00:00 - 00:25

Madeline Richardson

I think it was because we went over your highlights, why you do what you do, your why. I'm sure you could skip over to the next episode, I mean don't be lame, but I think that going over why you started this, your six E's and all those important things is important because it goes over your why, why you enhance.

00:25 - 01:13 

Andy Richardson

Right, yeah so it's kind of like I'm the interviewee, I'm the guest of this first episode and you that's why he's in that chair. Yeah, that's why I'm in this chair and also, there was one other thing that I thought was pretty important. I gave an analogy I think that I thought was really interesting of course biased. We talked about Simon Sinek and his why but also we gave an analogy about so we don't want to talk too much into that but I think that gives you some inspiration. If you're looking for inspiration, check out this show. That's kind of what I'm getting at, right? That's really one of the keys of the show is the inspiration. We really want you to learn. We want you to laugh. We really want you to be inspired.

01:13  - 01:18 

Madeline

Yeah, definitely. So y'all enjoy the show and I guess we'll see you soon.

01:13  - 01:18

Andy 

All right. Thanks, everybody. Take care. 

<Intro Music>

00:01:24:11 - 00:01:31:24

Madeline

Welcome to ENHANCE an AEC podcast where we learn the why behind AEC professionals. So that you can learn their why.

00:01:31:26 - 00:01:33:00

Andy

Hey, Madeline. How's it going?

00:01:33:02 - 00:01:34:22

Madeline

I'm doing all right. Glad to be here.

00:01:34:26 - 00:01:52:01

Andy

Yeah. For sure. Well, I'm excited because this is our first episode of the ENHANCE AEC podcast. And really, in this episode, we're going to just introduce what this podcast is all about. And I brought you in for this episode. You're my producer. Did you know that?

00:01:52:08 - 00:01:53:02

Madeline

I did.

00:01:53:07 - 00:02:22:17

Andy

Okay. So I appreciate you volunteering for that position or volunteering. Yeah. So I volunteered you. And so we're going to talk a little bit about what your role is as well. So, but in this episode, I'm sitting in this chair, which normally I'll be sitting over there because I'm the interviewer. But in this particular episode, you're interviewing me because we're going to learn really what this podcast is all about and what people should expect and like the why of the podcast.

00:02:22:17 - 00:02:38:12

Andy

And so those are some of the things we're going to discuss today. So I'm going to hand the microphone, if you will, over to you and then let you kind of lead this. So I've given you some questions there and some bullets. So do you want to go ahead and just start working through those.

00:02:38:14 - 00:02:49:11

Madeline

Yeah. We can start this. So I mean, going over what do you think that ENHANCE podcast is about, like what inspired you to start this?

00:02:49:13 - 00:03:23:09

Andy

So yeah, the ENHANCE AEC podcast really is an outpouring of a lot of things. I've been doing this for 26 years. Structural engineering is what my role in the AEC industry is. And I've enjoyed learning about structural engineering, but I learn about other aspects of the industry, mostly from tangent aspects. You know, electrical engineering or architecture or things that maybe I'm not as involved in on a day to day basis.

00:03:23:12 - 00:03:45:05

Andy

Even the construction side which we’re involved in, others, obviously from an engineering standpoint, but there's a lot of aspects of it that I don't know. And that's just so there's a learning aspect of this that I want to gain from it. So I'm on a journey to learn more. And I also want to learn why. Like what drives people, what drives people in what they're doing?

00:03:45:05 - 00:04:04:24

Andy

Because what we're doing in the AEC industry is very important in terms of the built environment. We're making the world a better place. Right. And so that's really what I want to learn about is why are people doing what they're doing? You know, because we could do anything. We could do structural engineering. We could make donuts.

00:04:04:26 - 00:04:28:24

Andy

But we chose the AEC industry, those of us that are in this industry. And so the question is why? I want to understand why. I want to understand the technical of what these people are doing in various aspects, and peek over the fence into architects, into other engineers, like mechanical engineers, maybe, or electrical. I want to understand what developers do even and what contractors do.

00:04:28:25 - 00:04:33:18

Andy

That's a little bit about the why of the podcast.

00:04:33:21 - 00:04:38:10

Madeline

Yeah, that's why the podcast. So, I guess we've gone through the first points.

00:04:40:24 - 00:04:41:13

Andt

Yeah, a little bit.

00:04:41:17 - 00:04:49:25

Madeline

What would you say is the goal of this podcast? I think the ultimate goal of this podcast, what are we looking to find out here and, and do.

00:04:49:27 - 00:05:14:06

Andy

So I would say, you know, our tagline is we want to learn about professionals in the AEC industry and particularly their why so that you can learn your why. And I didn't quite hit it like you do in the intro. But the idea is that we're learning about the why of AEC professionals so that we can find out more about our own why.

00:05:14:11 - 00:05:39:16

Andy

Right. And we definitely want to hit the learning and the technical part, but we also want to hit the why what drives people. Because it's, we want to go beyond just yeah, we want to go beyond just, or stacking bricks. Right. It's the old analogy. I don't know if maybe you've heard it's been used in some sermons, but the idea is that there were three people making a church.

00:05:39:18 - 00:05:56:06

Andy

They were building a church. Right. And they were all three bricklayers. And the first guy, the I don't know who it was that came up to him. It was like a pastor or maybe it was a bishop, but they were building a cathedral, actually. And so the first guy, the bishop, came up to him and said, hey, what are you doing there?

00:05:56:06 - 00:06:16:01

Andy

And then he said, well, I'm stacking bricks. The second guy, the bishop, comes up to the second guy and says, hey, what are you doing there? And he was stacking bricks as well. But he said, well, I'm building this. I build this wall, which is going to help with the church. Right. And then the third, the bishop came up to the third guy and said, hey, what are you doing?

00:06:16:01 - 00:06:19:17

Andy

And he said, well, I'm building a cathedral.

00:06:19:19 - 00:06:29:08

Andy

So this podcast is about how you view things and how your small part in society is helping? Or building.

00:06:29:11 - 00:06:47:18

Andy

Yeah. As a structural engineer, I can say, well, I'm just running calcs.  I could say, I'm just drawing beams. Or I could say I'm designing something that's going to enhance the world around me. Right? Right. Holy Trinity Christian School, which is right down the street from us. We did that recently, and we know that they're getting value in that school.

00:06:47:20 - 00:07:10:21

Andy

They're getting an education. So we're and that's true for architects. That's true for engineers. That's true for contractors. Developers. Is the why you're doing, is it something bigger or is it just stacking bricks. So that's what we want to learn about. I got the idea of the why really from, guy named Simon Sinek and my friend who's going to be on our next episode, episode number two.

00:07:10:23 - 00:07:28:18

Andy

A friend was telling me about this guy named Simon Sinek. And, he talks about start with the why. And so it's sort of an aspect of this that I think is important is make sure you understand your why.

00:07:28:20 - 00:07:30:12

Andy

What's next on the.

00:07:30:14 - 00:07:30:20

Madeline

Next.

00:07:30:22 - 00:07:32:10

Andy

Agenda?

00:07:32:12 - 00:07:46:13

Madeline

I got a lot of arrows pointing randomly. Yeah. So I guess we already hit point three. Sorry

00:07:46:15 - 00:08:04:10

Andy

I guess, yeah. I mean, obviously I want to go into who I am as a person a little bit more, and then I want to bring you in as well. So, I mean, this is just a conversation. So. Yeah, you and I are just talking here in the first episode, and, I mean, we're learning what this is going to be, right?

00:08:04:13 - 00:08:21:00

Andy

Right. It's going to evolve. I'm sure. But this is a short episode to really introduce all of that, but a little bit more about me as a person that talks about the why of the podcast, a little bit more about me and who I am. Well, I've got 26 years of experience as a structural engineer.

00:08:21:03 - 00:08:40:14

Andy

I'm a professional engineer, structural engineer, and licensed. I'm also a family man. I've got six kids, some of which are out of the house, some of which are still at home all the way from 24 to 9. You are one of those kids. So you're my only girl. We've got five boys and a girl.

00:08:41:00 - 00:08:51:18

Madeline

I'm happily married, and I have a beautiful wife, Esther. And I like to say that she's kind of like the seventh “E” of the business, which is 29E6.

00:08:52:04 - 00:08:55:17

Madeline

I've never heard you say that before.

00:08:55:19 - 00:09:22:15

Andy

Well, maybe I haven't said it, but I do like to think. Okay. And I may have blogged about it. So, So. And another thing too, I mean, this podcast really, ENHANCE, we want it to really be its own entity of, in terms of almost like a muse or a business. But the reality is it is an outpouring of the structural engineering business.

00:09:22:16 - 00:09:38:07

Andy

It is a marketing effort. We do want to get more work through this and give our business a name. So 29E6 is the name of our structural engineering firm. And I like numbers. So that's the modulus of steel. The modulus of elasticity to be specific.

00:09:38:07 - 00:09:39:12

Madeline

How bendable steel is.

00:09:39:13 - 00:10:02:02

Andy

Yeah okay. The daughter of an engineer here and that's in psi so 29E6 is like the exponent. So the exponent six. But I like numbers. And so I named my business after a number first thing. The second thing I like to do is use some of those numbers. For example, 29E6 there's six E's and so we have the six E's of 29E6.

00:10:02:02 - 00:10:23:23

Andy

And so they're six values. And one of those values is enhance, enhance the world around us. Right. And so that really was triggered and was the seed of the ENHANCE podcast was the why of why we do what we do at 29E6. But then we also wanted to learn more about what other people do as well.

00:10:24:05 - 00:10:44:00

Andy

But I kind of got off track talking about my family because I wanted to talk about my wife, Esther, who is kind of like the seventh E of 29E6. Without her, I couldn't couldn't do what I do as a business owner. And she's just so supportive of everything I do. So I'm very thankful for her.

00:10:44:02 - 00:11:08:12

Andy

The other aspect about me, I'm a faith based person. I have a strong belief in Christ, and that drives me as a person, right? So that's really a big ‘why’ of everything I do. Right is my faith, and I, I don't like to necessarily beat my faith over the head of people, but at the same time, it's an integral part of who I am.

00:11:08:12 - 00:11:32:21

Andy

And so I naturally just share things about what's important to me in terms of faith, in terms of family, in terms of the values that we have. And so, that's a little bit about me. And so I wanted to turn it to you a bit and talk about your role in this and how that sort of was born as well.

00:11:33:01 - 00:11:58:14

Andy

Which, I'll just share a brief aspect of that. I knew that I wanted to have somebody to talk to when I do this podcast. Right. So the interview, obviously format. I'll be doing most of the interviews of the interviewee will be mostly sitting here, or if it's a zoom-based, then obviously on the other side of the computer, you'll jump in at times when it's relevant.

00:11:58:17 - 00:12:16:14

Andy

But in situations like this, we'll have a, a kind of a pre pre show of sorts or a pre discussion of sorts at the beginning. And it'll be you and I just going over that conversation number one. And kind of giving people an idea of what to expect in a show like what the heart rates are.

00:12:16:14 - 00:12:31:03

Andy

So that's going to be the format of the show is, you and I will go over that pre show aspect. And then during the show I'll be interviewing people and you'll, you'll be out of the picture so to speak, although sometimes you'll jump in that we found.

00:12:31:06 - 00:12:35:23

Madeline

I just sat up there for a while. Yeah. Make sure it was running.

00:12:35:25 - 00:12:49:08

Andy

Exactly. Make sure she's basically our producer. So make sure the record button is on and everything's working properly. So we appreciate you doing that. So tell me a little bit about you and why you agreed to do this.

00:12:49:22 - 00:13:10:29

Madeline

Well, I remember we were in the car. In the car on the way to Santa, South Carolina, and you just brought this idea to me. We were like, I want to do this podcast. And I was like, let's do it for this. So then we spent two hours talking about the details, guests, ideas, things. We'll go over the whole point of the show.

00:13:11:01 - 00:13:37:07

Madeline

And I just, I thought, I love this idea, and I'm honest, I was honestly like on the edge of my seat. I couldn't wait till we got this thing off the ground. Still can't wait. I don't really know why I'm part of this podcast, other than the fact that I like watching the other two interviews with Stoney and Charlie, I just saw the value in it where it has the purpose of learning, you know, learning from other people.

00:13:37:07 - 00:13:46:22

Madeline

You never stop learning. But just watching that and seeing how to grow based on other people's beliefs and seeing those things.

00:13:46:25 - 00:13:47:21

Andy

Yeah.

00:13:47:23 - 00:14:00:06

Speaker 1

A little bit about myself. I am, like you said, only girl, I believe. So that playing the dog personality a bit, definitely like a big, big personality. Extroverted, you know?

00:14:00:09 - 00:14:02:27

Andy

Yeah. So not afraid of the camera, so to speak.

00:14:02:28 - 00:14:08:03

Madeline

No, I'm not, except sometimes.

00:14:08:05 - 00:14:21:25

Andy

Well, and really, I mean, it's for the listeners. I mean, I think you can tell, like, there's a definite energy that Madeleine brings to the room. And so that's part of what I wanted to bring in. So what's your experience with construction and with architecture? With engineering.

00:14:22:00 - 00:14:22:16

Madeline

None.

00:14:22:22 - 00:14:28:18

Andy

Okay. So you have zero experience, right? Why should the listener listen to you then on that front?

00:14:29:03 - 00:14:30:26

Madeline

Because you have to.

00:14:32:00 - 00:15:03:16

Andy

Because I asked you to - very, very good. I mean, I think that's fair. I mean, really, you're a facilitator, you're a producer, you're bringing, you know, some fun to the room because we do want to entertain people. We want to make it fun. And I think we have a few laughs on this podcast. So if you're running right now, if you're driving home from work or whatever you're doing, I hope that you're having fun while you're learning about engineering, while you're learning about architecture, while you're learning about construction development, anything in the AEC industry that can help you get ahead.

00:15:03:19 - 00:15:18:24

Andy

Also, you're learning about the ‘why’, you're learning about, you’re not just stacking bricks in your life, but you're building a cathedral, so to speak. And so we want to help people with that. And then we want to help people have a little bit of fun. So we want to learn. We want you to laugh and we want you to cry.

00:15:18:28 - 00:15:36:00

Andy

And I say that in a proverbial sense that we want you to really think about the deep things of life. Right? And I feel like we have hit on that already on some of the podcasts we've recorded. So anything else you want to say about yourself?

00:15:36:18 - 00:15:55:06

Madeline

I think that going into this first episode, I like I had a lot of time thinking to myself because I do that a lot, but I feel like I enhance things through my art. Like, that's definitely something that I hit the point of like a couple months back. I was, why am I going through? Why am I still working on this art?

00:15:55:06 - 00:16:13:24

Madeline

What is the point of all this? You know, why am I doing any of this? And I just, I thought about like, I feel like doing this. It allows people to see things through my perspective a little bit to show them the gifts God has given me, to show them how I see things and to enhance the world around me through that.

00:16:14:00 - 00:16:27:11

Madeline

And it's about not making the world a better place, like, you know, pageant. But, you know, showing others how I see things and making the world a better place. Yeah.

00:16:27:11 - 00:16:51:16

Andy

I mean, it does sound a little cheesy, right? And at the same time, because we go through these, as you possibly know or probably know, I, I go through these six E’s with my team, when we have team meetings. Right. So we want to understand why are we even here in this team meeting? I mean, who called this meeting, why are we here?

00:16:51:16 - 00:17:06:18

Andy

And what am I going to get out of it? Well, ultimately, if you're having a meeting, in my opinion, you should have a purpose for the meeting. And the purpose of everything we do at 29E6 is to meet our six E's, right. So what are those sixes? I might as well go ahead and lay them out a bit.

00:17:06:24 - 00:17:26:14

Andy

So number one, every business needs three of these E's, right in my opinion. So you need to be excellent or else you might as well not show up. Right. So if you're making cookies or making donuts or building a bridge or designing a bridge or designing a building, you need to do it with excellence, right? I want the best cookie you can make.

00:17:26:19 - 00:17:41:26

Andy

Right? Next is we want to earn a profit. So we know that earning a profit. Profit is the lifeblood of a business. We have to make a profit if we're not making a profit we’re not a business. So we have to make a profit. And number third, number three. Number 3.

00:17:41:29 - 00:17:44:06

Madeline

Tertiary reason.

00:17:44:07 - 00:18:02:26

Andy

Yeah. The number three reason. Reason I'll get it right. So we like to have fun too, right? Which is the third one. Right. Which is enjoy. You want to enjoy what you're doing. And I think that if you're doing what God called you to do, you are going to enjoy it, right? And so that's number three.

00:18:02:28 - 00:18:24:00

Andy

But also it's about, you know, having good relationships with your customers, having good relationships with your clients or the contractor or the architect or whomever’s involvement, your team. So those are all important. So those are the three basic things for any business. But then when we get to structural engineering, there are three additional things that make us a little different in terms of what we do.

00:18:24:03 - 00:18:44:17

Andy

And the next is to ensure safety. That's what a structural engineer does. Yeah. And if we don't do that, we might as well call it a day. That's what we do. We ensure safety. And ensuring safety includes, not just the safety piece but also the serviceability. So we don't want beams to fail, but we also don't want beams to deflect too much.

00:18:44:19 - 00:19:13:17

Andy

And we also don't want those beams to corrode. Right. So that's durability. Alright. Some people are calling it resilience now. So that's number four. And then the next one is sort of our USP our unique selling proposition which is efficiency right. We have to be efficient in order to set ourself apart from other engineers. So we say that we provide streamlined structural engineering, including structural support, including construction support.

00:19:14:01 - 00:19:18:01

Andy

So that's number five. And then number six, guess what? That one is?

00:19:18:03 - 00:19:18:20

Madeline

ENHANCE!

00:19:18:24 - 00:19:45:20

Andy

ENHANCE. Right. So those questions either address like the first three E’s of like the base business aspects or what we do with and how we do it with efficiency. And then this one questions why? Why do we do what we do? Because we want to enhance the world around us. And so that's again why this podcast is really an outpouring of what we do here at 29E6.

00:19:45:20 - 00:20:04:28

Andy

So we definitely want to, you know, we want this thing to grow and people to enjoy it so that, you know, we can do more. We can grow our brand. Right? We definitely want this to grow our brand. But at the same time, we want people to enjoy this. And, really benefit from it.

00:20:05:00 - 00:20:24:29

Andy

Yeah. Right. I don't think we really got into what, we may need to bring this in for a landing, but I don't think we got into why the interviewees. I guess, the guests. Why the guests would benefit from it. So would that be a good thing to talk about next?

00:20:25:05 - 00:20:28:11

Madeline

Probably. Yeah. Okay. I guess you stole my thunder there.

00:20:28:14 - 00:20:30:08

Andy

Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead.

00:20:30:10 - 00:20:42:27

Madeline

So I guess, the next question would be, you know, why do we bring in guests? What's the point of it? Like, what is the point of it? Why are we bringing in people to tell their story? To tell their why?

00:20:42:29 - 00:20:56:16

Andy

Yeah. I mean, so we definitely got into why the listeners should listen to it, that all the things that they're going to gain from this. But as far as if you're going to be a guest on the show, let me know. But really, what you might be saying, well, why should I be a guest on the show? Well, there's a few reasons.

00:20:56:16 - 00:21:12:01

Andy

Number one, this show is going to go crazy big, of course. Right. So yeah. So we're hoping, but, but we're going to be able to get your word out there, right? As an architect, as an engineer, as a contractor or developer or whomever.

00:21:12:01 - 00:21:13:28

Madeline

In that category.

00:21:13:29 - 00:21:36:06

Andy

Yeah. I mean, because we want this to be people that are in the AEC industry, but also people looking over the fence. Maybe it's, you know, like people who watch The HGTV. They watch that and maybe they don't ever want to do any of the do-it-yourself stuff, but they might watch the TV show just for fun or people that like to watch the baking shows, but I'm not ever going to bake anything but some of the baking.

00:21:36:07 - 00:21:54:08

Andy

shows are pretty good. Yeah. I mean, I might be something, but the baking shows are pretty good and it's like it's just fun to watch and it's interesting. So that's the other aspect. But so we want to get the word out there for we want architects, engineers and contractors to be able to use this as a way to get their word out there.

00:21:54:15 - 00:22:21:19

Andy

We want people to be able to document things that maybe they wouldn't otherwise be able to document. You know? So maybe you're somebody who's got 30, 40, 50 years of experience and you want to get those things down. And perhaps there's not another podcast or blog or book that you can put that information into. So this gives you a place to put that right, a place to document that information.

00:22:22:21 - 00:22:27:26

Andy

Those are really a couple of big reasons. Was there anything I missed on that front or?

00:22:27:29 - 00:22:32:13

Madeline

Well, I don’t think so. I think that, you hit all the points there.

00:22:32:15 - 00:22:38:06

Andy

Yeah. Okay. So what else do you have?

00:22:38:08 - 00:22:47:24

Madeline

I mean, I guess it's just wrap up time. Okay. So,

00:22:47:26 - 00:22:50:07

Madeline

do you want to wrap it up?

00:22:50:10 - 00:23:11:09

Andy

So. Yeah, I mean, this is episode number one. This is just a teaser. And just to share the why, what we're about, who I am, who you are, what's the deal and that type of thing. But we definitely got a couple podcasts recorded already that I think you'll find exciting and interesting. And, you know, our first one, it really was a banger.

00:23:11:11 - 00:23:24:08

Andy

I mean, we hit all three points. So I'm really excited about it because we learned some things about mechanical engineering. We laughed and we might even have even shed a tear, but let you dig into that once you.

00:23:24:08 - 00:23:26:18

Madeline

Guys feel I listened to that like, yeah.

00:23:26:20 - 00:23:36:28

Andy

So that's what you have coming up next on episode number two of season one. So with that, I think that brings us to the end of the episode, right?

00:23:36:28 - 00:23:50:12

Madeline

Yeah. So come back next time, I guess, and, ENHANCE the world around you. Hey everybody. Thanks for listening to today's episode of ENHANCE and please leave a like, a subscribe, or follow. And we’ll see you next time.

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