Charge Forward Podcast
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Charge Forward Podcast
Transform Your Home, Transform Your Life - How Two Women Are Revolutionizing Home Building in Tennessee
Transform Your Home, Transform Your Life
Imagine coming home to a space tailored perfectly to your lifestyle & family. Carissa Ockey and Amber Wotring, founders of Home Front Builders, are revolutionizing residential construction in Clarksville, Tennessee with their sustainable and thoughtful design approach. From functional pantries to mudrooms that elevate daily living, they share their expertise on creating beautiful, functional spaces.
Join Carissa and Amber on their entrepreneurial journey, as they recount transitioning from feeling overqualified to becoming successful business owners. With diverse backgrounds in music and nonprofit work, they've crafted a unique business acumen emphasizing mentorship, community involvement, and leaving a lasting legacy. Hear their inspiring story of resilience, driven by a commitment to quality construction and innovative design.
From balancing family priorities to overcoming supply chain challenges, Carissa and Amber share practical advice and personal anecdotes. Discover how their partnership, dedication to their craft, and commitment to healthy living have fueled their success. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in home building, entrepreneurship, or balancing family with career ambitions. Get inspired to transform your home and your life.
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You are the cap for whatever goes on in your store, in your company, in your district, in your household, however excited you are, what you believe is possible, whatever that threshold is. Hey team, welcome to the Charge Forward podcast. I'm your host, jim Cripps, coming to you from HitLab Studios here in Nashville, tennessee. Now I've got a special event for you. Today. I have two ladies that are in the building space. They're doing something different, they're doing something special for their clients, and I think that more builders can learn from what they're doing. So I've got home front builders here in the studio with me today Ms Carissa Oki and Ms Amber Wuttering. Welcome, ladies.
Carissa Ockey:Thank you, Hi. How are you?
Jim Cripps:Excellent, excellent. Now what I think makes you, ladies, special is one you really have a passion for how the design matters to, how the house works as a unit, how it benefits the family. But also you're bringing some pizzazz, some higher-end touches, but really kind of in that same price point that people would normally expect from a well-built, nice, spec home. So tell me a little bit how you came up with this idea and really how it took shape.
Carissa Ockey:So I think that the biggest thing for us was we've seen what's in the market now and we just kind of thought, well, we can do that better. Let's do something a little bit more elevated, a little bit more thoughtful and just really offer people a better option. So that was kind of the inspiration is that we felt that the families that we serve deserve something more yeah, well, and you've got first-hand experience because you've got a growing family I do and how that works.
Jim Cripps:So I guess what are some of the most important pieces to you as somebody that lives in a home with a, with a growing family, what, what are the key features and and how did that kind of take shape in what you all build?
Carissa Ockey:So, basically, I think you know, when you're trying to build homes that are going to accommodate all different kind of setups, like you know couples, families, growing families that's where a big gap in the market where we are in Clarksville exists, because the homes don't have pantries, they don't have mud rooms, they don't have all of these spaces that really help you get organized and live a better life, honestly, with small kids, with bigger kids or even just two people. You want to have that pantry space. You want to be able to drop all of your stuff off before you come into the main part of the house. So we just really wanted to create that space.
Jim Cripps:Well, and I think because it's a military town and because the real estate market has been good for so long, I think it has allowed that type of stuff to slide, in that you've got one, you've got turnover because you've got, you've got people that PCS out and go to other duty stations. A lot of times they keep them as rentals or they sell them, and so they're not looking long-term as to what this home means to them. It is a place to reside, and I think that's one of the big things that I see y'all doing, and I almost think that it really plays into where you're building at, because if you look, I mean you are predominantly south of Clarksville and north of Nashville, kind of in that space where a lot of people that retire from the military or think that this might be their last duty station, that's where they want to live.
Carissa Ockey:Exactly, and that's why we find it so important to consider these things and really, you know, build a long lasting, sustainable home these things and really, you know, build a long, lasting, sustainable home.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, what do you find is kind of the sweet spot, for you know where the buyer kind of starts giving input? I know you guys have done an amazing job and I don't take this lightly, in that you know for builders for a lot of them, the faster we can get it up the better, and that you know for builders, for a lot of them, the faster we can get it up the better, and that may mean they go ahead and do everything, or they'll hold off on carpet and a couple touches and that's what they get to pick. Now you ladies are letting people design quite a bit, but it also means that you kind of have to stall the construction, which costs you money, but I think it builds your brand, and so I guess, what is that sweet spot where you're like man, it's great when somebody can jump in at this point.
Carissa Ockey:Yeah, right now we are kind of focusing on doing two separate types of projects.
Carissa Ockey:We're doing spec homes where there's really no room for anyone to jump in.
Carissa Ockey:But you know, I'm an interior designer, so all of our selections are chosen with that in mind, chosen with forward trends, but also, you know, where it's not so trendy, you're going to have to tear stuff out in five years and then we're also allowing people to do. You know, we're kind of calling it semi-custom, but really it is pretty custom home where you can pick your floor plan, we can make changes to that and then you also get to pick your selections and we get to kind of walk hand in hand through that process, which is super fun as well. And in the future we hope to do some where, you know, we get to framing and then maybe someone comes in and purchases and they get to make some of their selections. You know, the problem is is where you would cut off that selection date is, you know, before cabinets. But those need to be ordered four weeks in advance. You know, we've had situations ever since COVID where we, you know there is a little bit of a delay in the order process.
Jim Cripps:Oh yeah, and you never know quite where that's going to be. You know, I think I shared with you when you stopped by the house is when we were building. The doors were 11 months behind, and so the first five months we lived in the home we did not have doors, any doors on the inside of the house, and then when they came in, all the bathroom doors came in in glass.
Carissa Ockey:You're like great the ones. We don't want glass on Thank you, Exactly exactly.
Jim Cripps:So there's a lot of things that can happen through the process and you know, I think that's one of the things that makes you Exactly, Exactly. So there's a lot of things that can happen through the process and, you know, I think that's one of the things that it makes you all special, with 30 years of combined experience in the in the home building space, both on the design side as well, as you know construction and making sure that people are happy with them. Now, Amber, I know your background is a bit different. You came in from the design side, correct? Now, Amber, I know your background is a bit different.
Carissa Ockey:You came in from the design side, correct? Yes, so I started out right out of high school, going into college, doing strictly design and floor plans for other builders, and that was in Florida. And then, once I moved to Tennessee a few years later, is when I got into the building side of it also.
Jim Cripps:So for the past 15 years I've been doing the design side and the building side of it also. So for the past 15 years I've been doing the design side and the building side. That's great and that gives you a really kind of a look behind the curtain as to how it all comes together and how important having a quality design takes some of the guesswork or the aggravation out of the actual construction.
Carissa Ockey:Yes, Because one thing that it's hard is that most builders don't have a design background, and so when they're putting up floor plans, they're doing it for strictly profit and you know what works in their mind, not necessarily what works for actual families or people. And so now that we've got two women who are designing the homes that are going to fit your needs, plus I have the mindset of the builder side, because designers don't care about profits, Builders only care about profits. So we kind of have the best of both worlds right now that we're putting together and knowing where we can push our limits.
Jim Cripps:Well, I think it's that experience and that collaborative nature between the two of you, because you're more black and white and Carissa is obviously more passion-driven. Yeah, you hold each other accountable.
Carissa Ockey:Yes, absolutely.
Jim Cripps:And it's really kind of how you started the company right. So the two of you worked together before and after that relationship had run its course, you were trying to figure out what the next steps were, and I think both of you probably ran into a little bit of a situation where you were overqualified for a lot of the roles out there.
Carissa Ockey:Yeah right.
Jim Cripps:And so I think Carissa was the one that finally said the words out loud. That you needed to hear was why don't we do this on our own? And so how did that go?
Carissa Ockey:Well, I was being asked that question everywhere that I went everywhere that I had tried to, you know, get in with other builders or other companies, you know, trying to find my new place in the world, and nobody could understand why I wasn't doing it on my own.
Carissa Ockey:And, you know, I started to do a business plan and a business model and talk to Chris about it, started to do a business plan and a business model and talk to Chris about it. So we collectively together were working on business plan and models for other companies that we were going to kind of go to and say, hey, this is what we can do and bring to your company to grow it in the Clarksville area. And she said, well, why don't we just try to do it on our own? And, you know, send it out to to, like her dad's a mentor. So we were able to send it to him so he could look through it and you know, really didn't have much input because he thought it was fantastic. You know what we had done. But you know she said, let's just do it.
Jim Cripps:Well, you know, I think about it as somebody who has run a big company Just do it. Well, you know, I think about it as somebody who has run a big company.
Jim Cripps:The same person that would be overqualified is the same person that needs to start the next business, and the marketplace needs that too, in that you need competition, you need new ideas, you need somebody that has lived it and can carry it on. You know a lot of these colleges, and I'm not against a college education, but a lot of these colleges the professor has never actually done it. It's all in theory, and so y'all have a combination of both classroom study and then practical application for 30 combined years, and then now you're doing it on your own, and so I think you're better prepared to make less mistakes along the way and to not only provide for your customer, but also provide a quality place for people to work.
Carissa Ockey:Yeah, Well, most of the time when you start a business, you've learned from somewhere. You start somewhere else, you do it for somebody else and then, once you've outgrown where you are and you know that you can take it on yourself, that's when you blossom and you try. So it was really me being pushed out of my comfort zone to believe in myself that I could do it, because I was so scared to take that risk. And then, once I realized that I had the backing that I had and the support that I had, with everybody around me saying you can do this, then I took a leap of faith and here we are.
Jim Cripps:Well, and that is the difference between an entrepreneur and somebody that is going to stay an employee and you have to get to that point where and sometimes you still need a little bit of a push, and you know how God shapes that, how he pushes. You could be words of encouragement, it could be that support, it could be a season coming to an end, it could be a combination of things. But then you also have to be willing to seize that moment and say I can control my own destiny, I can take action. I can control my own destiny, I can take action. And I love the fact that you ladies took the action together and it was really kind of a catalyst between the two of you in order to figure that out.
Carissa Ockey:Yeah.
Jim Cripps:That's fantastic. Now, if you were going to describe in your own words what makes your homes special at Homefront Builders, what would you say? It is.
Carissa Ockey:I think there's a few different things that make us special. One is the floor plans. They are very well thought out. They are designed to grow with you. So you know you start out, you're a single person, you're married, you have kids, you know there's still space, there's always going to be an extra. You know pantry, or we're just really trying really hard to make the floor plan special. So we have that going for us.
Carissa Ockey:The design again, the selections we try to do things that are not being done by other builders, that are going to look really beautiful and not just your kind of builder grade, that type of thing. And I think the third thing is like the care that we put into the homes. We're doing frame checks, we're meeting the electrician out there, we're meeting the HVAC people out there. We're making sure that each part of the construction process is really followed up on, and so the quality is very high. We're not just throwing up houses and you know hoping for the best. You know we want the quality to is very high. We're not just throwing up houses and you know hoping for the best. You know we want the quality to be super high.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, and we talked about this a little bit when you talked about the house. So for those that don't know, I mean I built a custom home. You know.
Jim Cripps:Most people, I think, would start with a small one and then build up, and I didn't, I just went straight for the forever home, and it was incredibly grueling 23 months from start to finish, from the time that I put a shovel in the ground, bought a Traxivator, dug the hole myself. You know a lot of the things, but it was grueling, and I can tell you that if I had to do it all over again, it was a great experience in that I learned a lot. If I had to do it all over again, it was a great experience in that I learned a lot, but I won't do it again, and so I think the fact that y'all have honed your craft is so vital to providing this not just a house, but a home for families, and having those spaces that are dedicated, like your mudroom, so that the mudroom's not supposed to be pretty Now it will be day one but it's supposed to house the mess so that the rest of the house can be beautiful.
Carissa Ockey:Exactly.
Jim Cripps:A laundry room is supposed to house the clothes that are going from a mess to clean so that you don't see them all over the house.
Jim Cripps:There are these little nuances that I think make a house much more livable, and so I love that about the spaces that you're creating. And you said something earlier, carissa, that I think we need to take a moment and back up to is. You said you're not looking for designs that are a flash in the pan or that are trendy today, but it's a trend that you will love for a long time and not feel like you need to remodel in five years.
Carissa Ockey:Yeah, exactly, I think that's really important to me because, you know, as someone that has five kids, I am going to be putting my money towards them. You know, I don't need to be tearing out cabinets, ripping up floors, doing all of this kind of stuff, when I need to be focused on, you know, extracurriculars, college buying, cars, you know that kind of thing. So, for me, I want to build something that's going to be beautiful, but also that is not going to be beautiful just for five years, and then our buyers are left trying to figure out how to bring their home up to date now.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, and I think that's critical in that. One of the things that I teach my son is we want to buy the nice things at the appropriate time and then take care of them so that they last a long time. You don't want to buy the cheap things over and over and over, you want to take care of it, and so I think you're building a house that's worth taking care of. Not that any of them are not, but you know you've got good bones and it's it's well built and the design aspects are not meant for to get somebody from TikTok to come by your house. It is really meant for you to make it livable and enjoy it for a long time.
Carissa Ockey:Exactly so.
Jim Cripps:I think that's an incredible mission that you both share. Now, obviously, you came to this after a season had passed, that you are both in for a long time, and that can knock the wind out of you. It really can, and part of the spirit of the Charge Forward podcast is it's people that when they get knocked down they charge forward, and I know we had talked a little bit before about how it took a while to kind of get your feet back underneath you and figure out the direction.
Carissa Ockey:So if you kind of walk us through that process, so for me personally, I am very blessed I have parents that have never made me doubt myself. It's the exact opposite. They've always empowered me and made me feel like I can accomplish absolutely anything. And so when I was in this kind of period of, okay, what is what's next, what am I going to do? Um, it was like kind of a holding pattern, you know. And then, uh, when I brought this idea to Amber and then we were kind of talking through the business plan with my dad because he's someone that I admire a lot he was like you guys need to go for it. He's like this is a great plan, you need to, and so that was kind of the push that I needed. And then, of course, I have a super supportive husband who really, from day one of knowing him, has always been like you can accomplish anything you want, like he I believe in you.
Carissa Ockey:And he he said that to me multiple times Like I really believe in you and I think that whatever it is that you want to accomplish, you can do. So I think that was helpful for me in taking that next step, taking that big risk, because it is a risk to start a business, no matter how much experience you have. You know you can fail, but I think because of the people around us, we won't fail.
Carissa Ockey:And our dad's a mentor for us and has helped us along the way because he's a builder himself and has been in the building industry his whole life too.
Carissa Ockey:So Carissa kind of grew up in the industry with him and you know he's a nationwide builder and out of country builder, so he's been a blessing for us to be able to bounce ideas off of and ask, you know, the best routes to go about things.
Carissa Ockey:And you know we send him our floor plans to with changes and he's able to make comments and kind of give us some ideas until we hone in our floor plans to exactly what we're looking for. And you know we copyright all our floor plans because you know, when I started building in Clarksville 15 years ago, I brought all new floor plans to the table and they were not copyrighted. They were either plans that I had found or possibly designed, and every other builder took off with them, and so the plans I brought to Clarksville are now thousands of them in Clarksville by all the other builders and so that we did not want that to happen again this time. So all of our plans are specifically designed by us and copyrighted by us. So that way we are the only ones that can bring those to the table now.
Jim Cripps:I love that. I think that is incredibly important and you know, I experienced that 21 years ago. So I was interested in a home and kind of had a little bit of following out with the builder because they did some things that I would consider shady, in that I wanted to buy the house but I wanted to finish the bonus room and they came back to the table the next day and said, oh, we mismeasured the house, so the house is this much now and the bonus room is this much on top of it, and I was in disbelief that that could happen. But I went to another builder and said, hey, can you build this house? And it was in Clarksville. And with the one phone call they were like oh yeah, we've got the plans, We'll send it over to you.
Jim Cripps:And obviously he didn't call the other builder I won't name names or who did that. But then, lo and behold, I had the same house but, you know, with my flair on it, and so I think it's important to protect that intellectual property and to have your own style. You know we talked a little bit about Crookenburg and you know they build a beautiful home and actually the foreman that built my first home went to work there and you know I thought, okay, well, great, I'll have them build my house, but they don't build basement homes. And that I was almost in disbelief. I thought he was. I thought he was messing with me.
Jim Cripps:And I was like no, no, no, I, you know, I get it, we're in Pleasantview. And he goes no, no, we'll build in Pleasantview, but we don't build basement homes. And I still thought he was messing with me and I said, well, you built my last one. He goes yeah, but I was at a different company. We don't build basement homes, and that's that's really when I decided to build my own. And so I do think that each builder, each, each company, has its own not just brand, but kind of feel, and I think it's important that people find the right feel for their taste or for the home that they want to create, and I think you all bring something special to the table in regard to that.
Carissa Ockey:And when we started, that was one thing is there. You know there's a lot of good builders in Clarksville and the Pleasant View area and there's a lot of builders that I even specifically work with, helping them hone in their floor plans and selections and things. And you know, can we kind of bounce ideas off each other and and so there's there's some really good ones in Clarksville that I look up to. And you know we knew coming into this we don't want to create a new building company that does exactly what everybody else does. I mean why there's so many good ones already?
Carissa Ockey:You know we kind of didn't want to compete in that same market and so we kind of wanted to bring something a little different where we're only going to do so many homes a year. We want to focus on our quality, we want to focus on our buyers. So you know, the past 15 years I've been more production with over 100 homes a year, and I mean you cannot hone in your quality that way. I don't care how many people you employ or how many foremans you have, and it's just impossible to see your houses every single day or every single week. And so we had agreed to kind of keep it small, keep the quality there, do more spec home type custom houses and really focus on the buyers and giving them the best product.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, I love it and I do think that there's absolutely a market for what you ladies are doing and it's already showing. I mean, you have how many spec homes currently.
Carissa Ockey:So we have five spec homes and we've already, even without anything, finished in this company's name we already have three pre-solds.
Jim Cripps:That's fantastic. And then you've got some. Is that the custom?
Carissa Ockey:ones. Yes, so the three custom pre-solds, and so eight homes under construction currently. Yes.
Jim Cripps:And you've been in business what this is, month nine.
Carissa Ockey:Yes.
Jim Cripps:So averaging basically one a month. Yep, that's fantastic yeah.
Carissa Ockey:And then each one of our customs are all specifically designing their floor plans, and so anybody that builds with us, even if you're building more of a spec type house, we're still sitting down with you in a design meeting. We're still completely designing that floor plan. Even if you've picked one we've already built, we're still making those changes to make sure that we're fitting your needs.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, I love it built. We're still making those changes to make sure that we're fitting your needs. Yeah, I love it and you're bringing that experience, that you have that depth to that experience Because you know again, to use my own house as an example, chris, when we walked through there I talked about if I had known ahead of time I would have moved the office doors over a foot because they kind of get in the way of another door, and so it's the little things that if you don't have that depth in your experience that you'll miss, and you know it's not easy to undo those things.
Carissa Ockey:Yeah, and those are the things that we kind of go over in the design meeting too, and a lot of times people in their mind think that they want something or they want it a certain way, and so we have, you know, newer, innovative programs that we use for design. So all of our stuff is designed in 3D. So I do all of the designs, all the programming, and we completely draw everything in a 3D program where you can walk through the house. We can put all of your color selections in the program so it will show you your cabinet color, floor color, tile color, paint colors, everything, and so you can actually feel walking through the home. We put it on a big screen TV and let you sit in front of it walking through the house, and it's amazing to be able to see what you think in your mind is not what it actually is, and so this program lets you show that, and then we talk about different ways to make it happen to what you think you want.
Jim Cripps:So obviously they couldn't see my face as you were talking about that but, I was. I'm ecstatic that that is there and that you're doing that with clients, because there's nothing worse, I think, in envisioning it in your head and then, when you walk in, you're instantly let down.
Jim Cripps:It's not the way you wanted it or it didn't live up to those expectations, and I think a lot of times that's how people feel and I think it's. I think it's glossed over because there's so much to take in when you buy a new home. Right, it's the difference in buying a piece of furniture or buying a home.
Jim Cripps:In a home, there can be a lot of defects that you're not going to see until six months down the road because it's overwhelming, whereas one piece of furniture you're like oh, there's a nick here, and so it really does, I think, allow you to make those mistakes before they're built and then undo them or correct them, and that's the hardest thing is building to people's expectations, because reality versus expectations aren't there.
Carissa Ockey:So we have an extensive meetings before we ever even sign contracts. You know, before we sign contracts we're knowing what your floor plan is, you're knowing your price. We have set expectations on. It is the good, the bad and the ugly of building, because it is not not easy. It's going to be very stressful for you. You know we set meetings throughout the build. So we were meeting you out there. We're explaining to you so you're not freaking out over what you're seeing on the job site, you know. So we're there, helping you through the process, doing the best we can to make it a joyful experience, because it's the most stressful thing you're probably going to do in your lifetime is build a house.
Jim Cripps:That's right Well, and I think it's probably a love-hate situation with both that process as well as Pinterest.
Carissa Ockey:Yes, and that is one of the biggest things that I tell people when they come in. I said listen, you can show me your Pinterest for inspiration. I can't recreate your Pinterest in the price range that you are purchasing your house, because when you're on Pinterest, 98% of the time you are seeing multimillion dollar homes. You're not seeing a $700,000 home. You're not seeing a $600,000 home. So to expect those finishes at that level of detail in the design is impossible, like it's just really not doable, and so I like to set that expectation again. Like Amber said, expectation management is a very big part of this job. So I want you to know we are going to make it look beautiful, we are going to put in better than builder grade, but it's still not going to look like a $2 million home.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, and I do think that social media and Pinterest, for all the good things there's also, it does sometimes set a false sense of how it's supposed to be. And you know it'd be like if I had a $2,000 car and I put a $10,000 paint job on it. Right, it's still a $2,000 car, and you know. So I can buy a fancy piece of whatever, and it may not look the same way in my house, and it's just because of the surroundings.
Jim Cripps:It is not in that same setting um, and you know, there again too, you know people. It's that instant gratification, it's the ikea way versus you know buying a piece that you're going to have refinished and you know passed down to your kids that you know buying a piece that you're going to have refinished and you know pass down to your kids that you know those days are gone for most, most folks. Um, whereas I think again, I think you're striving for something that people will, will not want to leave, yeah.
Carissa Ockey:And we've learned from the past, because expectations in the past used to be well. We build the same floor plans over and over. So if you want to see what your house is going to look like, just go walk another house, even though it doesn't have any of your selections or anything in it, or you can see pictures from previous builds and you really didn't get an idea or expectation for your specific build, and so you know that's kind of the only thing that people had to choose from in Clarksville is to just buy a house that keeps being built over and over again, and that's the only way you're really going to see it. So, and then if you do custom, you really can't see what you're getting. You see it on a kind of a 2D program, which is what I always used to use in the past. But now we're out of that and we're getting to show people what their house is really going to look like.
Jim Cripps:That's great, you know, I think the experience from start to finish, of seeing your house be built and then walking in day one and then also living in it after that to see what mistakes you made or what you should have done differently, or those types of things I do think that that's a process that we go through as we grow up. So kudos to you all for using the latest and greatest technology and trying to circumvent, you know, those pain points for folks. I think that's one of the things that really makes you all different. Now we know where you're building and we know what type of home you're building. You're building, you know, kind of spec plus spec plus some finishes and some individuality.
Carissa Ockey:What are you most excited about? I think what I'm most excited about is serving our community and really giving them a better option. I just I have a lot of respect for Clarksville and the people who live there. It's accepted me as my home. You know, I moved up from Franklin and it was just an immediate welcome, and so I really love the people and I really want to offer them something that is different and that will make their lives easier, make living easier.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, and well, even down to the name, the name didn't happen by accident either. So if you will give it, give the listeners a little, a little insight to behind the name of Homefront Builders.
Carissa Ockey:So Amber and I are both military wives, um, and so we and Clarksville is a military town, so we really wanted to kind of honor that, and the home front is traditionally looked at as where, you know, a soldier comes home to find like that refuse, you know, like just to be like comforted, and and we really wanted to offer that um to the soldiers and their families and also non-military families as well. So it's just kind of that like jumping off point. Their home is the jumping off point for whatever incredible actions you're going to take.
Jim Cripps:And that's kind of where we got came up with the home front builders, obviously because we built Well, and both of you have expressed just how supportive your spouses are, and so I think that's a big piece to this, and you know most people you know this was not by design, but most people that end up sitting in this podcast studio and and coming on the show will agree that who you pick as your partner in this world, in this life, your spouse is probably and I say probably, cause I really want to say is, but we'll leave a little bit out there for some people in as the biggest decision that you will make, the most important decision you will make on the trajectory of your life, yeah.
Carissa Ockey:I would agree with that. I mean, having done it wrong the first time, I can tell you that when you're with the wrong person, it makes life a lot harder, and then, when you're with someone that's supportive and kind and wonderful, it makes life so much easier.
Carissa Ockey:Yeah, and I wouldn't be able to do it. Without the support of my husband, my family, my sister, I wouldn't have ever taken that leap. And your spouse has to be 100% with you, because when you start a business, you're giving it everything. Absolutely. Your finances, your house, yourself, everything that you own, and your time. You're putting it into this business. It's taking 100% to get it off the ground and to get it going. So if you don't have your spouse supporting you in doing that, I really don't see how it's going to work.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, Well, and I think for entrepreneurs, there's a natural point where you've kind of reached the pinnacle of what you're going to do for somebody else and now it's time to do it for yourself. Yep, and you know, I'm just happy that y'all reached that. Us too actually.
Carissa Ockey:We got pushed into it and then we accepted it. Yeah.
Jim Cripps:Well, there's plenty of people that would have a self-doubt or a mindset that would keep them from doing that, and so I don't think that's by accident. I think it's partly because you have so many years of experience so you know what you're capable of. And then I think we talked once and you said something to the effect of I was asking people to take a chance on me, but I wasn't willing to take a chance on me. But I wasn't willing to take a chance on me, and I think that is incredibly profound.
Carissa Ockey:My motto is take a chance on yourself.
Jim Cripps:There you go, but it hasn't always been that way it has not.
Carissa Ockey:That's great, that's great.
Jim Cripps:So I think it just continues to prove that we are constantly working to become the person we are supposed to be. And that takes effort, Yep, and that takes getting uncomfortable and it takes being accountable and a lot of people will try not to be any of those things. They want somebody else to blame for it. They do not want to be, they don't want to blame themselves and they are in this rut. They don't want to take that action. But you know that's everybody's individual choice, right?
Carissa Ockey:And we say everything happens for a reason and so you know it's. You know, building something for somebody else for so many years. And when that came to a dead end, stop halt and trying to figure out where to go from there. I mean your whole life, my whole life completely changed around and it was just trying to figure out where to go from there. I mean your whole life, my whole life completely changed around and it was just trying to figure out where to go from there.
Carissa Ockey:And Chris and I actually did our energy healing this past week and kind of trying to help us center that confidence and trust and faith in ourselves. You know, because when you have that big of a difference in your life or change in your life, especially when it wasn't your idea to begin with, you know kind of it hits your confidence, your your just faith and and trust in everything else, and so it's. It's been a challenge this past year to kind of get that back for me, for myself, to know. You know what I've done this before. I've already built a business. I've already built one of the number one businesses in Clarksville for somebody else. So I can do this for myself and this time I'm going to do it for myself and so, you know, for us and our families.
Carissa Ockey:And at least now she had told us energy healer, you need to give yourself recognition and you need to accept recognition and that's something I've never been been good at, so I am. I am working on that because she's like people look at you and think you're doing amazing things and I've been. I have been successful and young on in my life because I started young with doing designing and in architecture and building and stuff. But it's just very hard for me to accept. And so she's. She's this energy healer, is helping us bring it all together.
Jim Cripps:So I will say if we were on stage, I would have just ran over, gave you a high five and a big hug. So for the listeners out there, which you may not know I'm going to, I'm going to share the story behind this. So Ms Carissa and Ms Amber came in a couple of weeks ago and we had a. I bought a brand new thumb drive in order to record this podcast on and it failed, and so we got a minute and 48 seconds of their episode, but you were a different person today.
Carissa Ockey:Yes.
Jim Cripps:So let's, we're skipping ahead a little bit, but let's talk a little bit about health, because you sat in that seat and you were fine. You did everything that you needed to do to get through it. Today, you were enjoying being in the studio, you were enjoying telling the story of you. So tell me, I am curious what type of healing did we do? Please share.
Carissa Ockey:It was pretty much for me letting go of the past. She said a lot. A big part of me was still where I was before, because that wasn't my whole life. I put every single thing I had into to something else, for somebody else, and so she was pretty much like get that back and put it in your business now, put it in your life now and kind of let the negative energy go, let go the resentment that you have, you know, from everything that had went down and focus on being happy and focus on having faith and confidence in yourself again and trusting other people and trusting your inner circle.
Jim Cripps:I love it. That is fantastic. So I want to. I want to give you just another piece of advice there, and this is from Nick Heider, so shout out to Nick, who owns this studio. But this hit home for me because, much like yourself, or both of you, um, my identity years ago was very attached to my job. I'm one of those people like yourselves that has tough, a tough time differentiating between who I am and what I do.
Carissa Ockey:Yes.
Jim Cripps:And I think he said it very eloquently on a podcast where he said you should be building your personal brand that your companies spin off of and then that way on the day because you will eventually sell home front builders I have no doubt that one of these days somebody is going to come along and make you a very attractive offer and you will have put a lot of heart and soul into growing that company into an amazing company Not that it's not already, but somebody will pay you enough money to go retire. And the reason I think it's important to build your personal brand and then your company is off of that is so that you have something left you didn't sell yourself or yourself didn't get taken away.
Carissa Ockey:Well, everything else will thrive if you work on yourself.
Jim Cripps:Look at you. I mean we've got one session here, the guru, over here, I'm telling you. That's fantastic. So let's take a divergence just a little bit. Let's go ahead and talk about health. So, carissa, I see you at the gym all the time.
Carissa Ockey:That's Carissa, not me. When your husband's at the gym all the time, that's Chris, and not me. When your husband's at the gym all the time, he is a personal trainer and a real estate agent. He's in the gym every morning at either four or five o'clock and I am snoring up a storm.
Jim Cripps:That's right From what I understand, he's like jacked.
Carissa Ockey:Yes, he is jacked.
Jim Cripps:And then Carissa, you just had a baby.
Carissa Ockey:I did yeah, eight weeks ago.
Jim Cripps:Eight weeks ago and y'all were in the studio two weeks ago. So just six weeks ago you were in the studio ready to do this. But you know there's a lot of people that would make a lot of excuses and I know I was talking to Sylvia and she said she's supposed to get cleared by the doctor today so that she'll be here tomorrow.
Carissa Ockey:Yeah, for the gym, that's right. Yeah, I mean, I had an emergency C-section and this is my fifth baby. I've never had a c-section before, so I didn't really know what to expect. But I think, because I am very health conscious, nutrition conscious, I was able to recover pretty quickly from that. So I was able to, right at the six week mark, be back in, which was good for my mental health, to be honest, Right?
Jim Cripps:Well, and that stems from your mom, right, you've got some familial encouragement on health.
Carissa Ockey:Definitely. My mom has always been very health conscious, even growing up. I never ate food from a box or a package or anything like that. That's definitely my mom's influence and I've carried that forward with my kids. And she's an exerciser, she takes supplements, you know she's very into all that. So, um, that's been very helpful. In the beginning of my journey I was, to be honest with you, kind of a reluctant learner, you know, like when I was 16, I was like why are we doing all this? What's wrong with Arby's? You know? Um, and then and then, as I got older, I realized the value in what she had been doing and now do it for my own kids. And I fully expect my 16-year-old to be like why are we doing all this? What's the harm in Sonic or whatever? But I think once you lay that foundation, it's very easy to come back to, and so I definitely feel that that's benefited me.
Jim Cripps:Well, I think, just in general, part of adolescence is trying to push the limits and see what else is out there. But if you've built this strong foundation of understanding what you put into your body is medicine, whether you like it or not good medicine or bad medicine, and it is easier for them to understand that when they hear these things or when they see these things later in life, you know, one of the things that I can't stand personally is school lunches.
Carissa Ockey:Yeah, I actually just took my younger kids off of school lunch and did home lunch. It's kind of hard, I have a lot going on and so packing lunches is sort of was something. I was like, all right, we're just going to, we're going to let the school feed them. It's not that bad because they they go to a private school, so the lunches are a little bit better than you know. The cafeteria slop, you know. But I kind of was noticing they started getting dark circles, they started acting out a little bit, and they're three and four, so they're very sensitive to changes like that.
Jim Cripps:So we just kind of switched to home lunch and they've been already. I've seen an improvement.
Carissa Ockey:Oh, it's, it's night and day.
Jim Cripps:And you know, uh, my son is a little bit older, he turns 11 this month and you know he's there at CrossFit with us. You know it goes three days a week basketball, all you know all the things. He's very active and you know, growing up just total transparency. I was the fat kid, you know, I was 115 pounds in kindergarten, if you can imagine that. And so the majority of my adult life I was 300 pounds and it wasn't until I turned 40 and had just kind of a revelation of a couple of things happened all in one day. Uh, that should have been exciting and ended up just being this rude awakening and I'm so thankful for it. But, um, I knew I had to get my life on track from a health perspective. I was very successful in the business world, but not only did I look terrible on the cover of the business journal, but I was showing my kids the wrong direction.
Jim Cripps:I was leading my family in the wrong direction. So kudos to you, because I mean people will find all types of excuses, but here you are, you sit in the studio, you own your own business, you have a partner in another business, so you're, you're, you're doing all those things Plus, you have five kids, children five children and your husband has a has a has a crazy job.
Jim Cripps:You know he's out there fighting for us here here on the home front. Right yeah, you know he's out there fighting for us here on the home front right, yeah. And so there's a million people. That would come up with 8 million excuses.
Carissa Ockey:Yeah, you can have excuses or you can have results, as they say. And I'm not even talking from a physical standpoint, obviously, I just had a baby. That's not my main focus right now. Right now I'm talking about mental health. You know, if I can't do something physical for my mental health, I'll go crazy. So I do really appreciate that aspect of you know, the exercise portion and then it does help with, you know, following a nutritious I hate the word diet because you know like how bad has our actual what we're eating become in this society where it's like I'm eating fruits and vegetables and meat and that's a diet. You know, like that shouldn't. That should just be how you eat and you can have a little treat, you know like I love ice cream.
Carissa Ockey:I'm not going to tell you that I don't eat ice cream, but I don't eat ice cream every day.
Jim Cripps:Well, and I will say I'm, I'm the opposite, and then I can't. I need to be very strict. So, you know, I'm on, I think, day 80 today of basically animal based so it's kind of like carnivore except I do allow a couple. You know, every once in a while a vegetable, every once in a while a fruit. I do like cottage cheese, you know a couple of things like that. But, um, you know, I'm down 30 plus pounds and it. But it's a decision. And obviously everybody around you is like, oh, you know, that's, that's not good for you, that's. There's plenty of naysayers when you're, when you're on this path of improving your health or your kid's health, you know, and everybody's like, oh, it's fine. Just, you know, let them eat at school. My son is so particular about it, he wanted to, just for a social aspect, he wanted to start eating breakfast at school two days a week. And I was like, no problem, buddy, you do it, that's totally fine.
Jim Cripps:It's not the end of the world. And he came home the next day. He goes dad, can I take a couple eggs with me? And I said do what? And he goes well, they won't let me get extra egg. And he goes honestly, their eggs are not great anyway. So I'm going to get a sausage and biscuit. But what if I just go ahead and take two or three extra eggs with me? So he gets up in the morning, scrambles, scrambles his eggs, throws them in a Ziploc bag and he's off.
Carissa Ockey:He's off the races.
Jim Cripps:That's hilarious, so, but it is about what kind of foundation we we provide to them, um, and, and what's going to change the direction of their life. Now you know, obviously you had that health thing in the back in the background with your mom, um, and then you know, both of you have expressed that this positive energy from your families and and your spouses gave you the courage, the spirit, the idea that you could go and do this. What advice would you give to other parents out there that want to instill that same type of confidence, not false confidence, but that belief that they can go and do anything?
Carissa Ockey:Well, I'll go first. I'll say one of the biggest things I try to teach my kids and I think I've done a pretty good job. Actually, my 16-year-old said something to me the other day, but we'll circle to that through this little story here. I try to teach them that I don't want can't to be part of their vocabulary. You can say I don't know how, yet I'm learning, I'm going to get there, but I don't ever want to hear the word can't come out of your mouth. And I used to say that.
Carissa Ockey:And my daughter who's now 16, used to roll her eyes at me when she was, you know, 7, 8, 9. And she's a cheerleader and she'd be like, well, I can't do a tuck, I can't do. And I said uh-uh, and she goes, I don't know how. Yet you know, like that whole thing. And you know there's a thing in the cheerleading world called like a tumbling block and it's where these kids decide they can't do a skill anymore. And I will say that my daughter is a world's level athlete, which means kind of the tip top of where you can be. Her team was fifth in the entire world last year. She has never had a tumbling block because that's never been part of her vocabulary and I swear that's why it is. And so I say that to my other kids now that are younger. The same exact thing. Your mental is everything. If you tell yourself you can't, you can't Because your brain, what you're inputting into your own mind, leads to the outcome. You can choose what you're inputting.
Jim Cripps:Absolutely A thousand percent. I love that mentality and again, I think this circles back to I'm not labeling you a super mom, but you're not far off of that. If there was a classification if we could check boxes, because it's not like her cheerleading competition or her practice is around the corner. You drive over an hour, each way right.
Carissa Ockey:That's right, I do. I'm a crazy person Every day.
Jim Cripps:And so five kids were doing school lunches. You got two companies to run. You got one that you got to travel an hour each way to get her to and from practice, plus competitions and all the things. And there's plenty of people out there, with one or none, that say that they can't because they got some reason.
Carissa Ockey:I mean I just don't like excuses. You know I don't really that's. I mean you like, I just don't like excuses. You know I don't really. That's not part of me and that's probably partly because I was raised that way too. I have two parents who have been wildly successful in their lives and have created amazing things. My mom there wasn't a school that existed for my brother he was an athlete and he was a hockey player. There wasn't a school that existed that fit his needs, so she started a school. Now it's a huge school in where I'm from. You know. My dad started a construction company, builds houses all over the place. Now, you know I. So I think from the very beginning I was given this example, and that's what I want to give to my kids too. I, I they deserve to have everything that I was given.
Jim Cripps:Well, I heard somebody say this the other day, and it was was would you be okay or would you be excited if your child, at your age, ended up with a life just like yours? And if not, then get busy about it today, creating a life worth aspiring to.
Jim Cripps:And you know, really and truly, that's some of the best advice I ever got from my business coach. So big shout out to Chris Weinberg over at Well Coached and Nashville City Club. So Chris told me one day because I was always worried about driving too nice a car or something like that, because I had a, I had 500 employees, and so I drove a 2008,. You know, um, before that, a 2004, and it pretty well, almost every employee that we had drove a nicer car than I did. And I remember I bought a Lincoln pickup from him and it was immaculate because I mean, it was never going to not be just perfect if he drove it and he stopped by the office one day and he goes where's the truck?
Jim Cripps:And I said, well, it's at the house. And he said why are you not driving the truck? And I said, well, you know, I don't want to give that kind of presence around here. And he goes Jim, he goes. If you're not living a life worth aspiring to, then why would you think that these people would follow Like are you living the life that you should be? And I'm not saying that any of us are perfect we are not but we have the ability to get better every single day, and I think people lose sight of that or they lose the accountability to that. And so kudos for all of those things that you're doing there. I want to know from each of you what is the most fun or most amazing experience you've ever had in your life?
Carissa Ockey:You have a lot more than I do.
Carissa Ockey:I have had a lot of really cool experiences, I think because I really like to just jump on opportunities as they come up. I think I'm ADHD, so I can switch gears very easily and I have done that many times in my career and life. I worked for a nonprofit and so I got to travel to all different countries, going to schools and working with kids, and that was amazing. I love that. We went to a little tiny island called Tuvalu in the South Pacific and you could put your foot at one point in the island. It's so narrow, you can put your foot on both sides of the ocean and stand there, and it was incredible. That was super fun. I loved that.
Carissa Ockey:I then transitioned and I was a country music artist and so I got to go on tour, got to open for some people who I consider fantastic artists. I got to work with people who are now names that you would recognize if I said them, and I really loved doing that. And now I just try to do passionate bring passion, sorry, with everything that I do. You know, I think that's what makes life fun. Fun is a very motivating factor for me. It has to be fun or I don't want to do it.
Carissa Ockey:In a roundabout way she has brought her family dynamic that she's following in her dad's footsteps and her family's footsteps. So you know she's done all these things but she's still circled back to being in the building industry that where she came from.
Jim Cripps:Well, because she saw an opportunity where she thought this could be that adventure. And you probably stayed out of a building before that or at certain points in your life where you could have easily gone into the family business. You didn't because you didn't see how that could be the adventure.
Carissa Ockey:Yeah, exactly, I think I never wanted anything to be handed to me. I always wanted to show that I was worthy of what I had worked for, and so I think that is what kept me out of doing the family business, because I didn't want it to be like, well, that's Ryan's daughter, so that's why he has that job, and so you know, I think by partnering with Amber, who we are very yin and yang, we yang we work so well together because we are so different in how our minds work, and so I think by partnering together, that did create that new adventure and a new challenge to overcome.
Carissa Ockey:And we have completely different design aspects of kind of what we like, and so Carissa brings those things out of me too that I normally, you know, I'm kind of about two years behind trend, you know, I see a new trend and I'm like, eh, I'm not sure about that, and about two years later I'm loving it, just when it's kind of going out. And so Carissa keeps me in the know and keeps me in the in the new. And that's kind of where my husband actually brought her to me about five years ago. She was pregnant with her second child at the time and so he kind of brought her to me and said, hey, there's this girl that I met, you know, at our real estate stuff and and I think she would be fantastic and her dad's been in building, she's a designer and, you know, running in building the business I did before I was really busy, and so I love designing, I love picking colors, and I did that for many years.
Carissa Ockey:But I didn't have time to really go out and figure out what the new styles were, what we needed to change, because when we pick a style for a house it's not coming out for six more months and so we kind of have to keep in that future, what's coming out in the future, and so I had hired Carissa at that point to do that for me five years ago. And then here we are today. So she's keeping Homefront Builders in know, making sure we're staying on trend, like she had talked about earlier, and staying in those new styles.
Jim Cripps:I love it, amber. What about you? What's the most fun thing, business or other, that you've ever done?
Carissa Ockey:Um, I don't know. I had a lot of fun in my teens and probably wouldn't be appropriate for today's world with cameras and all that, but after that I was just really constant work. You know, I met my husband and then when I met my husband now we had really living a rock star life at that point. So a lot of fun just going on like kid rock cruises and going to concerts and going to sporting events and stuff. And so then COVID hit and we, kind of, you know, had a stop to our rock star life and now I like staying at home.
Jim Cripps:It's all about growth, it's all about figuring out what's next. Now, this is where we have a little bit of fun with the show, and so this is the section called things we think but do not say. So we're not trying to get anybody canceled here. But uh, what's something out there that you know is just an absolute truth or that you firmly believe in, that that a lot of people will gloss over or say is not important.
Carissa Ockey:I think for me, uh and I guess this is evident because I have five children but I think that it's kind of taboo to say that your family is the most fulfillment that you're going to feel. You know, I think that we're supposed to really glorify our careers, we're supposed to really think about, um, the outside version of ourselves, as opposed to what we are at home and who we're supporting and growing and teaching at home. You know, I think it's very common in culture now to be like, well, just, you know, you send your kids to school, you kind of let them grow up like that, and I feel that I want to be a big influence in my kid's life. I don't want all of this outside stuff to determine who they're going to be, and I think that that's a little bit, you know, risque to say, because we're kind of supposed to fall in line with the society and the system and I feel that I don't really believe that.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, well, I'll piggyback on that and I'll be just a little bit less nice about it. So, parents out there, it is your fault Good, bad or ugly the bar that you set, what you allow in your home, what the example that you lead is what they're going to pick up. Don't blame the school system, don't blame somebody else out there. It is up to you. You had the child. Now it's up to you to make sure they're the best version they could possibly be. So care about them enough to become the person to lead them. Okay, don't blame it on anybody else.
Amber Wotring:Sorry, had to get on my soapbox there for a second.
Carissa Ockey:Amber I guess it's the don't think that your job is more important than your family, and so I've had to learn that the hard way, because I gave my all into something that didn't give it all. It's all back, and, at the end of the day, when you end up with nothing, your family's the one that's still there and you are replaceable. Even if you're replaced with three to five people, you're you're replaceable, and so make sure that you're giving your family the time and the effort that they deserve, and maybe that means not giving your job for somebody else 100%, you know, maybe, given 90, it's okay to not work 24, seven for somebody else to make sure that their company is running perfectly when your family's suffering.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, you know I think it's important and you know much like your experience I've been through that and um, the advice I would give people is to a lot the time, consciously. You know, don't accidentally give it all to your job so that there's nothing left for your family. And you know there's always going to be some give and take. There's always going to be. You know there there are more spokes to you than just one or two, but it's about you consciously taking ownership of that and deciding what piece you're willing to sell.
Jim Cripps:And that's the way I always looked at it and that's why I always took it very personal is because I traded my time for money and so I was willing to trade a certain amount of time for a certain amount of money. And the older I got and the more skilled I got, the larger the amount had to be for me to trade for, and I knew what I was giving up at home. And so you know, if nothing else, that's something I think people should do consciously. Yep, so wonderful. Thank you for both sharing that. Now I know you've both shared that you had mentors throughout. Who have you mentored?
Jim Cripps:Who have we mentored, mentored or spoken into or helped along the way. There's no way that you've been in this business 30 combined years and you haven't shared some of your wisdom.
Carissa Ockey:Well, I feel like anybody that has been employed under me or that that I have worked with, I have mentored, and if you speak to anybody that has worked with me in the past or that has been an employee, they will tell you I am not just a boss, I am a therapist, I am a leader, and I tell them how it is. I'm a straight shooter, I'm a straight person. If they come to me and they're whining about something, I'll be like, well, what did you do? You know? And I don't tell them what they want to hear.
Carissa Ockey:Same with my husband, you know. He tells his people. He's like my wife keeps me accountable. If I get up and I start complaining about something, she'll put me in my place, you know. And so I'm big into leadership and not being a boss, and I'm 100% about lifting people up, encouraging them, and I'm the kind of person that will pretty much kind of demand that you give everything you can to fulfill your potential. And everybody that's worked for me has always rose up. They've, you know, always gotten a lot better underneath working for me, and so I don't really know of many people that haven't enjoyed working with me and so.
Carissa Ockey:I try to mentor everybody that I come in contact with.
Jim Cripps:really, I love that.
Carissa Ockey:I mean I can speak to that. I worked for Amber. Amber was my mentor at one point, you know, and, and that's I mean. Obviously I liked her enough that we're here, no, but I, um yeah, definitely agree with what Amber's saying, Like I was definitely better for having worked with her and for her Um.
Carissa Ockey:On a on a personal level, I feel that I have been blessed with opportunity to kind of pour into people who are a little bit younger than me. So back in the day I had a nanny who would take care of my daughter when I would go on the road and I would you know, she would come to me with questions and life advice kind of stuff and I felt like I was able to act almost like an older sister and give her some advice. And now she's like, not because of me, of her own volition, she is doing amazing, like I love seeing where she is and she's a mom and she's such a fantastic mom and I love watching that. And then a couple of years ago I had some boys from Kennedy's cheer team come into my life who needed kind of a role model, parent figure. And we actually hired them onto the company um that we were working for at the time as kind of like the um, the boys that have to do all of the work. No one else wants to do yeah.
Carissa Ockey:You know they had to clean up, pick up the lots and and clean the houses and that kind of stuff and, um, one of them in particular was very receptive to both what I was trying to teach him and also what our foreman was trying to teach him, and he to see where he is today like it could make me cry. Honestly, I'm so proud of him and the life that he came from. He came from just a really horrible circumstance and he has turned it 100 percent around. He is 180 from where he was then and I think that's partly from working for Amber and partly from him wanting something different for himself and me.
Carissa Ockey:Just in my, I think what I do is I bring a vibe Like you know, I'm a positive person, I'm like you can do this, you can accomplish this. And he'll still, to this day, text me or call me and say you know, I think I'm gonna do this, you can accomplish this. And he'll still, to this day, text me or call me and say you know, I think I'm going to do this, what do you think about it? I'm like you got this buddy, like you can totally do this, and that's kind of my personality.
Jim Cripps:No, absolutely, and people need those types of people in their life. They need the people that will tell them the truth, because there's so many people that they think they're doing somebody a favor by telling them the lie. That makes them feel better. Well, you're not helping me improve when you do that. You're just saving your own feelings.
Jim Cripps:It's really a very selfish thing, and then you kind of helping him change his mindset that he could do and somebody would give him an opportunity. But it was up to him to turn that opportunity into something, while others may squander it. You know, performance really does matter and you know people that listen to this podcast they'll hear me say that over and over, and I hope one of these days it sinks in. Performance matters If we're going to hold hold ourselves accountable to becoming the best versions of ourselves. And so kudos to both you, ladies, for for pouring into other people, because that's what it takes. We're all a summation of of the people that have poured into our lives, good or bad. Some people teach us the things not to do, and then it's up to us to make those decisions as to what path we want to go.
Carissa Ockey:And we're big into charities too in Clarksville, and so if anybody's listening to this and has charities that they want people to be involved with, reach out to us and let us know. We're big into anything military, charity-wise, battered women's shelters, anything with kids, and so we sponsor a lot of events and then make sure that we network and show up for those and really support the community.
Jim Cripps:I love that. I love that, and I think it speaks to your brand too. It's what you are about. So what would you say is one thing and it could be something we've talked about already, or it could be something totally different that you would give advice to somebody that's listening today, that they could take and they could plug into their life in order to make their life better or to change their direction.
Carissa Ockey:Believe in yourself is my biggest thing, and that's what I had to learn last year. That was my biggest learning lesson was I was okay going out and doing this for somebody else again because I didn't believe in myself to do it. Be your own encouragement too. It's great to have encouragement from around you, but be your own cheerleader. Be your own encouragement. Believe in yourself, push yourself.
Carissa Ockey:You know, and just every day it's build that confidence, and I'm I'm still with my energy healer we're still working on that, you know, building my confidence back, because you know she had asked me Are you the same person you were, you know, a year and a half ago? And I was like no, I was the most confident person I knew a year and a half ago. You know I had built this amazing thing. I was in, you know, my mid 30s and or late 30s, and then you know, and pretty successful early on. You know I started to be successful in my mid 20s and so you know I had all this confidence, but for some reason, I didn't have the confidence when I was alone, by myself, to do this. And so you know you really have false confidence to me if you don't really have it in yourself to do this, and so you know you really have false confidence to me if you don't really have it in yourself to do it alone.
Jim Cripps:Well, you know, I think you know, the older I get, the more I believe that nothing happens on accident, Everything happens for you.
Carissa Ockey:Yes.
Jim Cripps:Not to you but for you. And I believe that the person you're becoming. You had to go through that. You couldn't go around it. You had to go through that. You couldn't go around it, you had to go through it. You had to have that taken away from you so that you could reset and you could build the person that you were supposed to be.
Carissa Ockey:And I feel like it's a stepping stone. You know, like I said, if you are opening your own business, it's probably because you've done this for somebody else and now you feel like you can do this for yourself. And so you know, it was just. It was a long stepping stone for me, but it was a stepping stone and it got me to the point where I know I can do this.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, awesome Carissa.
Carissa Ockey:I think I'm kind of gonna piggyback off of Amber's a little bit, but I think that my advice would be just go for the thing that you wanna go for, you know, take the first step. My advice would be just go for the thing that you want to go for, you know, take the first step. You don't necessarily know what it is, you don't know all of the steps you're going to have to take to get from A to B, but just go for it, do it.
Carissa Ockey:Do it scared, do it however it is that you have to take that leap of faith, even if you have a setback, even if you have a setback, or many setbacks, many setbacks.
Carissa Ockey:You know, because the path will become clear. You know, if you keep working. You can't expect that it's going to be always two steps forward. It's going to be two steps forward, one step back. Three steps forward, one step back. It's never going to be a linear shot to success, and so just taking that first initiative is all that you can do.
Carissa Ockey:Yeah, as I take it one day at a time, like there, there's a lot of hurdles to climb when you're starting a new business. I think no matter what kind of business you're starting, there's always those hurdles. And if you, for me, if I look in the future and see all the hurdles at one time, I start to panic, you know, and I'm like what are we doing? How are we going to accomplish this? But if I take it one day at a time and I'm like, OK, we need to get over this one hurdle first, Let me just worry about this one today, and the minute I'm done with that one, then let's go to the next one, and so that's. That's been helping one day at a time, as long as we're moving forward. You know, we had some hurdles in the beginning, just slow rolling because we're waiting on other people. And you know, Chris and I talked to her like if we're just moving forward, if we look at the end of the week and say we've moved to even a small step, then we're happy.
Jim Cripps:That's right. You have to. You have to figure out how to stay committed, how to realize, even though you haven't achieved the goal yet, you are a day closer or you're a step closer, those types of things. And I love the fact that, after some healing, your piece changed from last podcast to this one.
Jim Cripps:And Carissa, yours was the same. In fact, you even said do it scared, and I really honed in on that last time, because confidence does not come before the action. Confidence comes after the action. When you can remember that you were triumphant, you can remember that you won, and so sometimes we have to lean in on past wins in order to get the courage to do it scared, and to overcome the next thing. Yeah, I love that.
Carissa Ockey:I mean to kind of circle back to your talk about health. That is one of the lessons that I've learned from working out, from going to the gym. Motivation is not always there, it's the consistency. Motivation is not always there, it's the consistency, and that's part. You can apply that lesson into your life too. You know you may not feel like doing this every day, but if you show up every day you're going to get somewhere. That's right. And you know, and just breaking it down into the steps, that's right, I love it.
Jim Cripps:I love it. Well, and so this is where we have a little bit of fun, and so we're going to build a bowling team. Each of you have a bowling team. You need five players, so it would be four and yourself, and this is going to be for a charity event. We're going to try to get as many people on this planet to tune in and watch it and be excited right along with us, and so who is going to be on your bowling team I.
Carissa Ockey:so we had the commentator, so I would like it's. I like funny, I want to laugh and I want to have a great time. So I picked Will Ferrell for my commentator.
Jim Cripps:That's right, that's right.
Carissa Ockey:And then I picked on. My players is Adam Sandler, kevin Hart, travis Kelsey, and I didn't have my third one picked, but I wouldn't mind. I don't know who else is funny.
Carissa Ockey:I mean, there's so many funny people out there.
Carissa Ockey:I don't know who's the other guy from Step Brothers.
Carissa Ockey:Oh yeah, what's his name? He's so funny, John yeah C Reilly. John. C.
Carissa Ockey:Reilly yes.
Carissa Ockey:He would be great.
Carissa Ockey:Yep, okay, him and Will Ferrell would be great.
Jim Cripps:Okay, yeah, and then Carissa, yours, has a crossover. Will Ferrell's going to have to do double duty.
Carissa Ockey:He is double duty. He is, yeah, will ferrell's definitely on my team because I also want to have vince vaughn, because I also like funny and just the ping pong there I think would be great. Um, and then I would like to have mark walberg because I'd like to, like, you know, look at him that's fair and then uh, the rock. Just because I mean, look at him too, also look at him, and also he's funny well, and I want to see him throw a bowling ball.
Carissa Ockey:Yeah, I mean he might dent the floor you know, like I don't know how that's gonna go. I don't know how it's gonna go, and for commentator I would really like snoop dog, because how can you go wrong? I mean, you can't go wrong there he was so good, who knew he could talk about horses, you know.
Jim Cripps:But and a master at rebranding himself. Yeah, as.
Carissa Ockey:As himself. Yes.
Jim Cripps:You know, if you look at his entire career, you know, yes, he's evolved, but he always figures out how to play himself, and even in the Olympics. You know he's making mega bucks, but who cares? He got so many people engaged in the Olympics that were otherwise checked out, you know. So, again, not that Snoop Dogg's watching, but man, snoop, you can come hang out. Not that Snoop Dogg is watching, but Snoop, you can come hang out. You can come be on the team, you can commentate Whatever you want to do. You're welcome on the Charge Forward podcast any day. All right, now, this is another fun one In two truths and a lie, and I'm going to try to figure out which one is the lie.
Carissa Ockey:Okay, I guess I'm going first. Well, it's hard because we did this before.
Jim Cripps:That's true. So I already had my line. You can do the same ones. I will try to act like I don't know.
Carissa Ockey:Okay, let's go with that, because I thought they were pretty good. They were.
Carissa Ockey:Okay. So first fact would be that when my car is on empty, I have to go fill up immediately. I can't let it go below a quarter of a tank. That's just not something that I can do. Um, the second one would be that I really love meal planning and making food for my family every single night. I love cooking from scratch and that's a big passion for me. And the third would be that I wait now, I can't think of it. I can't think of another thing to tell you about myself. I have traveled all around the world and I speak three languages.
Jim Cripps:Oh, that one is different, that is different.
Carissa Ockey:Yeah, I thought I'd change it up for you, man.
Jim Cripps:So I can't even fib on this one because, like, literally it fits your personality and I love it. Um, it's. The first one is the lie, because you ran out of gas the day before you came last time yeah, yeah, I ran out of gas on the way to the gym within sight, right yeah yeah, within sight of a gas station, yeah, yeah I
Carissa Ockey:love it it was right there which she wasn't supposed to say, because she didn't want her husband to know. Yeah, but now he's gonna know it's fine, it's okay.
Carissa Ockey:He's told me before. He's like listen, you do this all the time and I will come and I will help with the kids, but I'm gonna leave you to figure it out on your own about the gas.
Jim Cripps:Well, and it just shows that the world is not a bad place, that there are a lot of great people out there, because, if memory strikes me correctly, you had two of the little ones with you. I did you strapped one on your back, you strapped one in the front carrier and you were headed down the road. And was it a doctor that stopped by?
Carissa Ockey:Yeah, yeah, there's a doctor on his way too. We have a TOA in Clarksville, and when I tell you, and I know what 500 meters is, because we have to run at the gym, that's right. I was not even 500 meters from a gas station and so I was like I'm just going to walk there, I'll get a gas can it's fine? And he was like, absolutely not, I am going to do that for you. And it was super kind of him and, yeah, definitely made my day.
Jim Cripps:Do you remember his name?
Carissa Ockey:Yes, yeah, it definitely made my day. Do you remember his name? Yes, scott, dr Scott, a TOA, and I actually the other day dropped off some energy drinks and stuff, because I'm a kind of perceptive person. Before I was going to let a stranger help me, I was scoping out the situation. I noticed a certain brand of energy drink and protein drink in there, so I just picked up a couple of those dropped them off at TOA.
Jim Cripps:I was like thanks for brightening my day. Hope this makes yours. Man. That's awesome Again. It's just good people doing good things for other people and that's fantastic. So a big shout out to Dr Scott out there at TOA. Thank you for helping Ms Carissa.
Carissa Ockey:Thank you, all right, ms Amber. Okay, all right. I knew I wanted to be an architect or builder since I was a junior in high school.
Jim Cripps:Okay.
Carissa Ockey:I used to be a race car driver. Okay. And my favorite music is rap music.
Jim Cripps:Just because it is so bold, I'm going to go with the lie. Is the race gonna go with? Uh, the lie is the race car driver and the truth is the race car driver. Wow, yeah okay, so which one, which one of the other ones was wrong, then?
Carissa Ockey:um, I my I do like rap music, but it is not my favorite I like all music, but rap is not my favorite okay, all right my husband used to rap a long time ago, which is really funny. If you watch it it's very funny, but he's big into the rap music and wish would show me things. I'm like what are you watching?
Jim Cripps:so what did you race?
Carissa Ockey:um, so back in my high school days and out of high school I had a bare lead foot and so my best friend and her family raced. And then the guy I was dating raced and he raced for Best Western and so I kind of got into it then and, you know, was big into racing. My whole bedroom was NASCAR, everything about my life was cars and racing. I was pulled over all the time. I could have said I lost my license probably four or five times.
Jim Cripps:And, like I said, I had a great, great fun time in high school when I was younger. You're not the same person that came in here last time, like, stay with this spiritual thing. I love it. It's fantastic. We need more of it. So I love that. I love that, all right. So here's the big question how do you want to be remembered?
Carissa Ockey:I want to be remembered as someone who was just really loving and kind and compassionate and, kind of like, brought the fun to the situations. I would like to be remembered like that. You know, I don't have any lofty aspirations and how I want to be remembered to the, you know, the public or the world or anything like that, but I want my family and friends to just be like. You know, we always had a good time when Carissa was around and we always knew she was going to take care of us and that's the most important thing to me.
Jim Cripps:That's incredibly fantastic. I couldn't have summed that up about you any other way.
Carissa Ockey:Well, thank you, I guess I'm on track. There you go.
Jim Cripps:Ms Amber.
Carissa Ockey:I just want to be looked at as honest and respected woman who kind of gave it her all, and I want to be the kind of person that people can look up to, and I love going and speaking at places and teaching people and kind of encouraging them to build their personal life, build their work life, build their business anything that I can help with, and so I'm always here to encourage, and so I want people to be able to look at me and say I really respect what she did, and I want to aspire to be able to look at me and say I really respect what she did, and I want to aspire to be able to do that also.
Carissa Ockey:And so the bigger we grow as a company, the more people that we want to help, and so we really want to be looked at. As you know, these women came into our life and really helped us and had donated to these charities that have really made a difference in the community, and so not only are we big in the Clarks, have really made a difference in the community, and so not only are we big in the Clarksville community but also in the Pleasant View community and we build all the way from like Dover, tennessee and Lake Houses all the way up to, you know, north Nashville and so anywhere in between. We really want to bring that to these communities and I just really want to be well respected, because I look at the builders and the other people in my life that I really respect and I aspire to be like them. They treat their employees fantastic. They treat their people fantastic. They donate all this money to all these charity events that we go to and I'm like that's what I want to be.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, I love that and I think it speaks to exactly what you're building there at Homefront Builders. And so if somebody wants to work with you, ladies, if somebody is ready to build their forever home or ready to build their next home where they can raise their family, how do they get in touch with you?
Carissa Ockey:So you can give us a call at 931-221-2566. You can go to our Facebook which is Homefront Builders TN for Tennessee, and we post a lot of stuff on Facebook and content and I think we're going to be posting something about the good, the bad and the ugly of building too and you know, kind of showing the what I call kind of bloopers of building and we just had one this past week. That'll be great to go film and I think we're going to go film that this week and kind of show, look, don't freak out when things go wrong, when contractors do something wrong, and so kind of just watch our content on Facebook. And then we've got a website at homefrontbuilderstncom to go to. Right now it's password protected but we'll be taking that off here shortly.
Jim Cripps:Okay, that's fantastic. Any asks or anything for listeners out there?
Carissa Ockey:Fantastic, any asks or anything for the listeners out there. Just that, even if you just want to get a feel of what we do, don't hesitate to call us. You're not put under the thumb, we're not going to blow you up. If you call and ask a question about building, if you want advice about it, and even if we can't help you as a builder, we will 100% point you in the right direction. We will let you know who we think good builders are that can help you, who contractors are that can help you. If you just want a house designed, we can help you. Even if you find another builder, carissa can help you do interior design, even if you don't build houses with us, and so we have kind of those other businesses that we're working with. So, yeah, don't hesitate to call and we'll give you all the advice we can. We don't hold anything in.
Carissa Ockey:Yeah, and even if you wanna do existing, we both have our real estate licenses, so we wanna be like a one-stop shop for you. If you want something with a house, you can come to Homefront Builders. We will either build it, find it for you or sell it to you. You know like like we just want to be here and and serve people. That's at the core of who both of us are is serving people.
Jim Cripps:I love it and thank you so much for coming in and sharing that. On the charge forward podcast, I do think you both embody the spirit of what we're trying to do here and that's to share amazing stories and amazing people that are doing amazing things to support their communities and to bring value to the marketplace, and I think you both absolutely embody that.
Carissa Ockey:So we appreciate it very much, absolutely.
Jim Cripps:Well, team, you heard it here on the Charge Forward podcast. If you were looking for a home, if you're looking to remodel, if you're looking for some ideas, if you're looking to maybe build or buy any of those things, don't hesitate to reach out to Ms Amber or Ms Carissa at Homefront Builders. You have their phone number. There'll be links in the show notes. Don't hesitate to reach out to them. They are absolutely fantastic and they will treat you and your family as if you are family. Until next time, continue to charge forward, team. Thanks so much for joining us for this episode of the Charge Forward podcast.
Amber Wotring:Look forward to other amazing guests and until next time I'm your host, jim crips. Special thanks, as always, to nick heider and the creative team at hit lab studios here in nashville, tennessee. Special thanks to our sponsors since custom development and charge forward solutions.
Jim Cripps:Please be sure to like and subscribe.