S1 E3- Why Between Bricks and Binders? The Story Behind the Podcast (Part 2)

Between Bricks and Binders is the podcast that bridges the gap between construction entrepreneurs and the business world. In this introduction episode, Frédérique from RenoQuotes and Ronaldo share why this podcast was created and what you can expect from future episodes.

Through experience-sharing, practical advice, and expert discussions, we explore industry challenges and how to better connect professionals.

Who are we? Why start this podcast? What to expect in upcoming episodes? Join us for insightful conversations that will help you better understand the construction industry and improve your daily professional life.

[00:00:09.640] - Ronaldo

So welcome to another episode of Bricks and Binders. My name is Ronaldo.

[00:00:16.500] - Frédérique

And I'm Frederique.

[00:00:18.740] - Ronaldo

So I'm glad to start another episode because it's been such a long time since we've seen each other.

[00:00:26.060] - Frédérique

Oh, yeah. So long.

[00:00:27.220] - Ronaldo

Right? Second episode, I wanted to focus back on you because first episode, we did discuss about how the idea came about in terms of the podcast itself. We didn't necessarily go into details because I did believe that the details needed some background, and that background is yours.

[00:00:54.020] - Frédérique

Okay.

[00:00:54.480] - Ronaldo

So if you could help me explain to the people, how did it all start for you before it started for us in terms of the podcast?

[00:01:06.260] - Frédérique

So in terms of where I was before, what I played as a role, and where we got to?

[00:01:11.980] - Ronaldo

Yeah, the beginning of the journey to the podcast for you.

[00:01:17.020] - Frédérique

Okay.

[00:01:17.070] - Ronaldo

Because you had to start before I did.

[00:01:20.990] - Frédérique

So when I came on board in November of 2023, I was working with Emma, our sales our marketing cord. And she came about with the podcast, and she was telling me, we want to launch this project. We want to do a podcast. I'm like, Cool. I'm on board. Let's do it. New initiative. Love it. So we started the podcast for Soumission Rénovation which is the French side of RenoQuotes. And it went really well for the first year. We did get some good audience and we had a lot of guests that came on the show, and it was super fun. And Ronaldo and your colleagues Manef also came on board to host the podcast, which was very fun, and we saw that you had some talent to host podcast. So that was fun. And then I joined into the hosting team, if you will, a little bit later in 2024. And that's when at some point you talked to me about launching a podcast as well, which aligned with us wanting to launch an English version of the podcast.

[00:02:30.950] - Ronaldo

Yeah, definitely. I just wanted to know on your end, what was your vision for not bricks and binders, because we kind of discussed that amongst ourselves, but When it was still just the Renoquotes podcast, because I would get a message, a notification, a subject, certain questions, but I didn't necessarily know the full vision behind the podcast. And that's why I'm so happy to work with you now, because I'm just like, okay, I don't necessarily have to plan the next six months to a year.

[00:03:10.170] - Frédérique

No, because I plan.

[00:03:11.010] - Ronaldo

Because that's what you do. So I'm like, okay, great. Let's do this.

[00:03:16.800] - Frédérique

Hop on board.

[00:03:17.250] - Ronaldo

Definitely on board. But what was your plan before Bricks and Binders when you were planning those podcasts?

[00:03:24.790] - Frédérique

With Soumission Rénovation, obviously, like you've discussed in the previous podcast and we've discussed together is that we play a role of middlemen. We do the translation between contractors and homeowners and people who work in the office and contractors. And I think you and I both speak contractor, if that's a thing.

[00:03:45.660] - Ronaldo

It's definitely a thing.

[00:03:46.490] - Frédérique

And we both speak office, and we both speak client, right? So it's something that we're so used to doing is the translation between those different types of people. And I find that in the podcast, it gives me a good feel of who are these contractors that we're dealing with? What are their pain points? What are the things that we can address? How can we help them? Because ultimately, that's all I actually want to do is just help people. It's always been what I want to do. So I want to try to find the best solutions for them in the best way and in the way that they want to have. And you talked about it in your role in opening up Admissis, which is to address that pain point that is the admin part. And you just went straight into it and just started the company completely and address that pain point and help those contractors be better at what they're good at and not have to fuss with the admin work, which is what we do also ultimately for clients and contractors, which is clients come to us to give us the details of their projects, and then we'll assign them to contractors that are looking for that type of projects, and we'll try to do the best matchmaking. And I like to use this expression. I know it's not necessarily appropriate, but we're like the Tinder of renovation, which is what we do. It's matchmaking.

[00:05:15.420] - Ronaldo

It is matchmaking, yeah.

[00:05:16.540] - Frédérique

Okay. When I explain it that way, people are like, Oh, I get it. Because everyone knows what Tinder is.

[00:05:23.040] - Ronaldo

I don't know about it, but most people do, apparently.

[00:05:27.670] - Frédérique

This was a message to his wife.

[00:05:29.840] - Ronaldo

Exactly. I have no clue what it is. I wanted to see, at what point in your journey did you see either the disparity or the difference between the theory and When did you see that there was that disparity?

[00:05:47.990] - Frédérique

For our concept ?

[00:05:50.740] - Ronaldo

For the concept or I'll let you answer it just because it could be for the concept, it could be before the concept.

[00:05:58.400] - Frédérique

It's funny because Ultimately, the conclusion of this is that our concept is in theory and in practice, right?

[00:06:05.830] - Ronaldo

Yeah.

[00:06:06.370] - Frédérique

We came about this in a really funny way because what I was trying to say is that there's always the theory for people who are in office, you do your marketing this way, this way, this way. And then we just say, you just got to do this, step one, step two, step three. And then the contractor will take that and be like, I tried to do step one, it didn't work. And then in In practice, it's not the same thing. It's never the same thing. It's a little bit more complex because there's external factors that you can't take into consideration when you're sitting in an office and preparing a PDF. So the concept came about. We spoke. I was like, oh, that's a great idea. Let's do our podcast together because then we'll be able to do French and English. We'll use the same resources. It's going to be great. Plus, we love talking to each other. It's great. So we move forward with it. Then we sit down and talk about how we had our visions for our podcast, and we had two different visions. The good thing is that we had the same goal, right?

[00:07:10.290] - Ronaldo

Yes.

[00:07:10.580] - Frédérique

Talking to contractors, understanding their realities. So we aligned on that, and we worked on it a little bit, came out with content. And I had this idea of not having the same guests for the whole show and having two different segments because I like to break the mold. I like to break things and rebuild them. And I was trying to explain that concept to someone. And in explaining it, I used an example, and then I came up with the, Oh, the light just... It just lit. And it was like, Oh, it's in theory and in practice. And then it's exactly what happened with our concept. It's the same thing. We didn't do the first steps, which is you figure out what you want to do, then you name it, then you find the host. There's an order to We didn't do that. You did with your concept. And then I came in and broke it all.

[00:08:06.970] - Ronaldo

Yeah. Thank you for doing that.

[00:08:08.000] - Frédérique

I apologize. It's going to be good.

[00:08:10.820] - Ronaldo

That's going to be great.

[00:08:11.580] - Frédérique

And then we kept the the same. We started pulling out subjects and the way we were building it, and then it clicked. The concept came in last. And it was like, Oh, but it all fits.

[00:08:24.880] - Ronaldo

It definitely fits.

[00:08:26.140] - Frédérique

It's always the gap between the theory and the practice and you being a middleman, me being a middleman woman. It just works.

[00:08:35.920] - Ronaldo

Definitely works. Because I was curious. I do remember that meeting where we were like, Okay, sothat should be the concept. And it was like, you found the concept, but the concept was what we were doing at the same time. So it's like you've basically defined the concept that we didn't know we were following.

[00:08:53.760] - Frédérique

Sometimes you just need to put it on paper, and then it's clear, and everyone gets it, and we're all on the same line.

[00:08:59.960] - Ronaldo

Yeah, because you did mention the fact that I was a middleman, you're a middlewoman, depending on what we're doing. But this applies even if we're just talking about one individual. Per example, I'm starting my business. I'm becoming a contractor. Theory and practice are still different. Even if we're not talking about multiple parties, just with one individual, it's still different. I still remember I was talking to a contractor at some point because you did mention you speak contractor. I was speaking to a contractor, and the best way he could explain to me why things weren't working. He's like, I'm having the Mike Tyson syndrome. I was like..

[00:09:53.060] - Frédérique

What?

[00:09:54.540] - Ronaldo

Yeah, you know everybody has a plan until you get punched in the mouth. I was like, Oh, yes, of course, the Mike Tyson syndrome. And it applies every time people try to do something new, and we'll be able to have so many of those conversations.

[00:10:14.840] - Frédérique

I mean, one of the ways that I did explain it was there's a company that we'll be interviewing very soon that does strategy on how to give the legacy of your company to someone else, right? So that it be from father to son or external or internal, just transferring your company to someone else. And that's a whole big deal, right? And then there's the theory. You just give it to your child. But what if your child doesn't want to do it? That's the punch in the face. Or you want to do it to someone that's internal, but that person's objectives in life, completely different, not interested, So then you have to go look externally. And in theory, these are the steps. But reality is there, and people... I mean, you can't decide for people. So in theory and in practice.

[00:11:11.340] - Ronaldo

And in practice. Man, okay. Definitely going to be a great series of shows.

[00:11:16.160] - Frédérique

Very exciting.

[00:11:17.410] - Ronaldo

Very exciting. Very exciting. So if you could tell everybody, what should we expect from Bricks and Binders season 1?

[00:11:25.130] - Frédérique

So many exciting things. Some of the stuff that we just talked about, actually, everything that you can have in theory and in practice. We'll be talking to experts in theory, and then we'll be talking to contractors that actually applied those theories and what are the key factors and how we bridge that gap between the theory and the practice for other contractors who are going through that growth, that change, that situation. So all of these super interesting things that we'll be going about.

[00:11:55.680] - Ronaldo

Great. Perfect. So everybody stay tuned to Bricks and Binders, and please follow us and subscribe. Once again, it's Ronaldo.

[00:12:05.310] - Frédérique

And Frederique.

[00:12:06.370] - Ronaldo

For Bricks and Binders, and see you next time