Ground Zero Growth

Jeb Graham got his real estate license on a Saturday. Tuesday was September 11, 2001. That was supposed to be his first day selling houses at Keller Williams. Nobody sold anything. Everyone stood around the TV. The conversation with Sam Sapp walks through that start and all the others, from underwriting construction loans at Bank of America, to food sales at Cisco, to finally landing in 2004 in the career he studied for in college, and eventually building Metcalfe Partners Wealth Management into the firm it is today.

At 16, Mary Messner wanted to be a NICU nurse. She spent spring breaks in California shadowing her aunt and cousin, both neonatal intensive care nurses, attending high-risk deliveries back before HIPAA closed those doors. Then she didn't get into nursing school. That rejection forced a question that shaped the rest of her career: if the real pull was connecting with people and making a difference, what other path could still do that? The answer turned into a 14-year run at Cerner and, eventually, a keynote speaking business built around creativity in the workplace.

Janet Munro was 20 when she put her newborn son up for adoption in 1970, and she didn't meet him again until 2017. Between those two moments she built a custom furniture business with her husband Bill, rode out two recessions, and once ended up in the Guinness Book of Records for building what was briefly the world's largest rocking horse. Now 75 and living in Nashville, Janet talks with Sam about weathering storms, running a business for 46 years, and why she still doesn't consider herself a quitter.

Suyoung Cha flunked out of the University of Minnesota at 19 after passing the brutal actuary exams. The aftermath strained his relationship with his parents for years. What came next was a job as a Wells Fargo teller, seven years climbing a corporate ladder, a move to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and a brand new financial advisor business that made almost no money for a year. Suyoung calls that stretch his crucible. This episode is the story of what the heat burned off.

For the first two years Zach Arend climbed into a bucking chute, he never once made it to the eight second buzzer. He broke his hand, his ankle, and his collarbone trying to ride saddle broncs. Then something clicked, and he went on to become a two time state champion. Years later, as a vice president of sales getting demoted over bourbon at a country club, he found himself back at the bottom of a new arena. The saddle bronc lessons are what carried him into leadership coaching.