Q1 Field Notes: Half the Battle Is Showing Up (The Other Half Is Knowing Why You're There)

Q1 was a whirlwind—

Not the hustle-porn kind everyone brags about on LinkedIn, but the kind that leaves you tired in your bones... and clearer in your direction.

January reminded me that you can’t build something meaningful with misaligned people—no matter how shiny the business idea is.

February reminded me that the best opportunities don’t happen at the mic—they happen over coffee with people who ask better questions than they pitch.

And if January was about boundaries and February was about depth, March reminded me: progress isn’t always loud—but it’s always earned on the ground.

You can’t build a legacy from repeating the same patterns and hoping for a change.

At some point, you have to show up—in rooms you’ve never been in, with people who speak a different language (sometimes literally, sometimes in tax code), and have perspective shifts that challenge what you think you know.

It’s how I make sense of the chaos, the conversations, the relationships that turn into collaborations—and the ones that confirm a hard no.

Getting crystal clear on who I can help. Where my values land. And which rooms are worth being in... not because they’re popular, but because they’re pivotal to my growth & our company.

So here’s a look behind the curtain—some places I’ve been, what I learned, and how it’s shaping the way I move going forward.

January: Saying No Is a Strategy

This year is about focus. Cutting the noise. Getting sharper.

Saying no to shiny distractions and yes to deeper partnerships, cleaner calendars, and real deal flow.

That meant refining the client pipeline, company portfolio, rethinking how I show up in the community, and making sure every conversation, collaboration, and coffee meeting had a reason behind it—not just filling a calendar slot.

I kicked off the year at the Vegas Chamber Expo (terrible parking, and yes—the ex-event planner in me irked), followed by Construction Real Estate and Friends, which had a bit too much speed-dating-card-exchange energy, but I stuck around long enough to find a few conversations.

Took a few referral calls with sub-$1M operators—no systems, no alignment, no budget.

That pattern taught me fast: not every opportunity is worth saying yes to.

Every time I say no faster, my leadership sharpens.

I stop wasting time, stop babysitting misalignment, and start doing real work with real people.

That clarity protects our partners, our investors, and the mission we’re actually here to serve.

Lesson of the month: Just because it’s a problem doesn’t mean it’s your problem.

February: The Best Deals Don’t Wear Name Tags

This month, I leaned into discomfort—the productive kind.

I started replacing networking events with booking more 1:1s from virtual intros (you know, the sliding into DM’s kind). 

The rest came from sitting across the table, face to face.

Buyers. Sellers.

Compliance & Cybersecurity Consultants.

CPAs. Operators. Founders. Wealth Advisors. Artists. CEPAs. Bankers.

You name it. 

Raw AF.

Some turned into collaborators. Others reminded me where I don’t belong.

Some cool places I went:

• AM&AA SALT Dinner — Tax talks aren’t sexy to most, but the competitive edge is for those aware that SALT (State And Local Taxes) can quietly kill a deal. This was a room full of people who know that.

• Nevada Trust Company’s 30th Anniversary — Amazing people. Clean execution. I left with insights on wealth structuring… and a beautiful floral centerpiece.

• Clark County Bar Association’s Roaring 20's Mob Museum Party — Legacy and legal strategists in full glam. Networking doesn’t always mean suits and spreadsheets.

• NAHB International Builders' Show — Massive. Overwhelming for an introvert, but their email follow-up system? Something worth noticing.

  
  

Working on some $5M-40M+ deals, and helped a few startups rework their go-to-market strategy. Fulfilling.

Lesson of the month: Don’t confuse being visible with being valuable. Proximity only matters if you’re in the right rooms.

March: Momentum Beats Madness (aka Busy-Ville)

March was Women in Construction Week (NAWIC), and it felt like a marathon—in heels, boots, and sometimes steel-toes.

I showed up to support fellow badass women:

• Cerris (previously MMC Corp) Tour — Impressive operations and team, love what they’ve done with the rebrand.

• NECTA Tour & Panel — I loved seeing students of the trades, willing to work hard and not just dance on TikTok.

• PENTA Lunch Panel — Brutal honesty about leading construction teams and being taken seriously.

• Professional Contractor Supply SHEROES of Construction — Got to know some women in the trenches, not just for the titles. Also the cutest charcuterie hard hats & yummy desert table.

• BOXBLE Tour — Modular housing that makes you rethink what’s possible. Innovation is awesome.

Took a tour of Make-A-Wish Foundation with a fellow educator and his son to chat with the President—and let me tell you, this nonprofit isn’t duct-taped together like most. They’re running EOS, not just on heartstrings and hope. Mission-driven and operationally tight? That’s rare air.

At the NAWIC & WTS Women Who Lead Dinner, I was reminded that readiness is overrated. Councilwoman Seaman and Dr. Braxton made it clear—real leadership starts when you show up, not when everything’s perfect and definitely not when you're waiting for permission.

Ended this week strong with the Succession Advisors Roundtable Breakfast, with a great group of advisors who walks-the-walk of collaboration playing the team sport of exit planning instead of barking into the winds.

And March isn’t over yet—I'm fired up for the Business Acquisition Summit, where I’ll be shoulder-to-shoulder with others who live and breathe deals.

Lesson of the month: In this game, the ones who stay curious and keep showing up quietly win.

Some notable mentions:

I popped into a few Gathering of Angels meetings to see what’s brewing in early-stage capital. Heard a few napkin-stage dreams and bootstrapped longshots—a reminder that while I don’t live in the venture capital world full time, I like watching where the community’s placing its early bets (and who might be worth paying attention to down the line).

I kept up my regular presence at Diverse Contractors Council (National Contractors Association) and had some great fireside chats over coffee with contractors at Mothership—especially around what it really takes to scale toward unlimited bid limits.

Had strategic convos with several construction company leaders about the California-to-Nevada migration trend and how it’s shifting hiring, bidding, and acquisition strategies.

Also dove deep into cross-industry conversations—touching on land development, real estate, union regs, and how cybersecurity is becoming a real threat vector in construction and manufacturing (the AI wave isn’t just for tech bros anymore).

Plenty more to unpack in the next few blogs.

This quarter reminded me of one truth:

Legacy isn’t built in mass emails, surface-level handshakes, or trend-jacking posts. It’s built in the moments where you listen, adapt, and ask better questions.

It’s easy to scroll through LinkedIn, click into webinars, and bookmark articles about scaling, exiting, and building generational wealth.

But that’s not where the real stuff lives.

It lives in the messy coffee chats.

The quiet deals no one posts about.

The late-night text that turns into a term sheet.

The honest conversations that start with “I’m stuck” and end with strategy.

And yeah—sometimes it lives in the moment you speak up to challenge the status quo. Because middle fingers up to the gatekeepers.

Some weeks, the “work” isn’t scale. It’s not a humblebrag post. It’s staying in the room when it’s uncomfortable. It’s taking off the mask and saying, “I’m figuring it out too.”

If you’ve read this far—thank you.

This blog is part market breakdown, part soul check. My deal room diary. My time audit. My way of staying honest about what this journey really looks like.

To tell the stories we don’t hear enough of—The burnout before the breakthrough. The partnerships that implode. The deals that never close. And the business owners who walk away from something they spent 20 years building…Only to feel regret no one warned them about.

This blog is where I work through all of that—in public, with you.

If it resonates, I’m glad. If it doesn’t, maybe it wasn’t for you.

But I’m going to keep sharing what it really looks like to grow, lead, sell, and survive—Especially in an industry that wasn’t built with softness in mind.

👀 Next week, we’re breaking down the Q1 construction and home services M&A landscape—what actually closed, where valuations are really landing, and the signals smart money is watching as we head into Q2.

But today?

I’m just grateful I get to do this.

To write. To reflect. To connect with people who aren’t just chasing a bigger business—But a more aligned one.

Because at the end of the day, I’m not just building businesses.

I’m building something that can’t be taken away—Clarity. Conviction. A legacy that makes sense.

If you’re in a season of building, growing, or exiting—while still figuring out what the messy middle means…I see you.

And if you’re rethinking how you spend your time this year—I’d love to compare notes.

Until then—keep showing up. Not everywhere. Just where it matters.

Messy. Honest. Intentional. That’s the real work.

Let’s keep building.

P.S. Turns out Pareto was right—20% of my calendar did 80% of the work that moved the needle.

The rest? Noise.