Susanne Schackmann

I definitely attribute my success to the people around me, my husband for the first half of my career, and my kids for the second half. This recent chapter in my life was a little scary to take on at my age, trying something new that I wasn't quite sure if I could pull off or not, but with their push of 'no, you're ready, it's time,' I was able to make the leap. The first 15 or so many years, I was very lucky to have a hybrid career where I could make my own hours and come and go as I please, so I could be the available parent and be mom. My husband and I also own a construction business that he does with his brothers, very physical labor, so we always knew at some point we're gonna have to switch and I'm gonna be able to pick it up because the kids are gonna be almost through. After my husband fell off a roof and was out for 6 months, and then I battled breast cancer, 23 and 24 was kind of our wake-up call. The Lord was telling us, this is your timing, guys. Things were laid out in front of me that allowed me to take that jump. I'm not gonna lie, it was a little scary. I'm 46, making a sweet new career change, I've been doing something the same way for 20 years, can I do this or not? I put myself out on that ledge because I had that new mindset. All I wanted was for them to see that I tried. My son at the time was having a hard time realizing can I apply for this job or that job, he was scared of rejection. I felt like I had to prove it to him. Watch Mom, watch me, and being able to show him and have different conversations now because of it, yeah, definitely my husband and my kids.

Be confident. The best thing you can do is, you're not gonna know all the answers. You gotta start somewhere. The best thing you can do is know who to go find the answers from. That will get you everywhere. You just don't have to know the answer, you just have to know how to find the answer. Next time, you'll know it. So be confident, because obviously the number of women are growing for sure in our industry, but depending on where you live, you might still be battling an uphill a little bit. So you just have to be confident in who you are and how you got there, and your worth. I'm still learning things every day. We should be a student at heart, and you should enjoy that about it, otherwise you ain't gonna make it. You gotta do your research, you gotta keep moving forward, and you gotta enjoy doing it. But yeah, at least at the end of the day, as long as you know who to go find the answer from, you've won over half the battle. Get a mentor! That is the number one thing. Graduate college, get a mentor, someone who's been there and done that.

For work, it is honesty and transparency. Over the years, working with different people, this is not a solo career, we have a team of some sort, whether it's on your side in the office or out on the job site, and you can't have complete control over everything. But the best thing people can do is own up to their mistakes, be honest, be transparent, and we'll figure it out and move on. And it's okay, because I can guarantee you that will happen multiple times on every job site. As far as personal, I think being genuine, being a genuine person, and having boundaries. I actually look for that in people. I think that's really important, especially when you're working in an industry that requires a lot of time from us outside your normal 9 to 5 o'clock. I'm not perfect at it, but man, I'm working on it. And then again, it's just back to that honesty and that transparency. I can have these honest and open and transparent conversations with people in our contracts and let them know, here's where we're at, here's what's going on. If things are going great, then we're good, but if they're not, let's talk about it yesterday. The sooner we get to it, the better. And the more I can be open and transparent, the more everybody can have a better outcome and a better schedule of how we're moving forward together.