Yeah, so that’s how the, how it’s been through my 20 plus years of doing this, you know, I usually start with a very small company, you know, and then they grow. And then the CEO of that company, starts another company, and then they call me back. And then actually, it’s not even sometimes it’s even the people working within the company. Just because I’ve had interaction with them, you know, and that’s, that’s also the, I think, the a good way to really think about how you know, you know, you should be remembered is like, the relationships you build, you know, as you’re doing something because I think that’s really also key. In fact, even nowadays, it’s just all the network, the, you know, the people that I know that’s kind of like telling me, you know, Just stay put, we will call you definitely it’s just that we don’t know what to do right now we’re not sure just because especially with the COVID numbers, but so yeah, but um, yeah, so it’s, that’s the fun part of doing this project. And then of course, I get to know people like Q, I mean, I’ve had like vendors that I’ve worked with also for like, more than 10 years, you know, vendors that I can rely on, and just, you know, and we kind of watch out for each other when I’m, you know, I’ve been doing this for a long time, but I will never say I’m unlike a super expert on everything. I also rely with a vendor. And, you know, it’s just you also making sure that you understand what, what’s going on, and then you also learning from them. And so it’s nice, because it’s like, there’s this good relationship, like, okay, I watched your back and you watch my back kind of thing. So it’s, yeah. And that’s, that’s a super fun part of this.
Greg Owens 26:02
That’s great. That’s great. And so you’ve been doing this for 20, over 20 years? How? So. And one of the aspects that I like about this podcast is like going into sort of how you found facilities, facilities, consulting, that kind of stuff, like your origin story in that way, because each one has been different in and I don’t think there’s a lot of people out there that don’t even know that these kinds of careers exists. And so part of this podcast is just showing, highlighting, like, no, there’s a whole nother path here. And for certain people, this is an absolutely wonderful path, because I think you and I are very similar in that, like, we do a lot of like moving around, we’re not we’re generally not stuck in front of a computer all day long, like we have little spurts, but then we’re moving to another location and seeing new things. And that’s kind of like keeps us going and keeps our keep makes us happy. Right, like, you know, and so, I mean, running around and looking at different projects, and being inside different buildings and problem solving is is what I’m sort of paid for. Right. And I think there’s other people like that out there. So what’s your what’s your origin story?
Malou Carreon 27:10
Well, I came to the US to do to go to grad school for international affairs, international relations, I originally wanted to be a diplomat, which I think it’s also helped, you know, again, all this things that happened in your life in the beginning, you know, it just kind of keep learning from them. Even the mistakes, you know, and you take, you know, something out of every experience in your life. And so, you know, I was a grad student, and then I work at IBM for part of like my post grad work. But I was working as an admin assistant,
Greg Owens 27:49
IBM here in the Bay Area, I’ve Yeah, work here,
Malou Carreon 27:53
here, here in the Bay Area, you know, as an admin assistant, for the head of IBM in Palo Alto, then and then. And then what happened? Oh, and then my visa was running out, because I was still in the student visa. And then I got a job from another company, who helped me with like, staying in the country with a, you know, work visa. Mm hmm. And, and then that was interrupt. They were a convention management company, they set up conventions, and then please hit hard right now. Yeah. Yeah. And I have some friends in the convention in industry, especially in the Philippines. Yeah, that’s sorry. And all the other like hotels and restaurants and whatever. Yeah, yeah. And then, and then I work in interrupt. And then I work for a company called women.com. where I was, you know, one of the first 10 employees, and they just needed somebody to just be jack of all trades. So I was helping the marketing with tech support with facilities I was except admin. I mean, I did a lot of stuff. And then I just, and then then I moved for another company accept.com, which was bought by Amazon in like, a couple of months. And the CEO of that company, Danny shader was the one who encouraged me to do consulting, because at that time, there were a lot of, um, it was the the tech boom, you know, a lot of companies coming up. So when I was trying to help liquidate the furniture and sublease the space, I met a lot of founders coming in and going and I just started Give me my spiel. Like, do you need help with setting up your office? I’m here, you know, and that’s how it went from then on. Um, yeah, I was lucky to meet a lot of really wonderful people who were very, very supportive. You know, who I still, you know, talk to to this day and seek their advice. And so yeah, I mean,
Greg Owens 30:29
I love that how you just sort of you saw, like, needs and you put yourself out there and you sort of expanded your network and just kind of said, Hey, I, you know, I can, these are the types of things that can be useful for and people picked up by, and they probably are referring you on a regular basis, because you have that you’ve been useful in helpful ways.
Malou Carreon 30:50
Yeah, I guess it’s just also the mindset that, you know, you can I, I’m open to doing anything, like you did. I remember, I heard that in your podcast, just, you know, be like, the jack of all trades. And, you know, and if you don’t know, ask, in my case, I asked people I learned from other people, and I keep learning, you know, researching. That’s why the internet is for, you know, even in the very beginning. So, yeah,
Greg Owens 31:17
I was training one advice, a salesperson that works for me, and, and I was saying to him, like, so Robbie. Like when a facilities manager says, Hey, do you guys install sinks? What’s your answer? And it’s like, yes. Like, it’s like, you guys, do you guys do grout, you know, grouting of tile. We’re a painting contractor. Right. But I also have my general contractor’s license, but I’m like, Robbie, what do you say? Like, yes, yes, everything is like we can in the thing is, maybe we don’t personally do it. But I know enough people that I can bring in somebody, like we just did some vinyl floors. stairsteps. Right. And, and, but I know a floor contractor, and I just, you know, it’s about the work to them to do the work. Right. And so it worked out really, really well. And it was, but and it made it made the facilities managers life so much easier, because it was more one stop shopping, you know, and, and we can take care of it, you know, is that at the end of the day, everything that looks right is like comes down to the painters and the cleaners, right? Like, at the end of the day, you want it all painted and cleaned really well, so that when people walk through, they don’t notice the floor? Yeah, they don’t notice the walls.
Malou Carreon 32:31
Yeah, exactly. So that’s also basically like, what my service is all about. It’s like, you know, I do everything for you. So that when it’s time for you to move in, it’s like, you know, it’s turnkey. Yeah. You know, employees will just plug their computers and it’s all working. Although, you know, and then sometimes the, the problem, not the problem, but, you know, some, most people don’t know, all the hard work, all the details, you know, all the behind the ordinating. And, yeah, yeah, no, but I love it. I mean, you know, I, I love doing that. I think that’s also another thing is you have to have the passion for the work that you’re doing. And you have to enjoy it. And you know, and just be, I always send grateful for all this people that I need. And thankful for all the projects that I do. And and I think that makes it just more fun. Because you appreciate everything, including the problems. You know,
Greg Owens 33:36
so yeah, and then you probably have enough, you know, in so many ways, like when those problems come up, you’ve got enough history and enough like contacts and enough like you might not know the answer right then. But you know, that you can find the answer. Because Because of your network, right?
Malou Carreon 33:53
Yeah. And so that’s also the gist of, you know, like, my, a lot of things in life, right? You know, we all make mistakes, or there are problems that you can’t foreseen. But it’s the attitude of like, but I can find a solution for you Don’t worry, or sometimes in my case, because I’ve been doing it for such a long time that I can see this being a problem. And so ever we already thought about Plan B or C in case Plan A doesn’t work out. So yeah,
Greg Owens 34:27
right, having that sight of being able to see kind of like we were mentioning earlier, we were you were helping the client. And you were looking at the different proposals and you said you can’t make a decision based on these proposals because they’re not, you know, apples to apples, there’s too many differences. And you’re missing some things that I think are critical, right? And you bring that to the table to help help those clients make those mistakes of Oh, I’m just gonna choose this contractor because they’re the lowest price but but they’re not fulfilling everything that’s needed, right. Yeah,
Malou Carreon 34:59
yeah. They even like, for instance, when we did the walkthrough around their space, I mean, I don’t do CAD. But just because I’ve been doing it for so long, and they were looking at this office, and they were thinking of putting, like two or three people in this office that 3d meant for one, and I had to, like, gently tell them, I think we need to relook at your furniture plan or your floor plan, because especially with social distancing, I don’t think it’s going to work, you know, kind of thing. And it’s also the delivery of the message, right? I mean, don’t just like pan them right away and say you’re wrong, you know, explain to them what’s going on. And they’re like, okay, yeah, we can, we can consider that.
Greg Owens 35:41
Right. Right. Right. That’s great. Yeah. So um, if, if you were to be mentoring somebody that wanted to get into facilities, facilities management or into this industry, what kinds of things? Would you tell them? Tell them that they kind of need to work on or do at this point.
Malou Carreon 36:01
Be able to listen? It’s number one. I think sometimes, because, like, for instance, sometimes I mean, I have to tell myself, Okay, listen, because, you know, I’ve been doing this for such a long time. And sometimes you have the preconceived way of doing things. But then by listening, I don’t know, I just, I always you get that aha moment, like, Oh, yeah, that’s right, you know, didn’t consider that or, you know, because we’re not perfect. So just being able to listen, you know, when you’re doing a project, be fearless. Don’t just take something that’s face value, like going behind the scenes and try to figure out and have the foresight of what potentially could happen. So that if it happens, you’re ready, you know, and then, um, be able to admit mistakes, I think it’s also important, you know, again, you, we are not perfect, we will make mistakes at some point. But your ability to admit that you made a mistake, and find solutions is very important in this industry. And then keep learning, again, is another one, you know, never be content, like I said this, since it’s going to be a quiet couple of days. For me, I’m going to be online, like learning, you know, COVID-19 stuff from the oil Institute in the next couple of days, you know, or going to the OSHA website to see what’s going on. Yeah. And then, and relationships, very, very key. Although there are really some relationships that sometimes you can’t salvage, but for the most part, in my case, all my past relationships have really helped me, you know, from my clients, to the vendors to also some mentors that I’ve met along the way, you know, and then just friends, even your friends, because sometimes I bounce ideas off my friends, and I’m like, or I talk about my work, and they’re like, oh, why did you do that, you know, kind of thing, you know? So it’s like, and I guess, just having the humility to also you listen, I think, you listening and humility is kind of like, you know, they, they’re tied together. Because, you know, some people don’t want to listen, and because they think they’re, you know, up there, you know, I don’t want to listen to they know. Yeah, and that’s
Greg Owens 38:44
something so it’s something that I we’re always trying to work on is how for, you know, I’m a painting contractors, and we go out and I meet with facilities, managers, and listening is such a big key step in there, right? Because I may, I’ve been doing this for a long time. So I may see what I’m perceiving as their needs, like, right away. But the reality is, is like, no, I need to, like ask questions, gather more information, because we’re a consulting, we’re a consulting sales company, we don’t there’s no high pressure sales where we really want to have like, the big good fit for both the facilities manager and for for us, right. And so, you know, in that way, you want to really find out all the different details that’s going on and who’s involved in the project and who else is involved? And beyond that, who else is involved? Right? Because there’s usually Every company has many many different layers, right?
Malou Carreon 39:35
Oh, yeah.
Greg Owens 39:36
Yeah, even just like getting paid like each company has their own little system of like, Katrina knows this really well because the each company has a very specific way that they take invoices in and how they pay it. Right. And, and that’s all I different world right now.
Malou Carreon 39:55
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So yeah, I mean, those are some of the advices And then just be fearless. And have that sense of wonder, you know, I think. So.
Greg Owens 40:08
I like I like the fearless like, so during this time, has there been a point where you had some fear creep in? Because it’s it’s hard to be fearless all the time. Right? And so I’m curious, like, when you mentioned the word fearless like so it’s COVID you know, so many different unknowns back back in March shelter in place and all that kind of stuff. What What, what did you go through at that point?
Malou Carreon 40:33
Oh, actually, in my case, it’s just really losing almost all of my projects, you know, because then all of the my upcoming projects had to like, step back and just like, revisit, and then some of them even left their space, you know, and so now I, we were talking about expansion, and now they got out of their leaves, and they’re working remotely, you know, so the fear of not having that project, you know, the projects.
Greg Owens 41:06
Right, what you what you’ve known was, what it was. And now it evaporated. The same thing happened to us in so many ways, so many different companies, like, you know, pulled the plug, you know, and rightfully so we’d like nobody knew what was going on. We have no idea. And so yeah, there’s no need for our services right now. Exactly.
Malou Carreon 41:24
Yeah. But then also, just because I’ve been in the business for so long, and I’ve been around the.com bust and you know, the recession, I know that things will turn around now. It’s just a matter of than Okay, how will I make myself be ready for the next face? And so that’s, like I said, That’s why I now I’m thinking, like, just absorbing all this information and really trying to decipher, I mean, you were also asking, like, Okay, what are probably what my fears regarding COVID my fear really is more like, you know, will the employees, you know, observe what they need to observe. That’s my biggest fear that because you can’t control that, you know, you can only control the sanitation, the social distancing, and all the requirements needed, but it’s the employee, sorry, the most important critical factor in all this and making sure that, you know, we continued to be safe, you know, so, yeah, you know, so
Greg Owens 42:22
completely. Yeah. It’s like, we’re constantly trying to figure out how to inform our employees to stick to this and keep the social distancing. And, you know, and like you said, there’s like, sometimes that fatigue sets in and people are getting relaxed around real around. What about what normal protocols right now?
Malou Carreon 42:45
Right, right.
Greg Owens 42:45
Yeah, wearing masks, keeping everything clean? That kind of stuff?
Malou Carreon 42:49
Yeah. It’s interesting, too. Because, you know, like, in the Philippines, everyone wears masks and even the head, the plastic head here. Yeah. Here, it’s like, Ah, what happened? And like, you know, you should be like, common sense. But, yeah, that’s so that’s the frustrating part. Right. And sometimes, I still feel like, because I grew up around the martial law era in the Philippines, so you know, follow, follow,
Greg Owens 43:22
follow, because you’re gonna get in
Malou Carreon 43:24
trouble. Right? Yeah. And here in the US, I mean, we are, we can make decisions, like, some of my friends in the Philippines, because like I said, I go hiking, and I do a lot of photography, and they know that I’m always out. And so, you know, they’re saying, Oh, we just, you know, live vicariously through you. Because, you know, we see all the places that you go through and so, but I follow social distancing. I’m in an outdoor space, making sure the hike, great hiking trails are wide. And, you know, I, when I meet somebody face to face, I put on my mask just as a courtesy, even though I know it’s safe, you know, kind of thing. But yeah,
Greg Owens 44:03
I know. America is such a renegade country, we have this, we have this backbone culture of being, you know, independent, and, you know, and, yeah, the freedom piece, right. It’s like it’s built into the culture such a way. So I would, I could see, because I’ve traveled a lot. And I can see how other cultures are like, No, we need to do this for the, for the good of all the people. Oh, yeah. But America. No, I’m gonna do this for me first, my family second, and then I’ll start thinking about these other people.
Malou Carreon 44:37
Right.
Greg Owens 44:39
What’s that? Katrina? What’s that? Yeah. Yeah. I know dependent but also dependent. They don’t realize that we’re dependent. We’re dependent on the healthcare system that doesn’t get overwhelmed. Right. That’s a big deal. Right. Right.
Malou Carreon 44:55
Well
Greg Owens 44:56
fortunate that in the Bay Area that our healthcare system hasn’t gotten And overwhelmed by this, and it hasn’t parts of the country and other parts of the world for sure.
Malou Carreon 45:05
Yeah, yeah. And you’re so right about that. I mean, it’s, you know, we’re dependent on a health care, you know, our health care, but at the same time, there’s all this arguments and providing health care for everyone, right, you know, like, the social services aspect of it. And then in terms of like, just mindset, you know, I think Americans are really just into the very individualistic, you know, persona. And while I know, like, in the Asian culture, it’s really the collective, more the collective. And that’s why
Greg Owens 45:34
it’s, and even the stories and things like that is more of the collective and the stories that are told to like me as a childhood is more of the independent person. Even like it just so built into so many different aspects, I read a thing once, like, America is like 20th, or 30th, on the list of like, math, science, reading, like all these academic things, but there’s one place where Americans like Excel beyond everybody else, do you want to guess what it could be?
Katrina Stevenson 46:05
Well, I wouldn’t cry,
Greg Owens 46:06
confidence,
Katrina Stevenson 46:08
ah,
Greg Owens 46:10
you can be president country. Like, a child, your mom probably said that anything you want to do, you can be you can be president, you could be this, you could be that, you know, and, and, and that gets instilled at a very young age into the children into the culture here that like, Oh, I can go start a company, I can go do this. I can, you know, and so that happens here so much more faster, I think, than other cultures, right? And then there’s the then, then I’m super grateful in this culture, too, because like, I dropped out of high school. And I know that if I lived in another culture in other parts of the world, that being a dropout, my chances of being successful, or having my own business would be slim. And none, like the percentage of people that can come from that, that that sector of not having, like high school education, they don’t move up the ladder at all right, like, and so but this country, it’s possible. And it which is grateful for me, right, because I didn’t I didn’t get where I was born, right. I happen to be born here.
Malou Carreon 47:15
Yeah, I mean, that’s true. Because like, in my case, being an entrepreneur, I mean, I, although my, my mother was an entrepreneur, she, and I think I got that, you know, kind of that kind of thinking persona from her. Like, you know, you can do whatever you want, you know, quietly though, I’m more, you know, my mom was a very quiet, strong woman. So, you know, so and then I’m grateful for that here, you know, that I have I, you know, I have this opportunity. Because, you know, I don’t know if it’s the same in other countries, although
I think in the Philippines, there are lots of entrepreneurs, especially right now,
Greg Owens 47:56
Filipino culture as a lot of entrepreneurs for sure.
Yeah. I’ve been to the Philippines. And I was like, impressed by how many people had like side hustles and businesses going on and right. For something else, right. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Most everybody. Yeah. At some kind of side thing going on. know whether or not they’re selling food. They’re selling like shoes they’re doing, you know, they had something going right.
Malou Carreon 48:20
Yeah, right. Yeah. So yeah. So it’s been, it’s been a really interesting life path for me. And, you know, I’m very grateful for, you know, the opportunities given to me. And I’m, I’m still hopeful for more opportunities coming up. And I just hope that we can all stay safe and healthy, the next couple of weeks, and then we’ll see then 2021 It’s so amazing that it’s just around the corner. Leave it?
Greg Owens 48:52
I know. Well, this has been great. If people want to find out more about you and what you offer. Is LinkedIn the best place? Because we’ll put it in the show notes. Yeah.
Malou Carreon 49:03
Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. And also, I have a website, facilitiesconsultant.com. So they can go, yeah, they can go to my website and check out you know more about the services that I do. And my previous clients. Yeah.
Greg Owens 49:19
All right. Well, definitely put that into this. It’s been an absolute pleasure talking to you below right before Thanksgiving here. So, so thankful for you to be on this podcast Watching Paint Dry.
Malou Carreon 49:34
And thank you, thank you for giving me this opportunity. It’s been so much fun, and I love learning about you and Katrina. So, you know, hopefully we can do a project together at some point.
Greg Owens 49:46
Yeah, that’d be great. That would be fun. Okay, thank you. Bye.
Outro 50:00
Thanks for listening to the Watching Paint Dry podcast. We’ll see you again next time and be sure to click subscribe to get future episodes.