What The Funk?

0:07 don't know nothing about Bitcoin and energy.

0:13 What if I told you the two?

0:18 What if I told you you could learn about the connection between the two? This is me telling you that you can. At the premiere Bitcoin mining event in Houston, Texas put on by digital wildcatters.

0:28 We'll see you there!

0:51 What's up, Funkers? We're back. I got AA in the house American Airlines. Alyssa Arnold. How you doing? Good. How are you? I'm doing really well. I'm doing really well. Thank you for coming

1:04 over. I know you have a late night last night. Thank you for coming to Houston just for my podcast. I'm really appreciative. It's not Nate Week or anything like that. No, it's you literally flew

1:13 to Houston for a 45 minute podcast with me. Right. So yes, I'm honored to be in the same room. Thank you. And I think this is actually the first time we've met in person. It is. It is after.

1:26 Gosh, it's almost a year of us like talking the phone and passing word back and forth and getting to know another. So it's good to meet in person first time. Definitely. So we were initially

1:37 introduced from Jordan. Oh, yeah. Yes. Right. Who's somebody that certainly I trust and I really like and was introduced to me through a friend. So how do you know, Jordan? What's your

1:47 background So I had started consulting firm and is working and looking at unique ways to pick up new clients. And I got reached out by RegUp. They were trying to start a project management component

1:59 and he had a couple of work projects and stuff like that. So he passed some stuff to me. And then as he graduated onto his next role, just kind of became friends realized we're both entrepreneurial

2:08 spirits and just kind of became friends. I think he's even invested in one of the deals that I've done - Oh really - Yeah - So yeah, I love Jordan. And I feel like there's just some spirits in this

2:21 world that you're just drawn to and he's one of them - Totally. And he doesn't like frivolously create introductions. So when he's like, I was telling him about what I was doing with funk futures

2:31 and building various businesses and branching into the startup tech world. He's like, you need to meet Alyssa. And I really enjoyed meeting you and still enjoy getting to know you In part, we've

2:43 both got three kids, right? You're invested in a lot of different things. I'm invested in a bunch of different things, more so with time than money, but still some money component. And we're

2:53 both like keenly aware of the oil and gas tech, the energy tech startup scene, what companies are up to, and kind of take notes back and forth. So like give us a little bit of your background,

3:05 who you are, where'd you grow up, where'd you go to school, what was your career before you went full-blown entrepreneurial? So I went to AM, graduated in December of 11.

3:19 And came out of school, I was a civil engineer, I was expecting to do land development, and save the world, I did research papers and low impact development, and water resources components. And

3:32 then I got an offer for boiling gas and it was twice the amount of civil engineering. So made a hard left turn and started at OXE in the facility engineering role I had no idea what facility

3:44 engineering meant. I didn't know what a workover rig was. I knew really nothing. And I had a really great group. We were in Hugueten, like a real small kind of asset. So it felt like almost a

3:55 family owned company. And so we got to see oil wells, gas wells, salt water disposal, water floods. We really got just a full view of the oiling gas industry, which I think helped a lot. I

4:06 learned everything there and had just a really great young team who we were all learning together I got moved to Permian then inside. And then I moved over to Sheridan, which is a small kind of

4:17 entrepreneurial company. Lisa Stewart's just incredible. And she really empowered us to kind of think of things differently and really empowered us to help make decisions that were good for the

4:29 company and wasn't as corporate structured. So then I got pregnant with my first son, married my husband who I met at Oxi. He actually went to Sheridan first. So he pulled me over to Sheridan to

4:41 be fair. That's cool - And then we had our first son and I didn't really want a traditional job. I wanted something a little different. So I quit, I got my PE, and then just started kind of

4:53 working ons and ins. I helped share it in a little bit still. And then because it was so entrepreneurial, a bunch of people started spinning off and going kind of these small startups and started

5:02 pulling me in to support and slowly just kind of built a consulting agency out of happenstance So now we're at, I think we're onboarding our seventh person this week - Wow, good to see you - Yeah,

5:15 so growing slowly and subtly, we've been operating for about five years and not moving super fast, but I think that's nice. So we're all operators, we kind of support operators and that same

5:29 mentality that we grew up in. Really understanding what the bottom line is, what management wants to see. And so we kind of approach consulting a little differently and I think that traditional

5:38 consultant does, which has been really successful for us. So, a-tax consulting - A-tax energy consulting - A-tax energy consulting. And you run this with your husband - I do, so I started it.

5:52 And after about two years, I was like, I can't do this alone. We had two kids at that point. And so I was like, I need you to quit. And he's a reservoir engineer, so he made good money. He

6:03 bought, he quit to come home and kind of managed the life, managed the children, managed the business And it ended up freeing me up to go do other things that I was passionate about as well. And

6:15 then he's been able to plug in on the reservoir and production engineering and really bring that expertise to the business and to the clients. So, it ended up being a really great move. It was very

6:24 scary when it happened - I bet - We actually, we wanted to be up on the woodlands. And so we bought a house up on the woodlands while he was still on salary because it was easier to get a mortgage -

6:35 Obviously, right? That's a whole podcast internet itself So we bought a house, he was still working full time, we renovated it, he quit, we moved up there, renovated a house. So it was a very

6:51 stressful thing, but looking back, it's like, wow, we unlocked so much by taking that risk. So I'm really glad we did it, but it was scary. There was multiple days where I had stress breakdowns

7:03 because I'm paying for all of our insurance now, I'm paying for everything. But we built a good safety blanket, so we felt good about it - So from a consulting standpoint, your career, you work

7:16 for Oxy, they don't get much bigger than Oxy, unless you're working really for a super major. And then you work for Sheridan, who I'm familiar with, but people outside of oil and gas, or maybe

7:26 even outside of Houston, aren't really familiar with. Has that carried over into the types of clients you have now? Is it a mix between helping majors and also helping small privates - So I have

7:37 one kind of more major client, but they started. very small. And so it helped kind of, I've been along the ride of them building up and acquiring more and more and becoming more of a Wednesday

7:49 major, a mid-cap, right? But I think our really sweet spot is with a lot of these PE backed type businesses that are portfolio companies and they have a reservoir engineer, a land man, a

7:60 geologist, you know, and a CEO. And they don't want to hire a facility engineer full-time. They don't want to have an environmental engineer on. They don't want a regulatory full-on. And so

8:09 we're able to touch in and touch out as they need us. And that's kind of our sweet spot, I think, is kind of the smaller operators who want to be compliant. They want to do the right thing. But a

8:19 lot of times they don't know. And it's cool because we oftentimes get the response like, Where have you been? We have been looking for you. So we really, that's exciting to us because it kind of

8:29 proves the point. Do you feel like there's a point where you'll tap out where you have too many clients or do you think at this point you're kind of set up to scale and can can. to continue to add

8:41 other consultants to help you - That's the goal. I think we're trying to approach it differently and very productized where it's very replicable and every client has their own nuance, but we're

8:53 attempting to pass those savings on where I'm not sure every consultant has that same mindset. And I've never been a consultant, so I can't even say in the back end of their businesses, but when I

9:03 worked at Oxi working with consultants, it was very costly. So we're really trying to decrease that So it's somewhere in between there, right? Because right now it's, you know, either the

9:14 construction guys just building it based off what he's seen before without any engineering put behind it, or it's this really big burdensome, kind of overwhelming engineering package. So we're

9:26 trying to find that middle ground, give enough that it's engineered and safe, but it doesn't have to be so engineered that people don't even think it's approachable - Yeah, I mean, this is. It's

9:38 a timely topic, at least for me. So if I think back to a year ago when I was down here for NAIP, I really wanted to build like a big consulting firm. And what I started to learn as I got deeper

9:50 into it last year was that the people that wanted to do business with us were doing business 'cause they wanted to work with me. And I don't say this with any hint of ego, but I do have the 15 years

10:02 of experience. I have the Rolex of C-level contacts. And oftentimes, not all the time, when I pick up the phone or I text or I email, people do respond. And as I started to add more and more

10:13 consultants, I started to realize not all of these people have the same network. They might not have the same work ethic. And certainly they're not gonna care the same way because it's my company,

10:23 right? It's my name on the wall and this is my dream and my passion and what I've kind of worked my whole career toward building. So I started to take a different approach and actually scaled back

10:34 and realized, what these people are really expecting is to work with me that I'm gonna work in a way where they can actually get value from me. And what I'm hoping to do and not sort of roll the

10:45 dice and hope that if I pay other people to do the work that they can get it done. So I admire that you've been able to do that 'cause I think it's a big challenge and it's a blow I think to some

10:56 people's egos too and it's like, you know what, maybe I haven't set something up to scale, but that's okay, right? So really cool that you've been able to do that. And it's why it's taken five

11:08 years

11:10 to seven people. I mean, I got really lucky. My first hire, even before Jason, my husband came home to work

11:16 with us, was a guy who had been let go from one of the BHP, you know, fallouts and sales and he didn't wanna leave Arkansas. And I was able to offer him something remote. So I was really seeing,

11:30 finding what people want and need out of the job and kind of work. around that and he brought a level of expertise I didn't have, right? So like that to me was a really smart hire. And now the

11:41 hires for making our more tech or junior level engineers that can either work under us and we can push work down to them and then push savings to clients. Like that's really important to me. You

11:51 shouldn't be paying for my time to do what it's what a tech is fully capable of doing. So and then it just it gives us gives me more time to then be able to have those touch points with the clients

11:60 that are more important So yeah, I think it's finding that balance, but it's moving slowly. For me, I didn't want to build a consulting firm that was 20 people in a year because I just didn't feel

12:10 like I could keep the quality that was coming out and really keep the ethos of the business. Um, and it honestly, I think it's more profitable, smaller, and I can still keep all the touch points

12:21 and we can do really high quality work. Um, really intelligently. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's fascinating because I, my whole background has and in sales, you're told to really just care about

12:35 the top line, right? You just want to create revenue. And then the other problems just become other people's problems. Well, you can figure out profitability. You can figure out hiring and

12:44 delivering all the stuff that I sold. So early on, I did what I did best, which was sell. And then I'm like, Oh shit, I have to deliver this stuff now. The problem manager is a piece of it. Oh

12:54 man, right? So now there needs to be like monthly reporting and invoicing and accountability and weekly meetings or biweekly touch points or face to face or client visits. And I'm like, okay,

13:06 like this, I just bit off a little bit more than I can chew. And I think that that's something that if I could go back and tell myself a couple of years ago, it's like, don't maybe don't be so

13:18 excited. Take it just a little bit slower. But fortunately, I was able to bring in Dan Lok and help, you know, he's more of like a retention specialist So he created more processes and routines

13:28 from his days, building the SaaS companies were really helpful for me because there was just no way that and even do some fractional CFO work because you know as a founder, like it's you're the CAO,

13:41 the CFO, the VP of sales, right? The IT lead - I just banged my head against while trying to reconcile my QuickBooks. So I totally get it. I totally get it. It's painful. Yeah, the January is

13:55 just hard. It's always hard as a business owner, especially now it's like three businesses and it's like, oh, I have to do this three times over. Great. But yeah, no, I understand I think you

14:06 came at it from a different direction than I did, right? I didn't know sales. I didn't know consulting. And so for me, it was really learning how to dislocate myself from projects. That was

14:14 really hard for me because I'm so used to owning them all the way through. So there was a lot of learnings there. And because none of us came from consultants, we didn't really know kind of how to

14:24 package these things up. And what hourly rates were supposed to be. And you know, all that kind of, So there was a lot of learnings on that end from me. I don't know the sales piece. So that's

14:32 the part that's like really hard for me and a step out and we haven't mentioned, but I have three children and six, four and two. I don't have time to do networking events and stuff like that. So

14:42 you have the solution to my problem and I have the solution to yours - Yes, yeah, definitely - But yeah - So you, in addition to ATEX, you also have invested in a number of different companies

14:56 including digital autocadders - Yeah - Right? So really cool And I think I even set you up with Colin to have that initial conversation - You were the connector - Which is what I do. And I love that

15:07 it worked out because I have such a passion for what these guys are doing being community builders. And I sort of look at it in the same way that Colin does and I want you to chime in on this. But I

15:17 think Colin and Jake look at it as if you build something really cool, right? Then you can eventually monetize that when it comes time. They didn't do a lot of that early on, but now they've got

15:29 like really large-scale events. I think they've kind of teased the idea of possibly building out technology, they're bringing back the energy tech nights. What attracted you specifically to like

15:41 digital walk hiders, and then we'll talk about some of your other companies, but in the relative infancy of digital walk hiders, like what drew you toward wanting to be a part of this community

15:51 from an investment standpoint - So I might come at this a little backwards, but

15:59 I've spent the last two years looking at investment deals and really understanding the buckets and what's important and what a truly scalable company looks like and things like that. So I came at it

16:08 from probably a little bit more of a not so emotional standpoint of why I love it. I loved the content, of course, and I love the applicability to the oil and gas industry, and I know that it's

16:19 right for disruption. So I do have those kind of components, but I love media business. So that was the first lens I looked at it through. And media businesses are really interesting. If you look

16:31 at them, a media business can be anything from a marketplace to a website that you go to for information, to a newsletter, to a community, to events. It can be all of those things in any of those

16:44 things. And that's what gets me really excited with digital wildcatters is I think they have the capability of really building audience, being this trustworthy place and leaning into all these

16:54 different monetization strategies. I'm

16:58 actually invested in several other media companies. So it's something that I do love. And so when you sent it to me, I was like, media, love it. I love audience. I think being captivating is a

17:11 monetization and it's a revenue stream in itself to me as an investor.

17:16 So that's what I was really drawn to initially. Tell me a little bit more about is A-TEX the investment armor. Do you have a separate company that does the investment? So I'll go back. So A-TEX

17:28 energy consulting is the consulting. A-TEX energy is an investment arm that invests in oil and gas holdings. Okay. We do own some wells and things like that. Well, working interests as well.

17:41 Yeah, like you're a working interests partner on these wells. If you're drilling wells too. No, we're not drilling wells. We're not drilling wells. No, not that crazy. My father did, but not

17:49 us That's so cool. And then Pearl Influential Capital is this SPV generator and investment arm. I do a lot of investments personally too. But where we're trying to really make early stage

18:02 investments available to people who might be interested in, whether it's consumer or media or tech or fintech or whatever those components are. We're getting the deal flow. So we kind of want to

18:12 make it available and then take away some of the barriers to education that I think are in place right now. kind of segmented that only like these really rich white men know about these deals.

18:25 Totally. And so we're trying to break that a little bit and make it available. It was really hard to get involved in these when I first got involved in this investment. I wanted to do consumer. I

18:34 wanted to do something I could touch and feel as we were making money in oil and gas. I wanted to diversify to this like what I was interested in as a woman and things like that. But it was so damn

18:46 hard to find a deal for us So once we were able to turn that on and really get going, it was like, shit, there's other people out there like me. So let's make it available to them. So that's kind

18:55 of been the ethos of Pearl. And you've you've really kind of leaned in at least what I see into helping other female entrepreneurs, right? Is that part of the ethos and the mission of Pearl as well?

19:09 Or has that just sort of evolved naturally? Yeah, it is. I like really I really love. female consumer products because that's me personally. And I think the best founders and creators of that are

19:20 gonna be females who really understand the hate signs. And then we really started learning about how little funding they get and kind of the challenges and barriers. And I think both sides of the

19:30 spectrum really struggle because there was even a social post I saw that was like, do you want a

19:36 family or a family office? I'm like, why does it ask you one or the other? Why would it be teach our girls that? It can be all of the above, but you have to set yourself up for success and you

19:45 have to have realistic expectations. So I think it's more, I've become more and more interested and engaged in that female space as I've seen the void spaces and realized that a lot of what's being

19:57 put out there is incorrect or, you know, misconstrued - Yeah, I mean, I personally like following a lot of the sort of celebrity female entrepreneur types because I think that they just come at it

20:12 from a different viewpoint. right? Men traditionally have a place that they're supposed to go out and be the businessman, right? They're supposed to be the leader. So it's almost like it's

20:23 turning the whole game upside down when you say, okay, well, here's a woman that's kicking ass, but she's also a mom, right? She's also a wife. And like, I see my wife is capable of so much

20:35 more than me. I'm a pretty capable individual, right? But she's just like, she gets up in the morning, she doesn't need as much sleep, she makes breakfast, she kicks ass at work, she drops the

20:46 kids off, she picks them up. And it's like, there's just something innate with, I think, a lot of women that men aren't able to balance as much, which make, I think, a great entrepreneur,

20:59 because you're constantly getting shit thrown at you. Yeah, and I also think it's like, diverse thought, right? It's so important to know, Boardroom or any kind of corporation and so when we're

21:10 looking at companies, when I'm looking to invest in companies that are 15, 20 people, if it has all females, that's not necessarily a positive, right? Because I think there's a balancing of

21:19 diverse thought. And to go back a moment to what you're talking about with your wife, I think it's really building a partnership and being really clear on what your goals are as a family, right?

21:29 So like, my husband's done an amazing job stepping in as kind of the primary parent role. So I can be free to do those things. There's not a lot of marriages that can have that conversation. And

21:38 I'm very

21:41 passionate about every successful female entrepreneur that has children has a very supportive husband, not every, but most have very supportive husbands because it's such a grind. And it's really

21:53 hard. And sometimes you're not as available as you want to be, but having a partner that kind of fills in those voids for you is so important And so I think it's a team effort. I think, again,

22:06 it's that diversity of support and thought that It's so important. Single moms out there that are entrepreneurs, incredible. I don't know how you do it, like mind blown. But I do think building a

22:20 really positive partnership if you have the capabilities is one of the keys to success there - Yeah, and that's a team game for sure, right? It takes two to tango, no matter what. You threw a

22:31 post on LinkedIn over the weekend and it just really called out to me. You were heading to Vegas, I think to visit with some of your companies that you invest in, right? And we're like, man,

22:45 here I am about to get on an airplane on a Sunday and I'm really gonna miss my kids, right? So you wanted to get some focused one on one time with each of your three kids because they all require

22:57 that, especially at two, four and six. I mean, at all ages, but especially when they're that little - It's hard for them to understand what mommy's going to do.

23:06 And you're going out there and that's what you need to do for business and you're choosing to do it, but it doesn't mean that it doesn't tug on your heartstrings. And it brought me back to 2016

23:19 when my girls were six and four. So not too dissimilar to the ages of your two oldest. And I remember it was like every Monday, I was flying in Midland And I legitimately was sitting in my car and

23:38 I just wanted to cry. I may have actually cried, but I was just like, I hate this. I hate that I'm leaving every Monday night and flying to a hotel just to pitch people. And you get into this

23:53 routine where it feels normal, but it just felt like I was starting to dread it on Saturday or Sunday. And then that meant that I wasn't as present

24:05 and then I wake up Monday and I'm bummed that I'm leaving and it was like, why am I doing this? And everything seems so challenging. And eventually that phase sort of passed, but I think we all

24:16 sort of go through that in our work lives. And I thought it was a good reminder and very authentic and real of you to put that out because that's sort of the unseen part of grinding in business. You

24:28 see all the hustle porn, but then you actually, what you don't see is when you're trying to balance a marriage and raising kids and a family and a social life with business, like something's always

24:42 gonna be sacrificed - It is. I will tell people like all that I do and all the balls I juggle and they're like, how do you do it? I'm like, I don't have friends. That's how I do it. I mean,

24:51 really, I don't. Like I have a husband and I have children and I have work. That's what I do in my life. And so it really is about that. But I always go back to, you know, What I struggle with

25:00 the most is like Why am I doing office? I'm doing this for my kids and then I'm leaving my kids. And so that's where that cycle occurs and it's painful. And I don't think they even notice it really,

25:11 nearly as much as I do. And I'm not gone very much. I thank God, don't have to do what you did. I used to, at Oxi, we'd go out every two weeks and I didn't have kids at that point, but that was

25:20 still really hard for me just to be out of my normal

25:25 process in a way from my husband at the time So I can't even imagine going every single week and leaving your kids, not just being part of your process. But it's a challenge. It takes a lot of,

25:41 the night before, I'm like, Oh, maybe I shouldn't do this. Maybe I have too much work. Like I go through this whole like

25:48 reasoning of why I shouldn't go and things like that. So it's very interesting on how much we don't wanna travel. Even though it's like, Oh, aren't you gonna be glad that you're away from them?

25:59 You have a time by yourself and it's like, No. No - Really not. I really like their laughter. I like their cries. I like being there to hold them. We work from home. We've always worked from

26:09 home. We have a nanny now that comes five days a week, but if they have a boo boo, mom's there or dad's there. It was one of us is on a call. Like those things are so amazing to me. And that's

26:19 the reason why I really started at A-Tux in the first place was to be able to be there for those things. It's when I have to travel. It's hard because I'm like, this is against what I'm, what I

26:27 built this for, but - Right - It's important to be there in person sometimes - Well, there's like a, I think I had and maybe even have in some ways like a fucked up set of values where I was

26:42 traveling like that because I felt probably deep down this insecurity about falling behind in my career. But I wasn't thinking about how I was falling behind as a parent. And that was a really big

26:55 deal. I think when I had that realization to be like, Wow. I've really sacrificed a lot of what really matters. And that'll mess you up. You know what I mean? That'll put you into therapy and

27:08 that'll put you in a place where you're like, you're not gonna get that time back. And it doesn't matter how much you think that your company loves you. They'll just get ready you if you have a bad

27:17 quarter or if you're too expensive or if there's a downturn with negative oil. Like, and that's their right. So yeah, I think that like the construct that we have in this country a little bit is

27:29 designed for you don't want to fall behind in your career if you're a high achiever, but then you're probably gonna sacrifice something else. And I think a lot of people do sacrifice that family

27:40 time. But as an entrepreneur, I think I've been able to find a little more of that balance because I think there's just more choice involved. Yeah, I mean, there's like, oh, I'm gonna work

27:50 Saturday while they're taking a nap, right? And things like that. But to be fair, I took maternity leave with my son. I did not take maternity leave with either of my daughters. You know, my

28:01 husband tells the story all the time that I literally took a conference call on the hospital bed while I was still - Oh my God, did you really - Yeah, because it was really important and I didn't

28:09 want them to screw it up. So I had to be there. So, and there's not the systems built as an entrepreneur to be able to hand things off to someone. And so, you know, Dan, if you do, if you

28:23 don't, right? There's always going to be an upside and a downside to every lifestyle. I think entrepreneurship's beautiful and it's really neat and, you know, it tells me I need to do more

28:33 authentic content around being entrepreneurs, freaking hard. But it's also really rewarding. And like you said, I can work all day Saturday and all day Sunday and make it to my kids for a clock

28:43 play if I really wanted to. You know, I can kind of set my own schedule and things like that. So that's super helpful. And I also, what I love about entrepreneurship is I'm not capped out. I can

28:53 earn and keep earning - Totally - It also makes your work a-holic. So, Dan, if you do, Dan, if you don't.

29:01 My mindset didn't really change when I launched my own company because I never did a good job of shutting off from work. I was always living to how much money am I going to make? Or am I close to

29:14 hitting my number? Does somebody need me - It sales at Silver Entrepreneurship, right? And in engineering, it's like this is your salary and there's a bonus potential, but it probably is not

29:16 going to change that much if you work 80 hours versus 40 So I think that's the difference on the engineering side. There weren't these huge commission potentials or anything like that, that drove us

29:16 to work harder and longer hours. But now, every time I plug in, every time I bring out a new client, every time I do more work, it's more money. So it's hard to turn off and relax. So I'll turn

29:16 off with the kids and then I turn right back on on the dead while Jason's watching TV at night - That's funny - I love work. I love what we do. So there's also that. It's enjoyment for me - Yeah.

29:16 Like.

29:59 I don't know. I've only known you to generally be happy, right? So it's hard for me to picture you miserable. But I think that that mindset is important 'cause I have found myself,

30:12 pre-entrepreneurship, be frustrated with roles. Like comparing where I thought I should have been to where I actually was in my career. And that's a really brutal place to be because for the most

30:27 part, where you think you should be is not where you are. Very few people, like, I'm gonna go to this nape conference. Like there's very few that are there that they're like, this is where I

30:36 expected to be. And if they are, like good for them, more power to you. But you still need to be able to find happiness even when you're in a spot where maybe it's not your dream job. Right? And

30:46 I think that's a bit of advice that I would have given to my younger self is you're still going at a pace that you'd be proud of if you thought about when you were younger, even if in the moment

30:56 you're struggling to see. the value of the position that you're in or that this is the means more than just a means to an end. I'm curious what advice either you'd give to your younger self or

31:07 advice that you'd give to young entrepreneurs that are thinking about making a shift away from their W2 jobs. So I think my entrance into entrepreneurship was a little unique, right? I think it was

31:21 a little accidental I didn't seek out to run a consulting firm and things like that. So I think that's kind of interesting, but I also think like following your path is something super important.

31:34 Follow the leads that you have, give things a try, believe in yourself, but really not trying to plan what milestone you're going to hit and not try to go out with these really big expectations,

31:46 but follow the path. Keep looking for, you know, if there's a new regulation, we jump on it We want to own and know that regulation before anyone else. We want to be able to give our client

31:56 guidance so we can upsell into that. Right? So I think it's really looking for the opportunities being smart about which ones you choose to take, not every opportunity is a good one. Yeah. Um,

32:06 and really just following the path in front of you, um, and the opportunities and keeping your eyes open for them. Cause I think a lot of people like put their head down, they're like, I'm going

32:14 to be able to company doing this. And then there's this path over here that could be really profitable. That opens up, but they're so dead set on this one path. Really be able to like turn

32:24 yourself and go the direction that the market's open to and that, you know, your personality or your background might be the most beneficial for. Yeah. Yeah. Or, you know, not chasing every

32:37 white rabbit. That takes to run. I think that's important too. And I've learned that, right? As we've had other consultants come to us, can you do this? Can you do that? It's just to say yes

32:46 to everything. Right. Um, and it was good. It was really good learnings for me. I would go down these rabbit holes, realize like this is so much work and There's so little profit in it, but I

32:57 was. you know, initially a yes man, but it was, it was good learnings, but now that we're at the sewage that we are, it's easier for me to say, let me find you a connection that I think can do

33:06 that. Maybe sometimes there's commission, maybe it's just goodwill and connections and network, but I think it is learning like, what's your sweet spot? What are you good at? And being able to

33:19 turn say no. Yeah, no, I couldn't agree more And it was almost like it would pain me to turn some business away. And now it's a little bit like, I mean, I guess it depends on when you ask me,

33:33 but it's like, you know what, like so and so could be a better fit. And that could even be somebody who six months ago, I viewed as a competitor. But in doing that, you're building your network

33:43 and building this, this goodwill that is actually so powerful. And I think that's the other thing I would say as advice is like build your network I think I used actually the nuts. like digital out

33:55 counters, but I use their podcast to build a network. I would reach out to people on LinkedIn. I heard your podcast. I felt like we might be a connection and we connect to them that way, which

34:06 just sounds, it sounds kind of creepy, but I did it during COVID. So that makes it a little bit better, right? We were all

34:13 at home. We had nothing to do with this. Yeah. But because I wasn't able to network, right? I was either nursing a baby or I was pregnant and just couldn't make the time for it. Um, that was my

34:22 way of networking And so really leaning in and making connections to those people, letting the world know what your strengths are and what you can do. Yeah. I mean, and I'll say this too, as a

34:32 content creator, like nothing makes you feel better than when somebody reaches out and says, I got value from listening to you on a podcast, whether it's me on a different podcast, whether it's

34:42 listening to mine, it just makes you feel validated. It doesn't matter if you have a thousand downloads. If nobody comes up to you and says that they get value or that they appreciate it, but that

34:51 one person, those two people, they say, hey man. I heard what you were saying about this topic and that really resonated with me. I'm like, Wow, first of all, cool that you listened. And then

35:02 second of all, thank you. Like it really does make my day and I think a lot of content creators days 'cause most of us don't get paid to do this, right? We view it as somewhat of a means of

35:12 building out our brand, a way to connect with more people. And then ideally to create opportunities for our business, right? So I think that's one of the things like, this room has been filled

35:24 all day with various different podcasts. And to me, that's just cool. Like this is an industry that has been a little bit behind technologically in the office, right? Digitally, not at the

35:35 wellhead, but digitally. And now there's like seven hours worth of content that are just gonna come out of this room. And that's really cool - Yeah - You know? All right, I wanna play a quick

35:48 game with you. Yeah, I didn't prepare you for this - You didn't prepare me for this part I'm gonna say I like doing this now. I'm gonna say a name

35:59 and you're gonna have to say the first word that comes to mind - Oh God, this could be really dangerous -

36:05 And it could be anything, it could be a company, right? It could be a thought, but we'll start with this.

36:14 Sarah Blakely - Amazing.

36:18 Inspiration - Nice - I could give you a bunch of those - We'll just stop with that -

36:27 Okay, thank you - Those do are good - Colin McClelland - Amazing, inspiration - You can't

36:30 use the same - Innovator, I think - Julie McClelland - The brains behind it all - Yes, yes. Vicki Hollum -

36:43 I wanna say innovator again, honestly. She's very forward thinking and ballsy - Yeah, grinder. There's a few different things, but I think that with her work ethic got her really far. I actually

36:60 met her about 10 years ago at a conference when she was running the Oxy California asset, which is now CRC.

37:08 She just worked. I mean, she was relentless, tireless worker. When she ultimately was brought here to be COO and then CEO, it just didn't surprise me Whether she's a female or not doesn't really

37:21 matter. She's strong and confident, but it showed me the power of really hard work. Yeah, and really forward thinking, right? She's always trying to be ahead. I think there's something so

37:35 powerful about that in the oil and gas industry because there's not a lot of people doing that. I think a lot of people are just trying to replicate the successes that they've had and don't really

37:44 want to find new successes or new avenues or new lines of business or revenue streams and there's something really refreshing about that. Um, she's, she's fearless, fearless, maybe that's the one

37:57 in a dark. Play fearless. That made big time news, you know, it did. I mean, it was timed terribly things to COVID, but still a long play though, right? Like if you have as much experience as

38:10 she has 40 years or whatever on the patch at that point, you know, I've noticed this too, even with myself now 15 years, no in gas, I don't see it as doom or gloom or amazing upside every single

38:22 time that there's a swing because commodity prices are going to dip and they're going to rise. And you start to see that more the longer that you're in it and have faith, almost like Bitcoin, right?

38:33 We've kind of been through a number of these ups and downs now that even if you bought a bunch high, like if you believe in the thesis of it, then you should continue to buy low and believe that

38:43 it'll come back stock market Yeah, same kind of thing, right? Kim Kardashian horrible

38:53 I mean, she's an incredible brand builder, and but I just don't really personally like her. Never watched the Kardashians shows. I did watch Real Housewives. So I do like Trashy TV, just not the

39:07 Kardashians. Never did - Yeah, there's something that feels dirty about it, but I'm older than you. See, I'm old enough to remember that her dad was one of OJ's loves - Yeah, yeah, I know the

39:16 whole story, but I did not watch the trial. But no, she's an incredible brand builder, her incredible businesswoman, just, I don't know. Yeah, I saw it on Instagram, just turns me off - It's

39:27 a little much.

39:30 Houston, Texas - Home, I mean, I've lived here my whole life. I went to college station, lived in an hour and a half radius, my whole life. I think it's

39:44 blood. Is that another good word -

39:47 Oh my God, that's funny It's home for me and it'll always have a place in my heart. I would love to have another home outside of Houston during the summer, though, because I do hate the heat, but.

39:59 Well, you know, Colorado is pretty nice in some places, too. We love Colorado and the East Coast. Like, we really want a house in Maine. Like, that's on the vision board. Well, you know,

40:08 I'm from New Hampshire, so. Oh, good. You can give me some pointers and what to do in winter, because we know living in Houston my wife, I don't know. Ooh, it's rough. I mean, this winter,

40:17 and even here, like this week, has been kind of crazy But in Colorado, it's been like a very East Coast like winter, which makes me appreciate how nice the weather usually is there, because it

40:29 would be like six months of gray. But it's sort of like that's the penalty for the reward you get of the summer and especially the fall. Like, it just doesn't get any better than the fall in New

40:40 England. Yeah, our lack of seasons really is a hang-up for me, too. But it's home. Yeah, yeah. Hook Ugh 'em. horns

40:53 I married a red raider, so I probably

40:57 am more guns up. I am more guns up than I even am Aggie anymore. I mean, my kid only wears Texas. Really? So interesting. Yeah, I know. That's probably like terrible to say. You might need to

41:10 delete that. No, we're not going

41:13 to. And like a final thought, right? So the day that we're recording this, my favorite athlete, Tom Brady, retired. Of course And I think - let's not go there. I think that it's for real this

41:27 time. Like I wish that he waited a little bit longer. I think every football player wants to retire like two weeks after the season ends because their bodies are just broken at that point. But Tom

41:38 Brady,

41:40 obviously an amazing athlete, an amazing leader. He's going to be a great businessman and really do whatever he wants to do. Like his stock will continue to rise But what's interesting with my kids?

41:52 Right. So my daughters, even though I've lived now in Colorado longer than I've lived anywhere. I lived in New Hampshire for the first 18 years. I lived in Boston for five years. And now I've

42:02 lived in Colorado for 20 years. But I still root for all the New England sports teams. Like it's very much ingrained from like my childhood and there's just no way that any of that's going to change.

42:16 Because of the Patriots and Tom Brady And all the success that the Boston sports teams have had in their lifetime. Like my daughters are for sure. New England sports fans despite never having a

42:28 success. You know, it is. But now my five year old son, like he's already wearing like Bronco stuff and I can see how this happens. Right. So sort of like all of that success bred me to be like,

42:42 no, you're going to root this way. And they're always like, we know who Tom Brady is. They follow him on social media. And my son, because of his age, doesn't have that tie as much, right?

42:52 The success has started to wane a little bit. And I would imagine that like, and he's totally free to do this, that he's going to root for Colorado teams. It's interesting. Yeah. It's almost

43:04 like language, right? Yeah. Where you

43:08 keep the accent, but then as you get further away from it, you might stray from it and then your children have no resemblance of your accent So I do think it's based on the nostalgia of it all. Do

43:20 you take him to games? Yeah. I mean, we've been to Fenway Park, right? But most of the games and things they've gone to are in Colorado, right? So like I took my daughter, Sydney, to the

43:31 Celtics nuggets game and I'm like, you need to wear a Celtics jersey. And she's like, okay with it. But my older daughter likes to like be more of a hater of what I'm in. So if I brought her,

43:43 she'd be like, now I'm going to wear nuggets jersey - Well, I think it's also like that. hometown feeling of like rooting with other people, right? For the home team and like feeling like it's

43:54 your team. And I mean, it's a, it's a whole feeling. No, it's a vibe. It's a whole vibe. Um, well, this was super fun. I do have one last question for you. So you invest, you're invested

44:09 in what? Like 15, 20 companies. Is it something like that? 25. So. And like with your kids, right? You don't pick favorites. So of these 25 companies, like how do you find a way to love all

44:24 of them equally or candidly, like as an investor, do you not? I don't. Yeah. I totally don't. Um, so some of them, I'm invested in through syndicates. And so those are, you know, one step

44:35 removed. Um, and then some of them, um, I see that they can use some of my consulting and development in M and A and kind of all the skills that I've honed on the consulting side. I can see that

44:46 they can utilize it. of it. And so a lot of those, I'm either advisors on or chief strategy officers on. So that's kind of a need base. And then there's driven equity out of time, like you

44:60 discussed. But I also usually do financial investments. And then some are a little bit further along and feel less risky to me or I know we're talking to acquisition potentials. And on my mind,

45:11 you might have to be in as long. So every one of them is just so different on different spectrums And so it really depends on where we are financially at that moment too, on how much I feel like I

45:21 can give and what makes sense for our family at that point in time. So every relationship with every founder is extremely different. So it is like my children, some of my children, some are like

45:35 my stepkids, I guess, you know, because they're just like a little removed. I'm still really invested in them and really went good for them, but not as physically like part of their growth

45:45 experience But it's made me a better business owner on the consulting side, just seeing all the challenges and the way that they're accessing consumers and a lot of what they're talking about and

45:57 uses that I didn't know marketing and I've learned so much. And just centralized being around other female entrepreneurs has also made me realize like I have a great situation and it's put a

46:11 different spend on life. And it's given my kens more, my daughters, especially more female entrepreneurs to watch and support - Totally - Cheerlead. So it's been a gift. It keeps me busy, but

46:25 it's my hobby at this point - Well, good for you. Where can people find you - Oh gosh, LinkedIn is probably the best place. I'm sure you'll tag me somehow there - Oh, you're definitely gonna be

46:37 tagged there. Alyssa Arnold, A-TEX Energy Consulting. Is it Empresista? What's the - Entrepreneista - Entrepreneista.

46:47 That is the other media company, but Pearl Influential is the investing company. Yeah, you can find me and I post all the times that he can click my links and find all my stuff. Well, thanks for

47:01 coming on. Thank you for coming into the office today to meet with me. I'm going to go do the NAIP networking thing and start meeting people right and left and shaking a million hands. But thank

47:11 you for making the time to come down here today.