes like what feels good in here because it's not like a formula that you just crank out and that's where AI is a problem. It is actually you have to really touch things and feel the layers and see the history and you know so I spend a lot of time when I like something trying to figure out why I like it.
SPEAKER_00Very cool. I love that yeah very cool. Talking about AI uh we won't dive in too much but like you talked about kind of where there's a detriment on which I hundred percent agree. And so where can AI help let's just take architecture specifically where can it help without putting people out of business because or or or taking jobs. Yeah because the whole intent in my opinion a lot of people say AI is going to take people's jobs. And maybe that's true in some cases but I always say you know if somebody's willing to learn how to use AI, their job is secure. Yeah. And so where do you think AI fits into the architecture world in a positive manner?
SPEAKER_01Well I'm spending a lot of time trying to figure it out right now because I do think I mean there's the ethical and sustainable issues with AI you know energy use and and and things like that. So I'm I'm very much a person that cares about these things. So I'm cautious in in how we're going to use it.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_01I believe in using it as a tool such as Photoshop when it first came out and I always tell my team this when Photoshop first came out none of the photographers were probably psyched at all. Right. But as time has gone on every photographer I work with uses Lightroom or Photoshop or whatever as a tool 100% to enhance the work. Yeah. So how can we use AI as a tool to enhance the work AI can't design for us it's only here to enhance agreed and I'm I'm like I said I'm spending time trying to figure out what the best approach I do have this younger class of of team members that are super anti. Some of the younger folks are anti and some are very pro. Yeah and I find that the pro AIers uh overuse it.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01So I'm trying to get a grasp on it myself as a leader before we implement a process. I think some of the people on my team are using it here and there. Um but I think that we're not using it to the proper capabilities in our office at this point. I don't think anybody is changing so fast.
SPEAKER_00Yeah I mean it's changing so fast it's hard to keep up. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But I believe that there could be a world in which you know we're doing all the design work we're doing base renderings and then we throw it into a an AI program that's saying you know make this a desk rendering and it will probably make it look better than what we could have. And I think that that's okay.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_01But I'm not okay with it making design decisions for us right pulling from other designs that are already out there.
SPEAKER_00It's a slippery slope yeah it is yeah I think it 100% is it's very interesting.
SPEAKER_01Yeah but I do believe that if you miss the the AI train right now, you're gonna be in trouble. And and I my hope is that it's not taking away jobs, that it's creating new ones. Yeah. Like you're saying if you know how to use it. But I think that we all have to be nimble and aware and ready to make that shift as needed.
SPEAKER_00Love it. Love it. I 100% agree. Awesome. Okay two final questions you mentioned that architecture and construction are traditionally male dominated which I think we can all agree to like what's your experience being in the world this industry as a female founder? How do you you know make your splash stand out communicate like what's it feel like and how do you make the best of that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah I mean there's so many times where in my career I've been at a table of 20, a conference table of 20 and I'm the only woman and for sure I have said this before on podcasts like I kind of get a kick out of it at this point. Yeah I can throw out and it doesn't faze me I love walking onto a job site and it's 20 guys and we're just like around the drawings and you know I have to earn their trust. Yeah I get tested all the time. Yeah and so I have to bust out knowledge and then like make a joke and everybody gets comfortable and everyone's comfortable.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And so it's it's guys are such Neanderthals I just make some perverted jokes. Does she know anything and will she make a funny joke? Okay we trust her. Wow.
SPEAKER_01But I've always been like a guy's gal and I can hang and but it doesn't make it right all the time. And so I just it is what it is and I do believe that like you know I have a lot of women on my team I always have that are incredibly talented and strong and smart and but I have a lot of great talented strong guys at my team too. So I I am just like people have in the past we've had more women on our team than than men and right now we're pretty balanced. It's not about that at all for me. I'm like if you're a good person you're a good designer agree we're gonna do great together. Yep and same with clients but I would say I mean I am most of my clients you know a lot of my clients are men. Yep and I haven't ever had a huge problem. I think you just have to know that you deserve to be in the room.
SPEAKER_00Yeah 100% 100% yeah suggestible to your own greatness yes very nice I will say though reaching milestones of the publications and things like that and success and career.
SPEAKER_01Yeah the bar always goes up. Of course as I'm sure it does for you. It's yeah like the minute we get published somewhere I'm like okay next like don't I don't like there's no resting on laurels. No it's nothing I'm still the same today as I was 20 years ago and I'm still going to be reaching so yeah yeah which is a lot of people tout that as a positive especially on podcasts it can also be a bit of a detriment.
SPEAKER_00I was told the other day that I am addicted to chaos and addicted to the grind. Oh yeah must be cousins yeah and it's it was like wow and he was like I and he's like no I'm not joking he's like literally like an alcoholic or a chain smoker and I was like oh I was like that's serious and so trying to rewrite that program and be present with the wins still looking for the gains and like hey what's that next publication what are we doing yeah but at the same time being very present with the win and having gratitude for it and all that stuff. So yeah I mean I I haven't I haven't rewritten that program yet but it was interesting to be called that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah I my coach says that to me all the time I I will say that my I've uh had the same coach for a few years now she's made a real impact on my life and I recommend coaching for anybody in our shoes there's still things we're talking about today that we were talking about the first day that I have not changed at all. Right.
SPEAKER_00It's very frustrating picture for her. But it's just so hard when in your hello are you listening? Yeah I mean I'm pretty sure I'm addicted to the the grind and the grind and the oh what did I say chaos and the grind or hustle and like I don't know six years ago my Instagram feed was filled with hustle hustle grind grind like that's how you're successful. Yeah and it got ingrained and it's like oh hold on a second like yes maybe there is a piece to that at the beginning but not sustainable doesn't create a great company doesn't create a great culture yeah what you're talking about having a B time having space having room for creativity and bandwidth to uh enlist that creativity yeah is what will start to make a better leader better culture and be able to scale your company and if you think about it in terms of like a basketball team or something like that which I've been meaning to read all the coaches you know the famous coaches yeah there's a couple really good ones who was the uh I think it was UCLA coach UCLA coach and then I think Duke coach Duke coach yes phenomenal one because if you look at a team like that an athletic team if they hustled 100% of the time they'd be screwed yeah exactly so they just have to play smarter yep 100% yes and we all need to learn that yes all right so last question what advice would you give specifically young women but honestly anybody coming into architecture and construction right now how can they be successful how can they step in how can they make their splash on the world yeah I would say I mean I think AI is huge and I hate that it's coming up all the time right now but it's huge.
SPEAKER_01Yeah being nimble with AI, being willing I also think that fire I always ask people when I'm interviewing them do you have fire in the belly? Yeah always says yes of course but you really know once you start working together. I do think that desire to make a change in the world or create something beautiful rather than just a clock in clock out mentality is not just what I would be looking for for a team member, but I think it's also what the key to living a happy life is because if you have, I tell my daughter, I don't care what you do, I just want you to be passionate about at least one thing. Yep. Like if you don't have a passion, what are we doing here? Yeah so I really love it when I have young team members or and I would say this to young women too that they're just lit up about what they're doing and those people bring the most to the table and I will listen to I don't care if you're 22, if you have a great idea and you're super fired up about it, I'm gonna listen to you and probably implement it.
SPEAKER_00Love it. Love it. So use your voice. Love that okay do you have any closing statements?
SPEAKER_01No this is great though I feel like we need to continue our I agree conversation on entrepreneurship.
SPEAKER_00100% yes thank you so much for being here today and thank you making the trip down to the other side of town. I know you're actually probably at the farthest other end of town. It's nice to venture out on a Friday good thank you for coming and thank you for the awesome conversation. Really appreciate it. Thanks for having me we'll talk to you guys on the next one. Thanks for listening thanks for tuning in to the Success Architect if today's episode helped you lay a stronger foundation for your business or your life subscribe and share it with someone ready to do the same with theirs. You can follow me Jake Lewendah on social for daily tips on health, wealth and building success that lasts. Until next time, keep designing keep building and keep leveling up