Q & A Episode 19 - Empowering Female Builders: How The Curious Builder Podcast Plans to Shape 2025
Episode #19 | Q&A with Mark D. Williams | Empowering Female Builders: How The Curious Builder Podcast Plans to Shape 2025
In this episode of The Curious Builder Podcast, host Mark Williams dives into what's next for the show and the broader Curious Builder brand in 2025. He shares goals like featuring more diverse voices, especially women in construction, and increasing nationwide reach. Plus, exciting plans for live events, wellness retreats, and small-group builder collectives are on the horizon to inspire and connect industry professionals. Tune in to catch all the details!
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About The Curious Builder
The host of the Curious Builder Posdast is Mark D. Williams, the founder of Mark D. WIlliams Custom Homes Inc. They are an award-winning Twin Cities-based home builder, creating quality custom homes and remodels — one-of-a-kind dream homes of all styles and scopes. Whether you’re looking to reimagine your current space or start fresh with a new construction, we build homes that reflect how you live your everyday life.
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Mark Williams [00:00:00]:
I've said many times in the podcast I want more women in construction. Actually yesterday in the car, my daughter and my two sons that everyone was asking what they wanted to do when they grew up and my little boy Tate was like, oh, I want to be a builder. Like that. And may my daughter actually said, you know, there doesn't seem to be a lot of women builders. Welcome to Curious Builder Podcast. I'm Mark Williams, your host. Today is Thursday, which is our Q and A, and we have a write in for this question which is what is the future of the Curious Builder podcast? What are the goals for 25 and what are the goals of the Curious Builder brand itself? So I'll take this 20 minutes to kind of walk everyone through, especially our loyal listeners that have been with us for coming up on two years now. So two years ago, as we know, I was on a podcast, loved it, was in the middle of rebranding my company, started the Curious Builder podcast and here we are two years later.
Mark Williams [00:00:59]:
Think we have seven or eight platforms now. So from the I'll maybe answer the first part of this question for the podcast. First, it was really important to me in the first year that all of the interviews be in person. So they were set up in our studio. And what I really liked about in person that was a little bit different than a lot of the podcasts, which are virtual and that's fine, is reading people's body language and also just meeting people. It was a way for me. I'm an extreme extrovert, so this was a way to meet a lot of people in person. Many of people who I already knew.
Mark Williams [00:01:29]:
But there's something different about a one hour dedicated time to talking about their business. You know, usually if you're having coffee with someone, you're talking about life, you're talking about a lot of other things, but you get distracted a lot. Or I do. And so with the lights on, the camera on, the mic on, it seems like you stay very focused on that one person. And so I really enjoy that. And in person you can read people's body language much differently. I feel like the being a self critic of my own podcast and the audio quality and even the topics, I feel like when you are in person it is slightly better, maybe like a 10 out of 10 or 9 out of 10 compared to like maybe an 8 out of 10. There's that little nuance.
Mark Williams [00:02:06]:
Maybe an experienced listener or someone who knew me specifically better could tell a slight difference. So that was anyway important for me to be in person. It Was also a great way to meet a lot of local people that I wanted to meet and bring them on. As we transitioned into year two, we started doing a lot more across the nation. Other builders I've networked with through the Contractor coalition, through the builder 20 groups, just people that I met and was interested. And then we really try to dabble. I don't follow this exactly, but it's kind of like builder, architect, interior designer, someone in the building services space, some vendor company, and then back. So there's usually like this cadence of like five or six different businesses, and then we sort of keep cycling them through.
Mark Williams [00:02:48]:
So for 25, my goal is I've kind of locked out scheduling. We were about six months booked out ahead of time. And there's pros and cons to that. The pro is I know exactly who I'm going to interview. The con of that is it sort of locks you into your schedule. And I meet so many people that I'm like, oh, I want to have this conversation for the world to hear. And sometimes I really like to not know that much about somebody because I feel like that genuine first time you interview somebody, you can't really put that rabbit back in the hat. And that's not to say, I think when you have second interviews or third interviews, would you have a couple of those people that have been on here several times? Obviously the conversation is deeper, you know them better, the rapport is deeper, it's just different.
Mark Williams [00:03:29]:
But I really enjoy that first interview. It's just really fun for next year. I think one of the things we want to do is target more people across the country as the podcast has really exponentially grown over the last year. Specifically, since we went to weekly and added these Thursday Q&As, we've seen a huge explosion of listenership across the country. So I really want to honor that. And I'll basically be using our demographics of some of the top cities, which would be Chicago, Seattle, Phoenix, Austin, Florida, and those are some of the top ones outside of Minnesota, which is still by far, far the strongest in terms of where people are listening in from. And then the other thing that this is going to kind of dovetail. The content will always be the same.
Mark Williams [00:04:10]:
I want, in terms of, like, I want people to learn something new. I would love for each interview to yield two to three business ideas out of it so that the listeners, and myself included, could take things that we're learning from other entrepreneurs and apply them to our own business. And then lastly, you would maybe be exposed to something that you normally want. I also feel like I try, if possible, to identify more female led companies. I was looking the other day through my roster of people I've interviewed and it's not quite half, but it's pretty darn close to 50% are female led companies. And I really enjoy that. I've said many times in the podcast, I want more women in construction. Not only that, but it's actually yesterday in the car, my daughter and my two sons, everyone was asking what they wanted to do when they grew up.
Mark Williams [00:04:59]:
And my little boy Tate was like, oh, I want to be a builder, like dad and man. My daughter actually said, you know, there doesn't seem to be a lot of women builders. And so I was engaging with her and said, well, there is actually. And you know, I told her some names of people that I work with and that I communicate with and I said, you know, and by the time you're old enough, I hope that there's a lot more. So anyway, just obviously being a father of a daughter, that's something that I want to encourage as well. Plus, honestly, the builders and the designers and all the many talented women that I work with, the. I just feel personally like I want to get more of their stories out there and encourage the next generation because I do feel, as we've seen a huge shortage of supply in labor. A couple of things.
Mark Williams [00:05:43]:
One is I want the podcast to be an educational force to empower entrepreneurs, people that are running their business. The second is to cur. Encourage that next generation of, you know, high school and, you know, people looking for that next transition through the trades, like, where are they going to go in owning a business, especially somehow related to construction? There's a lot of opportunities, opportunity there. And then lastly, you know, from a demographic standpoint, there is a huge marketplace for women to come into construction, whether in their, in corporate America or really anywhere that they are. And I think of it in terms of when I build a home for a client, you know, 80, 90 of the decisions are made by the Mrs. That we're working with. And not that we don't obviously work with both couples, but even like in my own home, like I often joke, like, you know, what I want to do for a remodel in my own home isn't really a factor. It's what my wife wants and I'm the builder.
Mark Williams [00:06:36]:
And so it's very, that's very common. Not again, not exclusively, but it is very common. As I talked to other builders, that's true. So why wouldn't it be more common that we have more women in construction because they just have, you know, frankly, better people skills, better soft skills than most men. And again, this isn't a knock on men. It's just been a very male dominated industry. So anyway, that's some goals for the podcast of where I'm going to kind of take that in 25. And we're.
Mark Williams [00:07:02]:
I'm obviously open to any sort of suggestions on that. If there are people out there that are listening and would like to come on the podcast because they feel like they have a good story to share or maybe there's somebody out there that you think I should interview, by all means, please go to our website, curious builder.com or curious builder podcast.com and it'll get you there through the contact page. You can reach out to me and send me their contact or have them register. And I'd love to, you know, look at our schedule. Right now we're actually scheduling out to March and April of 25th and then we're going to probably do two live events. You know, each year we try to do two live events. One of the live events that we'll be doing will be in Minneapolis. We haven't settled on the exact date.
Mark Williams [00:07:40]:
Sometime in March, most likely. And it's going to be called the Makers. I haven't quite figured out what else I'm going to call it. But basically, in short, I want to celebrate people that make things by hand at scale in construction and the two companies I immediately thought of, and I've interviewed them both in the past just about their business. One is Mercedes Austin from Mercury Mosaics here in northeast Minneapolis, as well as Jackson Schwartz from Hennepin Made and his business partner Joe. And they make handmade blown glass light fixtures all across the country. They do incredible work, but they both have learned how to take something that is organic and that you make it by hand and have been able to figure out a way to scale it. That's a unique trait.
Mark Williams [00:08:23]:
I think there's. I know I love artistry and I'm not very good at it, but I recognize the talent. I really appreciate it, especially when it comes to the home building business. It's just that we don't often see it at scale. So I really want to pick these people's brains in front of a live audience. Call it 100, 120 people have a networking event and then really just hear their story. And then as the third or fourth person on the panel, we're going to have my friend Drew Beeson from Drew Beeson Art and he is a small artist here in Minneapolis. And I wanted to get his thought process as somebody who is not scaled up.
Mark Williams [00:08:57]:
And so I kind of wanted to have a little different point of view from each person of the challenges of scaling and maybe some of the reasons not to scale. And I just thought that that would just be really kind of interesting. And the second live event will probably be in the third or fourth quarter. We're still working out details and so I'll hold back the names of the people that are participating, but it's likely going to be in Austin, Texas. And we are going to do essentially it's losers are winners. And I love this idea came out actually. Well, spoiler alert. Kate O'Hara from O'Hara Interiors is going to be one of the panel guest and she is going to be talking along with several others about how they have lost, how they've stubbed their toes, how they've slammed their nose, how they've fallen down.
Mark Williams [00:09:38]:
Instagram and our websites, we often talk about all the things that we've done well and rightly so. You're marketing, you're trying to attract the client with your with the best you've got. But I think for entrepreneurs, it's really important to realize that like, we didn't all get there without falling down on our face several times. And so I think that's going to be very successful, that line of thinking. And I'm really excited for that one as well as that will be our first one out of the state. This episode is brought to you by Alpine Hardwood Flooring. They've been our partner now for over a decade, installing all our wood floors on all our new homes as well as our remodels. And on a personal level, Adam and Anthony Jinkle, the owners, are just absolutely amazing people.
Mark Williams [00:10:23]:
They've been so supportive of my career as well as doing anything. We need to make sure that our clients are happy and they work so well with our other vendors and trade partners at not only protecting their product, but also ensuring everyone else's looks great. So if you're looking for a wood floor or for a refinish, I highly recommend Alpine hardwood flooring. This episode is brought to you by Hellmuth and Johnson, a top Minnesota law firm representing clients ranging from individuals to emerging startups and multinational Fortune 500 companies focusing on transactional law, litigation and appeals. Hellmuth and Johnson attorneys are leaders in their field. David Hellmuth and Chad Johnson joined forces 30 years ago in 1994 with the goal of creating a premier law firm capable of handling complex and challenging cases efficiently and effectively. Today, Hellmuth and Johnson rank among the top 15 largest law firms in Minnesota, with more than 70 Twin City lawyers serving clients in more than 30 legal practice areas. They offer a full suite of legal services to clients without sacrificing their original commitment to providing responsible and affordable legal representation.
Mark Williams [00:11:22]:
To learn more, head to our website, the curious builder podcast.com or to their website at ww hjlaw firm.com the curious builder podcast is one of six or seven hubs. So if you've been following our content, if you've been on our website, which if you haven't, you really should head there. There's a lot of content there. Between our weekly blogs, our recaps on each guest is on there as well. If you want to read about it or you know, obviously go to the YouTube channel where you can watch it. For some of the, some people, that's what they prefer. But we, we've gotten more and more into, we're trying out some wellness stuff. So we have sauna camp coming out in January and that is going to be basically people that want to just challenge themselves.
Mark Williams [00:12:04]:
And it's going to be kind of a cool networking event. We've got 60 spots open. I think 10 of them are taken already right now. And the idea is that the builder, the design and the architect collectives would all come together for this one joint event at the end of January. And we're going to have Dr. Mel Krug, who's been on the podcast, talk about our breath work and how we, how we use our breath to avoid fight or flight or how we breathe through circumstances. This is great for business owners. When you're in a stressful situation.
Mark Williams [00:12:31]:
You don't have to be an athlete or an athletic endeavor to use breathwork to sort of calm your body down. But then we're going to use those breathing techniques to actually go down in the cold water, work through. Your body's going to want to leave the cold water, but you breathe through it and then you go into the sauna and you go back and forth and do it again. Plus, it just just kind of a fun community deal, maybe a team building exercise with other people, other entrepreneurs in the building construction area here in Minnesota. And then, and then we're gonna have a Mediterranean style meal at the end. So I just wanted to see what kind of appetite there would be, pun intended for this type of thing since it's something that I'm really passionate about. And then In May, we're doing something called Boot Camp, which is only 20 people, and it's much, much different. I've mentioned before on the podcast, I get all my ideas, you know, when I go out into nature.
Mark Williams [00:13:16]:
So once a year we go out to the boundary waters, or I go hiking in the mountains or running. And you're just separated. No phone, no alcohol, just kind of off the grid. And so I thought, you know what, Maybe this would be a good opportunity to challenge some people and to see who else is interested in something like that. So it's going to be in Zion National Park. We've got kind of a glamping situation with these really cool kind of yurt tents out there. You're going to get off the airplane, check in your phone, and then we're going to actually have it guided by someone. Addison Bane is his name.
Mark Williams [00:13:44]:
And we're going to do a couple workouts each day. Some of them might be body weight stuff. A lot of it is just going to be hiking, maybe some trail running for those that want to run. Some canine, some mountain, mountain biking. Just a way to connect with other builders. But being outside and sort of away from all distractions, I think you're going to come away with much deeper relationships with the other people that are there, as well as checking in with your idea creator. I always find that I get so many ideas out of things like this. And then you come back all charged up and ready to tackle your business.
Mark Williams [00:14:13]:
And then probably the biggest thing that we're going to be doing really, is a continuation of this year. We have something here locally in Minnesota that we are calling the Curious Builder Collective. It's an area that operates between the Contractor Coalition and like a builder 20 group, as some of you have heard me talk about that or aware of what a builder 20 is anyway. And I love learning from other people, and I really like getting people together. And so what I. What we did here in Minnesota this year is we had. We met five times, actually, and we had a group of 25 builders that were pretty much the same throughout the whole series. And we tackled different series of, like, contracts.
Mark Williams [00:14:51]:
We did branding, we did one about client experience. And we then asked all those builders what are topics that you want to talk about next year as small groups? And it's going to be like sales and marketing, hiring and firing. So these are all business operational things. We also have one for designers and architects, but we won't talk a lot about that right now on the podcast. And so the point is, it went so well, and people liked it so much and I just had a ball doing it that we are not only going to obviously continue this in Minnesota and all those details are on the website under Events. You'll see Curious Collective, but we're also going to launch into four other states. So we've got Atlanta is live right now. So if you're in the Atlanta area, we've got Brad Robinson for Bradford Homes as well as Vince Longo from Longo Custom Homes.
Mark Williams [00:15:37]:
They're going to be my curious builder representatives down in Atlanta and they are going to host a group of. We're going to cap it when we hit 30, we try to hit three groups of nine, which I know is 27 but have a few sponsors in the room and really it's just this small intimate way to it's not really, it's more peer led and so you're having these peer discussions. How do you handle your contracts? What do you do for marketing? Oh, is that what you do? Oh, this is how I do it. This is what I found works. I just find that I learn so much quicker when I'm able to kind of go back and forth like a ping pong ball with the different ideas. We're also going to be going down to Arizona, down in the Phoenix area and we're also going to go to Austin and then we have one other that we're considering. So we'll you can stay tuned on the podcast. I'll be talking about it also tell you who those representatives will be in each one of those markets.
Mark Williams [00:16:26]:
And then all that content will be of course on our Instagram channel as well as our website. So those are just some of the things that we're working on next year that we're pretty excited. So I appreciate the question. If you want to know more, you can reach out to us. And if you want to submit a question, you can certainly do that either through our Instagram channel or of course through our email which is on the website on the contact page. Thanks again for tuning in and have a great week. Thanks for listening to the Curious Builder podcast. If you like what you listen to, please give us a five star rating and write us a review.
Mark Williams [00:16:58]:
It really means a lot. It's a great way for us to just understand what you like about the podcast and what we can keep doing. So like and review and please share with your friends and family. Find out more@curiousbuilderpodcast.com.
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