Calling Wonder Women with Michelle Huls Rice

Passion and drive define Nicole. Those traits have been foundational to her success in the highly intense and competitive building market as President of McGuire Custom Homes and an industry-disrupter through McGuire Development Group. She entered this field after graduating from the University of Illinois when she joined her family's 80-year-old construction company. Nicole builds trusted and longstanding relationships across the housing continuum via deep industry knowledge and is a visionary and gifted conceptual thinker with strengths in strategic planning, team leadership, mentoring, and community outreach.

Learn how to use kindness to your advantage, how leadership consultant and executive coach Jennifer Howell got a Forbes article to go viral, and why bravery and baby steps propel you forward to your goals. 

How are you doing it in your business? Are you striving for the highest goals? Are you utilizing your foundation - your skillset? Are you staying true to your values while having fun and making money? Are you staying true to your I Believe statements? The statements that mean the most to you, whether in business or in life. Listen to this podcast for reasons to get back to your roots to help propel you to the next level. 

Erin Tarr coaches girls starting at age 8 to help them discover and then own and enjoy their own awesomeness. As an educator and motivator, she helps her clients identify and overcome the mindsets that hold them back from achieving everything they are capable of in life so that they don't miss the opportunities that will help them become their most vibrant selves. She's dedicated to giving young girls and women everywhere the tools they need to develop confidence, communication, and conflict resolution skills that will ensure they lead a life of limitless possibility.

• Finding a system that works for your busy schedule
• Asking for exactly what you want and need
• Using your unique journey to offer unique opportunities in business
• Using improv to set yourself apart
• How sharing and listening to stories of women can change communities
• Finding your poise and confidence

This entire episode is full of knowledge. Grab your pen and paper because Laura Bleill, Mom in Chief of Chambanamoms.com and associate director of the University of Illinois Research Park shares how to combine your passion with your upbringing and find a pain point for your community to grow into a raging success story. She also highlights the need for hiring great people, being patient and hardworking, and generously sharing your knowledge with others. This is an ambitious woman with expertise in entrepreneurship, start-ups, incubators, and community building and is perfect for giving you advice and direction. 

Have you heard the saying, if you want something done, ask a busy mom? Same concept. If you're already producing a lot of results, you have to be efficient with your time. Therefore, to add something else in, just find a time slot, hunker down, and get it done.

Because when you're short on time, you have to focus and commit to completing your task or it just won't happen. This doesn't matter if your goal is to work out (do it first thing!), organize your closets, or start a business.

Elaine from Conflict 180 shares better ways of listening constructively, a formula for knowing if you're ready to leap into full-time entrepreneurship, and the benefits of working with a business coach. She also has such a calming demeanor that makes you know you can go out and change the world.

In the age of immediacy, exceptional quality and effort is hard to find. In my business I don't operate on fast results. Not for myself or for my clients. I do have to fight overthinking what I'm working on. But making educated, deliberate decisions that have impact and are functional and can be prepared to scale is important. Taking a long time to see the fruits of the work can be frustrating, however, as a farm kid, it's pretty much par for the course.  

Interview with fashion designer Emily Harris on seeing into the future, goal setting, entrepreneur dreams, how she kept climbing after Project Runway in New York City, functional fashion, being a mama entrepreneur, Gary Vaynerchuk, Barbies, Molly Ringwald's character in 16 Candles, all the work and research that goes into creating her own designs and sewing for her clients, and so much more. If you've ever wanted to know the grit, determination, and passion it takes to start a business as a fashion designer, or how to continue transitioning as a business owner, you do not want to miss this conversation with Mrs. Emily.