The Grit Blueprint

Two Stores, Two Strategies, One Winning Culture: Jodie Brixey, General Manager of Calaveras Lumber & Sonora Lumber

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What if the fastest way to grow your business is to stop forcing people into boxes they don’t fit? We sit down with general manager Jody Brixie, whose family turned a 700-square-foot lumber shop into two thriving California locations, one a community hub with seasonal retail, nursery, gifts, apparel, and even live bait, the other a contractor-centric powerhouse. Jody shares how she left a high-pressure nursing career, returned home during a leadership crisis and COVID chaos, and discovered that the real differentiator isn’t inventory or pricing, it’s letting people run where they thrive and backing them with clear guardrails.

Across the conversation, we explore practical leadership strategies for construction, building supply, and retail operations. Jody explains how to build a strong leadership core, communicate under pressure, and make daily improvements that compound into serious results. We dig into succession and the sale to Nations Best, why a long-term acquisition model can protect culture, and what it takes to keep morale and performance high through uncertainty. If you manage a lumberyard, contractor desk, or multi-location retail operation, you’ll hear an actionable blueprint: shorten lines, grow add-on sales, empower category owners, and measure relentlessly.

Jody’s strengths-based approach, rooted in belief and individualization, offers a clear playbook for hiring, training, and team development. We talk about placing people where they can win, the magic of a small, aligned leadership team, and the courage to lead without mimicking someone else’s style. For women in construction and emerging leaders, Jody’s advice is simple and strong: protect your values, know your worth, and contribute differently. Purpose fuels endurance; culture turns stores into community anchors; systems translate hustle into repeatable growth.

• Two stores with distinct customer bases and product mixes
• Family legacy from a 700 sq ft shop to a community anchor
• Nursing skills translated into crisis-ready leadership
• COVID pressures, GM exit, and team resilience
• Succession planning and acquisition by Nations Best
• Strengths-based hiring and role fit over rigid boxes
• Daily growth through small wins and clear guardrails
• Advice to young leaders to keep their identity
• Rebuilding teams after turnover and developing new talent

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Jodie Brixey:

How you create success and a successful team is letting people thrive in areas that they want to be in. You can't fit them in a box they don't want to be in. And if you do, number one, they're not gonna last. Number two, they're not gonna be very productive.

Stefanie Couch:

Magic happens when a really strong performing team gets together. And until you're in that and you're a part of it, you can't understand what it feels like. But it really is a magical thing. It changes you as a person.

Jodie Brixey:

Every day you walk in, you're looking at it as how do I improve? How do I make it better? The business was never ever supposed to be as big as it is. And the only reason as it is, is because we hired people that had great ideas, we put up guardrails, but we let them run.

Stefanie Couch:

Welcome to the Grit Blueprint Podcast, the playbook for building unmistakable brands that grow, lead, and last in the built world. I'm Stephanie Couch, the founder of Grit Blueprint, and I'm a lifelong building industry insider. I was raised here, built my career here, and now my team and I help others win here. The truth is, you can be the best option in your space and still lose to someone else who simply shows up better and more consistently. Each week on the Grit Blueprint, I'm going to show you how to stand out, earn trust, and turn your brand into a competitive advantage that lasts. If you're ready to be seen, known, chosen, and become unmistakable, you're in the right place. Let's get started. Welcome to the Grit Blueprint Podcast. I am your host, Stephanie Couch, and today I'm coming to you from the great state of Texas. I'm at Rough Creek Ranch here in Glen Rose, Texas. And we're here at the Nation's Best Women's Retreat. Welcome to the show. Why, thank you. I'm happy to be here. I cannot imagine a more beautiful place. I mean, look at this whole setup is amazing. And we're here for three days of learning and development and all the amazing things. And you were part of Nation's Best. So you are actually Jody Brixie from California. That's right. Don't hate me for it. And you have been in this industry a long time. I want you to tell me a little bit about what is your role today, and then we're gonna go rewind the tape a little bit and figure out how you got here.

Jodie Brixey:

Okay, so my role today is I am general manager of two locations, Calaveras Lumber and Sonora Lumber, located in Angels Camp, California and uh Sonora, California. And I'm pretty much in charge of, you know, both staffs at both stores, hiring, firing, doing all the things, um, and really just driving those businesses forward. And um, it's been quite the journey.

Stefanie Couch:

And the stores are different, they have a little different angle of the two stores. So just tell me, just a little brief overview about each store and kind of how they're laid out.

Jodie Brixey:

Calaveras Lumber is a very, very, very unique uh location. Uh, you know, we do all the hard lines and the hardware, obviously the lumber, um, but we also have a very big seasonal department where you know we have gifts, decor, we do a really big seasonal for uh fall, Christmas, spring, all those things that does really well. We sell women's clothing, we sell baby clothing, uh, we have a very big nursery garden area. We have a fishing department, we sell live bait, frozen bait, uh tackle, obviously. So it's really like the one-stop shop in town. Um, it's definitely a community staple. Yeah. And then if you bump over to the Snora location, it's definitely more contractor oriented. We do have, you know, the hardware store as well, with we have a small seasonal department there. Um, but it's definitely more geared toward the builder side. I mean, do it yourselfers as well, but very strong contractor's presence there. So they're just two very different locations with different vibes, but both very successful, both great crews. Um, just very blessed to lead both of them.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, it sounds like fun to kind of go from one to the other because you might be selling contractors something at one minute and then you're selling baby clothes the next. Absolutely, absolutely. You get to test your chops a little bit, make sure you know all the different things. That's really cool. Yeah. Well, you grew up in this industry. Uh, we are both lumberyard girls, and you were surrounded by family. Your grandfather started Cal Lumber in 1976. And now here we are, 2025, and you are a part of Nation's Best. But you didn't always stay in this industry. So I want you to tell me a little bit about your journey because I've interviewed a lot of people, talked to a lot of people, and we were just talking before the show. I don't think I've ever seen anyone boomerang quite the way you have, which is really cool. But tell me a little bit about the family first. So, how did it get started? What was it like, and what's the community like that you built?

Jodie Brixey:

So, definitely a unique story. Definitely what this wasn't a planned, thought-out path, uh, just kind of how it unfolded for us. It started with my great-grandfather. He actually in 1918 got his uh master's degree in forestry, which was very rare to have a master's degree back in the day. And he worked for American Forest Products. And then um, my grandfather, after serving in World War II, came back um and made an attempt to go to Oregon State University, but he liked uh to party a little bit too much. And at that point, my grandfather told him it's time to grow up, get a job. I'm gonna call one of my buddies and I'm gonna get you get you a job. So uh my grandfather was a salesman up and down the West Coast. And when he decided decided to retire from uh that career, he took his retirement in one lump sum and had the insane idea to buy a little 700 square foot lumber and hardware store in Angels Camp, Nowhere, California. Wow. Um, how he ever convinced my grandmother that that was a good idea. I still to this day wish that I could go back in time and hear that conversation because I don't know how he did that. But he did. Um, and so it started out, and I think he had one employee when he started. When I look at the pictures of the old yard, I mean there was literally like 10 two by fours. I mean, it was very, very, very minimal.

Stefanie Couch:

Isn't it crazy how we have these dreams and we believe in things sometimes, and then like our significant other also is crazy enough to believe in us too? Yeah. Uh, like you said, I would love to be at the kitchen table when they had that conversation of like, hey, I just retired, we got this big chunk.

Jodie Brixey:

Yeah, and so I'm just gonna go buy this little poding lumberyard. Like literally in the middle of nowhere. I mean, how did that ever I and I I doubt that it did? I doubt that it was really a conventual uh agreement, knowing my uh grandfather and grandmother, but nonetheless, they made it work. Um, my grandmother did work for a number of years inside the store doing the bookkeeping. Um, sometimes I I can find some of her old legal yellow pads with everything handwritten out. And then my dad was actually working down at uh Lawrence Livermore Labs as an electron microspacist, um, and just started coming up on the weekends to help his dad. Okay, uh hold on, I gotta double-click on that. Okay.

Stefanie Couch:

What the hell is an electro?

Jodie Brixey:

Yeah, so I don't really 100% know. All I know, all I an electron microspaces, uh, all I know is he looked at things through the microscope. And back in the day, it didn't take a college degree. None of neither of my parents, so they went to community college, but they didn't get college degrees. That wasn't a family trait. Uh started with my great-grandfather, but didn't really continue. Um, so, anyways, he looked at things through big electronic microscopes. That's really what I know. And all I know is he made a whole lot more money doing that, but he enjoyed coming up and helping my grandfather on the weekends. And uh my mom and dad have been together since their junior year in high school. Yeah. So they decided that hey, this is fun. Uh, we won't have a whole lot of money, but we they really enjoyed the Angels Camp area versus uh Livermore. So they decided to move up full time and they all jumped in, and that's kind of where the the business really started to grow. Wow. Um, my grandfather was the people person, he's my favorite person. Oh. Um he had this just booming personality, and he knew people's names and who they were, their kids' names. And you would find him, he'd sing some of his fraternity songs to like people as he's walking through the store. I mean, he was that guy. Like you just you he just had a magnetic personality. You wanted to be around him, and that served him very well in the community. People were just drawn to him, they liked him, they wanted to do business with him. He absolutely was the business. Um, so his little venture, his little retirement venture, uh quickly grew. And my dad was very business savvy. Um, just naturally, he was just very wise and he he kind of just took it and and ran with it. And I always say my mom was a hustler. Yeah. Uh my mom, she doesn't like to get talked about a lot, but I like to say that my mom was the hustler because there's no uh no harder working female. She was always the one just running around doing whatever needed to be done. Um, she doesn't take a lot of credit, but but she deserves it. Has she done kind of every job, everything the store? Everything. And what's really cool about our operation, which I think is very unique too. So my grandfather bought the business in 1976. And so it was one other employee, like I mentioned. Then my mom and dad jumped in to help. And then I think it was about a year and a half to two years later that he hired his first two employees, both of which were female.

Stefanie Couch:

Oh, wow.

Jodie Brixey:

Um, so it is not unique for us to have a female-driven workforce. That's really cool. Um, and you know, back in 1978, I don't think that that was that common. Very progressive. Yes, and that was my grandpa. Yeah, like he didn't care male, female, what color you were. I mean, if you were good people, he wanted you by his side, and that really uh built the business. So, anyway, then yeah, then we just kept growing and we moved locations in uh 2001, I believe it was, to a bigger location down the road, and we're still at that location at the Calaveras at Calaveras today. And then in 2014, we bought Snorra Lumber, our second location. And I think the highest number of employees we had was 100. That was right around the peak of COVID. I think we're at right around 70 today. Um, but two very successful businesses and just great employees and great people. Are your mom and your dad still involved? No, um, they they stayed on once we were acquired by Nation's best for about a year. And then they tipped their hats and said they deserve the retirement.

Stefanie Couch:

They deserve the retirement. They did.

Jodie Brixey:

That's amazing.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah. Well, the legacy piece of this industry is probably my favorite. You know, my grandfather started his lumber yard in Atlanta in 1963, and then my dad and his two brothers, and then third generation, I was the third generation. It's so cool to hear these stories because when you talk talk about your granddad, and I get I get emotional when I start talking about my family as well, the same thing, because it is, you know, what went into that to build what's there. And it's so much work, and it really is just that absolute won't quit resilience that got them to that, you know, and especially that generation of our grandparents were both in the war and everything. It's just a different type of person, and you have to admire that grit that they have and what it took to do that. Yeah, and a little bit of just craziness to go out and absolutely buy that, especially with the retirements. Like you were there, you were there, man. Like you, and you went right back in. But I'm glad he did because you probably wouldn't be here doing this today if it wasn't for that. Well, you grew up in the business, you did all the things growing up around the lumberyard, I'm sure, but then you wanted to go spread your wings and try something else. So you actually chose a career that's totally unrelated. So tell me about that.

Jodie Brixey:

So yeah, my my parents, I mean, the business was all you just being a part of our family. You know, you you grew up in it. Like Saturdays, if somebody called in sick, like we're all headed to the lumbyard to work. You know, it's inventory, we're all going. It's all you talked about at the Thanksgiving table. Yep, yep. Yep. Can't get I can't pick you up from school today. So walk down the street and when you're here, hear dust and face. I mean, you know, that's that's part of it. But they definitely never wanted my brother nor I to feel like we had to take over the lumbyard. So they very much encouraged us to go out and do something different. And that led me to nursing. Really, I I've always thought medicine was interesting, um, but really it was the pupil aspect of nursing um that really led me to it. And so I got my RN degree and I loved my job. Uh, did that for several years at a large hospital uh where my husband and I were living at the time. I actually had my first child while I was in nursing school. Oh yeah, he started going to college when he was six days old. Wow. Yeah, I always tell him that's why you have a 4.2 GPA. You're welcome. So I did that and was successful. But when my youngest or my oldest son, Jack, was ready to go to kindergarten, I didn't I wanted to move back home. I wanted to put him in the smaller schools back in the area that I was from. And I just felt very drawn to do that. Um, I didn't really think it was gonna be a possibility. And my husband put the house for sale and it was sold within 60 days. Wow. So off we went. And then I actually took a job when we got up there uh with a local hospital, and I was recruited originally, and I do mean recruited, like people, oh Jody's back in town calling me. And uh I originally went to went back there to work in their oncology department. Okay. And then they had uh hired a cardiologist from Chicago, and then they came to me and they said, Hey, will you interview with her? We've had her interview quite a few people, and we just wanted to meet you. So sure enough, we hit it off, and then one thing led to another. I all of a sudden was the RN supervisor of the brand new cardiology outpatient center that we were building, and I was not working per diem, I was working very full-time and uh did that for three years, and we we had a successful outpatient center, and I loved, I loved that job, but she unfortunately decided that she wanted to go move to Bend, Oregon, which you can't blame her for. And when she left, I had decided that I I really needed to focus on my family. So I stepped away from nursing for for a minute, and I was home for about three to six months, and then all of a sudden, just kind of started going into the store. My dad would call, hey, can you come help me with this? Or hey, I need you to come do payroll, or hey, can you oversee this? And so it just very gradually started working in the stores again. I was also building uh our home, so I was there anyways uh because that was great, you know, to have a family business and director home. But anyways, I just little by little got drawn in and we had a general manager at that time uh who did a good job running the the stores, but unfortunately that came uh to an abrupt end right around COVID. It was quite the day that he handed me his termination letter. Um that my parents were gone traveling, and you know, I think that he completely thought that I would sit there and convince him to stay. And I just said, I think you can find success somewhere else. Yeah. And uh let him go. And from that point forward, I kind of looked around the room and I thought, well, here goes nothing. Yeah. Um, and like I said, that was that was right at the height of COVID. And, you know, I'd already kind of had to get a little bit more involved in the businesses, anyways, just with you know, the CDC and keeping up. I mean, California was crazy, yeah, right? I mean, everywhere was crazy. California was especially crazy. Uh, we couldn't win, wear masks, don't wear masks. You were always making somebody mad no matter what you did. It was a turbulent time. Um, and that was just kind of kind of kind of the breaking point, really. Like, all right, this is this is you, just move forward.

Stefanie Couch:

I always think people say that expression, this isn't life or death, you know, and there are some careers that are life or death, and nursing is one of them. And I would think that that translates well to you being able to handle certain situations that maybe seem super crazy or horrible, but maybe aren't truly that intense or life or death most of the time at the lumber yard. How does that translate in you being able to handle a certain level of chaos or you know, any bad things that go wrong?

Jodie Brixey:

Yeah, and I don't want to downplay anything that we do in this industry because there's certainly our immense challenges that we face. But I I have to say, my employees have heard a time or two like, you know, you're not telling somebody that they're dying. You're not giving somebody a cancer diagnosis, you're not, you know, holding the hand of somebody who's taking their last breath and all they wanted was their son to show up and he didn't. Yeah. Like this is hard, but it's hard in a different uh way. And I think that that definitely has contributed to me being able to just handle the pressures. But not to say that it isn't sure, like I said, that it isn't challenging because it is, it just is different. And I will say that I think that my I do like pressure. I I I work better under chaos and pressure. I think that's one of the reasons I was drawn to the nursing industry in the first place. But more than anything, I like to heal and I like to help. Yeah. And that translates very smoothly every day, whether it's employees, customers, it's all the same. Yeah. It's all the same.

Stefanie Couch:

Well, you know, diamonds are made under high pressure. So I'll look at you. I mean, it is true. It's it is interesting though, about certain people. I feel the same way. Like str people say stress is bad, but I actually think that a certain amount of stress pushes us to reach our peak potential. If you think about building muscle in the gym or, you know, doing things, it's fracturing. You're breaking things down to build them back stronger. And I think teams often are that way. You know, you have to go through things because you don't know what you can handle until you're handling it. And that pressure is how you test that. COVID definitely was a pressure cooker for all of us, but uh, you being in California, that is a whole nother level. Um, I was opening a door shop at that time and hiring a bunch of people, and it was a crazy time, but I can't imagine California. How did that? I know the secession planning was a part of the mix. You taking over as GM, all those things happened around the same time. A lot of moving parts. How did that work out? Because you guys obviously now have to be acquired by Nation's Best, but what was the lead up to that? Because I know your dad started talking about secession planning way beyond before that.

Jodie Brixey:

He did. Uh, so I think it was around 2017. We had actually been propositioned by a potential buyer at that time. And that is when my my dad, you know, started talking to my brother and I about like, hey, I need an exit strategy. I don't want to do this till I'm 90. You know, how's that gonna look? All the things, right? And we hired and met with several people and kind of tried to, as a family, get that ironed out. I'll leave it as it didn't go well. Um, but my parents are are very much the type that are like, if you want it, show up and get it. And I started working in the business. Now my brother had a very successful other career. Uh he works for Apple. And so, you know, he kind of chose that path instead and stayed with that, which can't blame him for. Like I said, it was just fate, whatever you want to call it. I just started working in the store more and more. But it didn't work well for our family dynamics. Uh, so we did roll around the idea of putting the stores up for sale. Um, I really don't think my dad ever honestly thought that they would sell or he would get the number that that that he was asking. Yeah. Um, and then come, here comes Chris Miller and Robert Debs. It was pretty surreal. I think we all were like, why would like these two little like stores? Like what in in northern California. Like, what are you guys thinking? My dad was pretty distant throughout the whole uh sale process. Um, I think it was really emotionally hard for him. Uh probably probably the hardest thing he's ever done.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah. It's like selling, it's like selling your child. Absolutely. Like it's like leaving your child and saying, somebody else just take care of it now.

Jodie Brixey:

Absolutely. So I I was very involved with the acquisition and and going through that process, which was interesting and something obviously I had never been part of before, but I learned a lot. Up until the night that it closed, my dad kept saying, Oh, this isn't gonna happen. Oh, no way. They actually went to Africa, they were in Africa while it while it closed. That is kind of how that all transpired. And then they asked him to stay on as a contractor for the first year and then for me to stay on as general manager. That was in 2022, right? Yep, June of 2022.

Stefanie Couch:

So a little over three years. Yep. You know, it's interesting because I think Nations Best does have a really different model than a lot of private equity or acquisition companies for sure. It does sort of feel a little too good to be true because they play the long game. They're not buying companies to buy them, roll them up for three years, and then get rid of them. They are thinking about what's this look like in 10 years, 15 years when we still own it. Yeah. And I think that gives people a lot of perspective that makes them feel better about what's happening. So I like that model. I think it's very interesting. Um, when you have these locations and you're thinking about a team and you know, you're doing something, I'm sure people were scared and not sure how it was gonna come come out. Also, they had just gotten through COVID. 2021 and 2022 were the busiest years we've ever had in the business. So that's a lot. It was wild.

Jodie Brixey:

Yeah, I'm telling you, it was it was it was so much. Wow. But we did it, yeah, and we were better for it. And you know, you look back at those times, and I'm still to this day, it humbles me that my team just locked arms with me and said, We got this. Yeah. And anywhere where I was lacking, they filled in for me. They still do to this day. And to be surrounded by people that support you like that, it's incredible.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah. If you haven't ever worked with a really strong team through something like that, that's very hard. Uh, opening a new place, acquisition. I mean, I think COVID was that for most people. It it there's something about magic happens when a really strong performing team gets together, especially like a leadership team of four or five core people that are pushing. Yeah. And, you know, they say that like a team of horses can pull so much more than one horse combine, you know, just by itself. But I've seen that in action. And until you're in that and you're a part of it, you can't understand what it feels like, but it really is a magical thing.

Jodie Brixey:

It really is, and it changed it changes you as a person. I mean, it it, you know, it resilience is hard, but beautiful. Yeah. I mean, it the side note, but the day that RGM came in and handed me the letter that he was leaving, and like right now, in that moment, he walked out the door, and 10 minutes later, my HR comes screaming up the stairs, screaming my name. Yeah. An employee had come to work, parked her car, and called in because she was confused, she didn't know where she was.

Stefanie Couch:

Oh wow.

Jodie Brixey:

And she ended up having a massive stroke in her car that day. Oh man. So I had to gather my team and not only tell them that the GM just walked out on us, that also our team member is now, you know, headed to the hospital in, you know, severe condition, which eventually did, you know, end her life. Um but that is a day that is cemented in my mind.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah.

Jodie Brixey:

And it is like I couldn't have done it without him. Yeah. You know.

Stefanie Couch:

But also that ended up the with the GM leaving to be a path that now got you to something better where you are here now with this team that you're running. Right. So it's really crazy how life can be so bittersweet at the same time. For sure. You mentioned when we talked earlier um in the prep about people being like a puzzle. And, you know, you gotta have the right person in the right place in the puzzle, and they all click together. How do you work with your teams to make sure that the people are doing the thing they should be doing in the right spot? And how do you move people around to get them to get their peak potential?

Jodie Brixey:

Well, we just got through, you know, our gallop assessment of our uh personal strengths. Yes. And I will tell you my number one uh strength was belief, and my second was individualization. And I do feel that I I have an innate knack to kind of know where people thrive. I I would say if you go back and ask my grandpa, my dad, anybody, you know, that's led our business, that how you create success and a successful team is letting people thrive in areas that they want to be in and encouraging their strengths and focusing on those things and then giving them things, you know, that that can obviously help your business be profitable and efficient. Yeah, but you can't fit them in a box they don't want to be in. And if you do, number one, they're not gonna last. Number two, they're not gonna be very productive. Sure. And so just just to really recognize people's strengths and to be able to put them in those positions and and let them flourish, to me, that's how you that's how you do it, you know, and that's challenging. And how how do you do that? You constantly talk to your people. I am constantly talking to my people. Sometimes that's good, sometimes that's bad. Some days I hear a whole lot of stuff that I really don't want to hear. But it but that's my job, right? It's to listen and to weed out the bad, to pick out the good and and then decide what the next step is. You know, I find somebody that's you know really talented in the nursery or the garden. If they want to expand it, if they want to do this and do that, I I want to let them do that. Like, yes, I'm gonna make you pencil it out for me and we're gonna look at you know how that looks. Yeah, but I'm I'm not gonna hold you back. The business was never ever supposed to be as big as it is. And the only reason is it is is because we hired people that had great ideas and we put up guardrails, but we let them run.

Stefanie Couch:

And it's cool that your grandfather really started that. I I can feel him in you, like even though you're trying to like he was the person, like you're obviously the magnetic personality there now. And you have to have that in the business, especially in a retail or somewhere where people are coming in and in and out, that's a big draw. But you also talked about your dad was had a real spirit of ingenuity of saying if the business isn't growing, it's dying. Yep. And I strongly believe that as well. What now are you doing to think about that? Because it is a little different with you know new ownership and your inner nation's best, but that spirit has to still live on. So, how what does that mean if the business is not growing, it's dying? What does that mean to you?

Jodie Brixey:

It just means that every day you walk in, you're looking at it as how do I improve? How do I make it better? And that can look a lot different, right? Like, yes, do I have aspirations that I'd love to get in to feed and animals and build a whole nother barn? And yeah, sure. You can also do small things to grow every day. You know, how do I keep my lines shorter today? How do I get more add-on sales today? How do I pick somebody and find out, you know, something that they really want to do, that they really want to improve on, and how do I give them that opportunity? And it's just kind of having that mindset of every day you walk in, how do I make it a little bit better today? And then sometimes you get slapped in the face with problem after problem after problem. But you wake up and you do it again the next day. Yeah. And you have to be flexible. It's it's always changing.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, it is definitely. That's the only thing I know for certain is that it won't stay the same. You said that belief is your number one strength. So I love Clifton strengths. I'm a certified coach, so I I'm probably more of a nerd about this than most people. Belief is something that the people that have that as a core strength, which yours is number one. You usually have like a really, really strong North Star, something that pushes you. And I you're obviously a very driven person. What is that for you?

Jodie Brixey:

For me, it's my faith. I don't want to sound cliche when I say that, but for sure, I come from a very uh family or faith-oriented background. Uh, and uh I believe that we're we're here for a bigger purpose and we serve one God. And uh, you know, the stores to me, deep down, are our mission and a way to spread that. Uh, they are a blessing. We didn't create everything that's happened in our stores. Yeah. There is a bigger purpose that is that is driving that. And it is, I am just a steward of that, and it's my responsibility to share that blessing with others, whether it's my employees, my customers, the community. Um it's it's a big responsibility, but it's a huge blessing.

Stefanie Couch:

Having a purpose is the only thing I know that keeps you going when it gets really, really hard. Yep. And also when you think about that, you could just say, hey, and we're good, we're it's enough, that purpose keeps you pushing past that, which I love. Well, you are an exquisite woman, and I am glad to have been able to sit down with you. And I'm excited to see what you do next. What when you think about two questions I'll ask you. If you had to go back and talk to 25-year-old you or another woman person that's in the industry that's 25, what would you say to them today? What advice would you give to them?

Jodie Brixey:

I would probably tell them to not lose sight of yourself. You know, in this industry, we talk a lot about, you know, women leaders in this industry, women in this industry. Uh and and you see a lot, I I feel like you see a lot of women trying to to fight their way in. Don't try to change yourself. Don't give up who you are. Just contribute differently. Okay. But know, but know your worth. Like I have a completely different set of talents than most people, especially most men, right? But that doesn't mean that I'm not capable. That doesn't mean that I don't have a place. It just means it's gonna look different. But it's it's proven to be very successful. Just keep that in mind and um and be true to yourself. Don't uh don't compromise. You know, I I again belief is my number one, and I have very strong morals and ethics, and I won't ever compromise those.

Stefanie Couch:

I think you have a very strong sense of who you are and where your North Star is, but I also I do think a lot of people struggle, men and women struggle to not want to be the thing that they see as successful already. Yeah, what if you do it your way though? And that is the only way you're ever gonna be able to really be who you are and fulfill your own purpose is because you were made this way for a reason. Absolutely. And I struggled it early in my career with that as well, trying to look at what was above me and say, like, okay, well, I should be like that, or and Clifton Strengths actually really enlightened me to the fact of like, oh, you lead with influencing, you have all these different strengths that'll it's the rarest, you know, thing to lead with. And then I thought, well, I can, I'm never gonna be like them.

Jodie Brixey:

Yep.

Stefanie Couch:

And I just decided one day that I was just done trying. And then it was like the idea of that wasn't in my mind anymore. So it wasn't a prison for me to try to like try to be this thing I couldn't do anyway.

Jodie Brixey:

Yeah. And I think as a whole, we try to look at businesses and we try to structure them and we try to fit boxes and people into categories. And it's it's harder to not do that. But again, you've got to look at people and see where their strengths are and empower them at what they're good at, and let that is that is the secret to success. And it's taken me a lot of years to be where I'm at today, but I don't I don't want to be anybody else than who I'm made to be. Yeah, and if that works for the company and if that works for whoever I'm working for, great. And if it doesn't, I'm perfectly capable of doing something else. But it took a long time to get there.

Stefanie Couch:

I agree. There's a certain type of confidence that the years of you going through hard things have has been able to build that in you. I can see that. Well, the last question is what excites you most about the next year or two? And what are you fired up about? This can be personal or work related.

Jodie Brixey:

Hopefully, things not being so crazy. Um, no, I can't ever have that expectation. That I've I've said that too many times, and I'm like, oh, here we go. Um there is no call, there is a storm, it's just another thing. It's just a thing. Yep, absolutely. Um, you know, just my team, we went through a pretty hard uh summer with staffing, as you talked about in the beginning of this interview. That sometimes it's it's best to break it down and build it back up. Yeah. Um, we lost some key people, assistant store managers. Um, it was a rough summer, but I've got some new people in place, and there is nothing more than I love to start developing people, like I said, learning what they want, what drives them, and pretty much giving them parameters to let that happen. Um it's it's just a beautiful thing. Uh so I'm very excited about that, just growing in any way that we can.

Stefanie Couch:

That's amazing. Well, I'm so thankful that you are here and that we got to sit down in the most beautiful setting, and we're gonna get to go enjoy it out in the in the wild of Texas in a few hours. So thank you for joining me on the Grip Blueprint podcast. And I hope to get to come see your store soon because they sound really amazing. And you said you sell women's clothing, and I've already made a mental note. Oh, yeah, definitely. Do you sell hats? That's all I really need to do. We do. We do. Okay, well, then I'm gonna book a one. Okay, awesome. Well, thank you for joining me on the grit blueprint podcast. We will see you on our next episode. Thank you for listening to the Grit Blueprint Podcast. If this episode helped you think a little differently about how to show up, share it with someone in your building world who needs it. If you're ready to turn visibility into growth, then head to gritblueprint.com to learn more and book a call to talk to us about your growth strategy. Until next time, stay unmistakable.

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Stefanie Couch

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