Inside The Firm

Chip Scholz is the founder and head coach of Scholz & Associates, an executive coaching firm based in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. Raised in Wheaton, Illinois, he studied business at Illinois Wesleyan University, worked in sales and management, and spent about 10 years as a lobbyist for Browning-Ferris Industries until the company cut his position in 1998 during a week that saw 1,200 layoffs. Instead of looking for another corporate job, he launched his own firm, and for nearly 30 years he has coached CEOs, business owners, and their teams on leadership, hiring, and strategy while facilitating mastermind groups across multiple industries. After a stroke, he lost 110 pounds, made a full recovery, and found an unexpected teacher at the wood lathe, where woodturning became a lesson in patience, craft, and leadership. He is the author of Small Decisions, Big Shifts, Every Dog Has Its Day, and Handoffs, and he believes lives are shaped less by dramatic moments than by the small decisions we make every day.

On this episode of Inside the Firm, business conditions at architecture firms remain in decline as summer turns to fall, then Denver construction costs rise above the national average, and finally why you need a dating policy in your company manual. Join us as we go back Inside the Firm!

Liz Crowley is the founder of HR Collaborative Solutions, where she advises CEOs and senior leaders through high-stakes conflict with someone on their own leadership team. She started her career in investment banking, then moved into senior HR leadership, where she became the person executives called when trust broke down with a key leader. After more than 25 years of this work, she believes the real damage usually isn't the disagreement itself but the distraction and stalled decisions that come from leaving it alone. She doesn't mediate. She works privately with the leader to separate facts from emotion and decide whether to repair the relationship or plan a respectful exit.

Matthew Estrin is an entrepreneur, speaker, author, and founder of 477 Distilling who took an unconventional path into business after spending 15 years as a pastor. Since leaving ministry, he has launched seven businesses and experienced firsthand the wins, failures, and hard lessons of entrepreneurship. He’s the author of I Know the Owner: From Holy Water to Happy Hour, where he shares lessons on leadership, risk, faith, and business ownership. Today, Matt focuses on building successful companies without sacrificing family, relationships, or the things that matter most.

Mariana Alvarez is a writer, speaker, entrepreneur, and Founder and CEO of Controller Works, a virtual accounting firm serving small businesses nationwide. At 43, after leaving a 17-year marriage, she began rebuilding her life, identity, confidence, and financial independence while simultaneously building a business. Today, Mariana speaks about what happens after survival, from learning to trust yourself again to creating stronger boundaries and meaningful work. Her message is simple: rebuilding isn’t always about becoming someone new, sometimes it’s about finding yourself again.

On this episode of Inside the Firm, where principals go wrong, F9 has a new Ai policy, and finally architects-do we need em? Join us as we go back Inside the Firm!

Francis Rodino is an AI growth architect and author who turns messy CRM and sales processes into predictable demand-generation systems for service and operational businesses doing 1m to 20m in revenue. His Amazon bestselling book: “Leads Machine: The nine-step system to generate consistent, predictable sales and scale your service business.” was shortlisted for the Business Book Awards 2026, and his systems have been used by over 300 service businesses to recover more than 128 million in revenue.

Richard Spegal is an author, disabled veteran, and former member of the 82nd Airborne Division and Pennsylvania National Guard. After years of writing as a hobby, he turned his passion into a full-time career, independently publishing adult-oriented fiction spanning dark fantasy, supernatural, romance, action, and science fiction. His works include the Wolves and Ravens trilogy and Eternal Nights series, where he explores darker, more realistic characters and consequences. Today, Richard continues building his independent publishing brand while releasing one to two books each year.

Samir Mokashi is an architect, entrepreneur, and exit strategist who went from working 14 years at a large AEC firm to co-founding Code Unlimited with his wife in the basement of their Portland home. Together, they grew it into a multimillion-dollar professional services firm with five offices, earning multiple fastest-growing-company awards before selling the business to Jensen Hughes in 2022. Samir says the sale produced a return of 200 times his initial investment. Today, he is the founder of Business Millionaire Club and author of The Millionaire Exit, helping other entrepreneurs build sustainable businesses and position them for profitable exits.

On this episode of Inside the Firm, Revit may be the greatest practical joke ever, U.S. architecture firms are understaffed and shrinking, and finally how your AIA dues support advocacy. Join us as we go back Inside the Firm!