Full Transcript – Sheryl McLean – Wild Business Growth Podcast #264

This is the full transcript for Episode #264 of the Wild Business Growth Podcast featuring Sheryl McLean – Interior Design Inspirer, Founder of McLean & Tircuit. You can listen to the interview and learn more here. Please note: this transcript is not 100% accurate.

Sheryl McLean 0:00
I do what I like to do. I’m always excited

Max Branstetter 0:18
Hey, you welcome back to the Wild Business Growth Podcast. Wow, that sounded really wacky. Welcome back to the Wild Business Growth Podcast. This is your place to hear from a new entrepreneur every single Wednesday morning, who’s turning Wild ideas into Wild growth. I’m your host, Max Branstetter, Founder and Podcast Producer at MaxPodcasting, and you can email me at to save time with your high-quality podcast. This is episode When I’m 264 as the song goes, and today’s guest is Sheryl McLean. Sheryl is the President and Creative Director of McLean & Tircuit, one of the most fun or funnest names to say, and McLean & Tircuit is an award-winning full-service interior design firm. That’s been around since 2003. Sheryl is actually the first black woman to ever get her Master’s in Architecture from UCLA. And in this episode, we talk her design and architecture roots, her previous career as an international flight attendant, not that there’s any stories there, the value of finding a business coach or multiple business coaches, and Sheryl’s brilliant approach to inspiration and creativity. It is Sheryl McLean formerly Tircuit. Enjoyyyyyyy the showwwwww!

Aaaalrightyyyy we are here with Sheryl McLean of McLean & Tircuit, a name I’ve been pronouncing for about several, I think seven years straight now. Sheryl, so excited to speak with you and talk all about your design and architecture journey and beyond. And as a bonus, you share the same first name as my father-in-law. So shout out Sheryls with an s all around.

Sheryl McLean 1:56
Thank you. Thank you. Pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me.

Max Branstetter 2:18
Of course. And also, I totally blacked out there. I don’t know if I just said father-in-law, but I meant mother-in-law. But anyway.

Know, I’m really, really excited to dive into it. But before that, there’s an area of your background that in a previous stop along your career, that’s extra interesting to me. And that is, you spent many years as an international flight attendant. And I think that’s something that I think so many of us are really interested in as just one, you know, if you like travel, it’s kind of like an intriguing thing. But also, you get to have stories and stories and stories, and you’ve literally been all around the world, and you get paid to be all around the world. So that’s pretty cool. But what made you want to become a flight attendant in the first place.

Sheryl McLean 3:00
It had nothing to do with being a flight attendant and had everything to do with traveling. And that is the truth. That was the cheapest way that you could go and, and be everywhere. And I’m a very, very curious person. I’m curious about everything, cultures, people. And what a better way to find out about the world than to learn, as you say, get paid to travel, and learn about all the crazy people on the plane.

Max Branstetter 3:26
Yeah, well seems like more and more and more, what made the difference for you have, you know, just liking the idea of travel to wait, actually, yeah, no, I’m gonna I’m going to fully commit to this and become a flight attendant for for multiple years.

Sheryl McLean 3:38
At that time, I was working for IBM, I have several careers. But I was working for IBM and I was doing very, very well. But there was something that was really lacking and missing. And I decided that what the path that I was on was a path that was expected of me and not a path that I just freely chose because that’s what I wanted to do. So I was in this weird space where it’s like, okay, what is going to fulfill you right now, some of my purse strings were being pulled from the design aspect, but I didn’t have any experience or even knew of any designers. And then the other was I don’t want to live in Los Angeles anymore. I gotta get out of here. And how am I gonna get out of here? I’m just so happens seriously that the at that time they call them secretaries, the Secretary of that particular office that I work in her brother was interviewing for United Airlines. Now mind you in LA in my days, I didn’t know what United was and I didn’t wasn’t traveling on the on the West Coast then. And I’m like, huh, sure. You’ll make such a great flight into well then airline stewardess. I’m like, Okay, I don’t know about that. I’m in IBM. I’m doing well. Would I give up all of this to travel? Yes. Yes, I thought it was going to be a temporary pause. I thought it’ll move me out of LA situate me somewhere for two years, have some fun. And then I could get back to the real world, whatever the real world was supposed to be, because I really didn’t know at that time. And sure enough, the next day, she had set me up with an interview, and the next week, I was in Chicago training. So that’s how that started. You know, it’s weird. A lot of my life is like that. You think, Oh, my God, you spent years thinking and dreaming of this? No, it kind of came my way it felt right. And I did it. I’m sort of that person.

Max Branstetter 5:36
When I mean, I think so many entrepreneurs have that characteristic of like, they know ultimately, that they want to start a business one day, or they want to kind of build their life around things that they’re passionate about. But the also keep the door open for like, you know, like, there’s no blueprint to tie it back to Design and Architecture. There’s no blueprint for like, you have to do this step, then this step in this step, like you never know what opportunities can come your way. So that’s awesome that you jumped on the flight and then got paid to be on the flights, which is awesome. But I am curious. Do you have a like a crazy or most memorable story from your time as a flight attendant?

Sheryl McLean 6:14
I got lots of them. So I was international. So of course, I do. I think the most memorable though, it’s not even that, well. It sounds more luxurious than what it probably was. But I was a crew that I was flying to dc we flew together all the time we were flying to Milan. There are certain passengers when you fly the same routes for a period of time they’re flying the same routes you you do businessman are almost on the same same schedule as as the flight attendants. So you get to know your first class passengers because you see him, you know, two, three times a month. And there was some kind of mechanical or something that was wrong. He was staying at the same hotel as we were staying. All I know is we were stuck there. Instead of a 24 hour night we were stuck there for like four days. In that four days, this gentleman took us to Venice, took us to he rented this, like big limo, we went up to the Swiss Alps. And I mean, it was just like one thing after another after another. I’m on Lake Como on a boat. This is all on a layover Lake Como one night. It’s like, well, let’s go deep into Italy. Let’s go to Lake Como, and he’s navigating all this. We’re just like, sure, yeah, no, that was probably the most memorable because it was really like a true vacation on the highest level. Because for somebody to pay for, you know, 10 flight attendants plus two of the pilots to hang out with you. It’s a pretty penny. So this person was of means and went to some of the best restaurants while I was there. So that was really interesting on that level. But every country has something to offer. So that you know, that was my European bass. And then I had a Brazilian bass and I’ve had Argentina bass. So it just depends on what country you’re talking about.

Max Branstetter 8:12
Wow, that that’s fun people to know and work with and be your client tell when they can, you know, instead of you just sitting around at a hotel for four days take you to some of the coolest cities in the world. We’re actually my wife, Dana and I are watching succession at the time of this recording. And some of those episodes, they just hop from, you know, Milan to Lake Como to Tuscany to all through Europe. And it’s like you, you live that, you know, why not go here next. So that’s that’s an awesome story. And then you, you hinted at it, that you had an interest in design, how does one go from flight attending? That’s a term to design and architecture, once

Sheryl McLean 8:55
again. Gotta came my way. Design was always a passion as a child, I was the kid that design all of my friends rooms, you know, that was just part of who I was. I had the vision, I always was very sensitive to color. And that was a creative part of me. That was God given no question. But I didn’t know anything about making it a profession. I didn’t even know that that it could be a profession for my world. So when I started flying, I’m exposed to some of the most beautiful places in the world and I was just sapping it and just oh my god, this is it. This is it. Being a flight attendant, you have a lot of flexibility in your time. So I’m like, You know what, I’m gonna go to school. I need to take this a little further. Mind you, I’m 12 years out of you know, out of college by now. I need to take this a little further. So I I started an interior design program is manufactured at UCLA. I was in it a year I was their star, which I thought was funny because I never considered myself a star but they considered me their star and They encouraged me to go into architecture. And I’m like, I don’t know any architecture. I don’t know. It’s the way I design I designed very three dimensionally. And they recognized it. And they said, You really need to pursue this. So I put my portfolio together with no expectation and sent it in, got accepted, and got full scholarship, the whole bit was like, wow, whatever I loved, it had all kinds of stuff, because it was very political, about me being there. I was the first black female, actually, to graduate from UCLA. So there with that, there’s all kinds of politics and racism. And yeah, the whole world was like crazy at that time. But I loved I was passionate about design, I was passionate about architecture, really. So that’s kind of how I flipped. And this was a time when the airlines were trying to lay off people. So when I put in for leave of absence to go to school for three years, they’re like, Sure, go, just fly in the summers. And that’s what I did. I went to school, and I flew in the summers. I didn’t quit right away. I kept it. For a few more years, I was still flying. But by that time, I was senior enough that I would only fly on the weekends. And I moved myself to DC started working for an architecture firm, four days a week so that I could fly on the weekends. And I did that for a while. And then I was laid off. And I said, Okay, what are you going to do? Are you going to go and design well, that by that time I started doing my little projects, and then 911 hit, and it’s like, I’m done with flying. You know, it’s just, I’m over it. And I need to make this serious and I jumped full fledge into design. And I made the decision then that I would go into interior design versus architecture, love architecture, love it passionately. But I saw a better future for me in interior design, which is why I said okay, I’m gonna make this grownup decision and actually do it not based on my feelings. But based on what what’s, you know what makes sense. And that’s where I went.

Max Branstetter 12:14
So let’s get to McLean. And drumroll, please, Tircuit which I actually I know the answer. But for the for the listeners, I’d love for you to share. What is Tircuit?

Sheryl McLean 12:29
I don’t know what it means. But it’s my maiden name. Plane is my married name. Tircuit is my maiden name. It’s funny, because the amount of respect I get, because I think there’s two people and they assume that the other one is a man, by the way. 100% When I’m in front of companies, they just assume that I’m the female version of McLean & Tircuit. But it’s all me. You know, that’s what it is.

Max Branstetter 12:56
That’s brilliant. From a naming standpoint, for Thanksgiving. Every year on this podcast, I interview a family member. And it’s like a family special family business special. It’s always really, really fun. And this year, I interviewed my my father in law, Gary, and he and his business partner, their longtime business is called the sample group. And at the start was just two of them. And they named a group because they wanted to seem like more people than it was so like that same strategy. It’s brilliant. I love that. What made you decide to go out on your own and start your own firm as opposed to working for I don’t know, if there’s like a, you know, big for design firms or architecture firms, something like that.

Sheryl McLean 13:39
Well, I had worked for the architecture firms. I did you know, besides my internship, when I moved here, I was working for a large firm in the DC area. But I was older than and I couldn’t see myself going, you know, when I switched over to interior design, I didn’t have a blueprint for how to run a business like that. So I knew I needed some kind of business model to do this. The talent was there, the creativity there and the maturity was there. But what is the structure? So I did this, I bought one of those franchises, it was called, at that time, it was called interiors by decorating den, which is probably the largest franchise they have. It was a decorating franchise, but it had a great business model. So I thought then, and I said, Okay, I can do this for about four or five years, and then I’ll just break completely off on my individual. But at least I have the the model, that’s what I needed. Well, I didn’t stay that long. I only stayed a year and a half because it didn’t take that long for me to realize you got this you don’t need this. And there were things I wanted to do that was kind of outside of what that particular franchise was selling. And it was kind of clamping my style if you know what I’m saying. It’s like because I had the architecture in me you know, and I needed to do that too. I just decided, You know what you could do this, and I just bit the bullet and, and walked away and, you know, started my own business. And I was crazy busy for the first three years, just like outrageously busy, because I didn’t realize there were people that were waiting for me out there. You know, so when I freed myself, they came, I’m like, Thank you. Thank you universe. So yeah, that’s kind of how it, everything just kind of has a natural organic flow to where I am now. It’s just the way it is.

Max Branstetter 15:36
That’s the best like, that’s, that’s the way it should be when you organically find your way into something. You mentioned being so busy those first three years, which I think have for any, and I’ve lived it with my podcast production business, but for for any business owner, it’s like, a good problem to have. But also, it is a problem to have, because you need to figure out quick how to, you know, work with numbers of clients, how to manage your time how to still have a personal life and like be there for your family. So what how did you navigate that? And those early years, when you all of a sudden went from like, I might go on on my own to Whoa, whoa, whoa, I am too busy. Man. Turquie?

Sheryl McLean 16:16
No, yeah, me and Turquie. So I recognize early, I have to have a coach, I have to have a business coach, I have a business coach to this day, I always am under somebody’s coaching mastermind program. That’s how you learn, that’s how you grow, that’s a safe place to do it, because it’s a very competitive business. So you need to be in a safe place where you don’t have to worry about somebody stealing your ideas, or your clients or anything like that. That was key for me. Other things that were key for me was the relationships to develop the relationships rather, that I had with organizations that I believed in to develop those relationships and see if I can partner with those people to and businesses to help me further grow. Now I’m involved in a couple of big organizations were big for me. One is BADG, which is Black Artists + Designers Guild, they’re out in New York, we’re all over the world. And it’s all the creatives that you can imagine creatives and black creatives and makers, so I’m exposed to a lot of artisans, a lot of artists, we do things together, we raise money, we get scholarships, lots of good stuff that come out of that organization. And then a my you know, to the bone passion is women in business, and Black Women in Business specifically because I came out of an environment where that was just so controlled, and not necessarily encouraged. So I belong to an organization called The BOW Collective, which is, you know, Black Owners Women’s organization where all black CEOs kind of represent the 1%, the top 1% of all black women owned businesses. And the revenues that we have collectively is all we’re at top 1% of all small businesses. So these women, they knew the business, I got the creativity, they can help me and that’s what happened. I started learning from them. Between that and my coach, I got through it all but coaches, I think any person, any business person should have a you need a second opinion. And you need somebody to kind of to look at you both subjectively and objectively and you’re only going to find that in somebody like a coach, or a shrink, but I went the coach way.

Max Branstetter 18:38
And shout out BOW, I as part of prepping for this interview. I heard your interview on a podcast you did with BOW, which is just an awesome interview all around. But yeah, just absolutely incredible. I’m sure there’s endless amounts to learn on the business coach, no, I’m not going to make you reveal all your business coaches secrets. But is there a recommendation or tweak that they had, you know, around that time that you were really busy in those first few years that has been instrumental to growing the business further? Yes.

Sheryl McLean 19:11
And one of the things that all of them in some way taught me is to really trust my instinct and to trust myself. Because I got it, I got the knowledge, I just didn’t know it was the fear factor is the unknown factor that kept me for making some of the steps that I needed to make. So they guided me to do it wisely. But they allowed me to be able to feel confident enough to do this. I have to one of the things that they’ve all taught me is to be able to critique myself, without all the emotional baggage to look at what you know, what do we need to work on? You got to get down to the heart of it and you got to throw all the baggage out. You can you know, there’s some of the stuff you don’t want to do. Okay, you’ve been hiding it. In the background of your mind for a long time, but you got to do it because it’s preventing you from moving forward. So they really taught me to trust myself, and to listen to that intuition and listen to my heart in a way that I didn’t know how to do that on my own. And that was really beneficial. And the end the other thing, you know, when I say, and I do, I believe every business person should have a coach, but they should have the right coach, and one coach is not gonna carry you through your career. I have coaches for, you know, the coach I’m working with now I’ve been working with for, I want to say, three, four years, the one before that I worked with with three years, you know, when when you need them, and you kind of know when that episode is over, and you need to move on to something else, because they serve their purpose for that particular episode. So coaches is what you need.

Max Branstetter 20:55
What do you think business owners should look for in the quote unquote, right, coach? They have

Sheryl McLean 21:01
to be able to listen to you. That’s key, that

Max Branstetter 21:04
would be a big problem. Yeah, well,

Sheryl McLean 21:06
there are people. The other thing is there are people that are calling themselves coaches, they’re sort of self appointed names. You need somebody that has a record of coaching my coaches, I knew about them, because I read their books, because I was on there. They didn’t call them podcasts then or if they did their webinars, I was webinars. I mean, I was listening to see is this the person that could take me for? Is this person teaching me anything? Number one, is this person listening to me, I think the most important thing is to do due diligence, as I said, because there’s a lot of self appointed coaches, and they’re not, they’re not trained in that area. And to see what some of their successes are, like, I do know some of the groups and some of the people that they coach, and I’m looking at their success, and I’m like, Okay, well, if they did that, and they got that person there, and that person was crazy. And they still got him there, then they might be able to help me. Oh, so you do, you need to do some due diligence, and you need to feel comfortable. It’s a very personal thing. There’s a lot of confidentiality going on there. You know, you’re, you’re open your expose, so you have to be comfortable with that coach to check it out first, that’s all I have to say.

Max Branstetter 22:26
That’s a great tip. And on the flip side of that is that’s just proof of how effective a podcast or any foreign like long form content especially can be if you are a business coach or somebody that’s helping out others, and not that I’m, you know, a huge fan of podcasts or anything, but that now it’s really can be impactful on the design side. So I’m somebody who I know very well what design is, I know somewhat well what interior design is. But I would bet you know just a little bit more about interior design than I do. So I’d love to know, like as far as your company and the typical projects that you usually work in, what’s that look like? Like what really gets you fired up? When you have a new project and it’s in you know, X category,

Sheryl McLean 23:14
just know that I am full service, I have high end residential, I do commercial, which is more on the when I say commercial. My niche is more in the corporate executive offices, only branded interiors do I work with, I’m not there to put some desks and chairs, we have to have a whole brand thing going on, or has been going on that I can connect to that pulls on my heart right there. I do some hospitality. Right now, I was worried I would actually just kind of finished what my portion was on this, you know, Coffee House coffee lounge kind of thing. So I do a little that I do multifamily also. So I’m sort of not what anybody’s advising anybody to do. Because right now they advise you to knit yourself, but I’ve never niched myself in anything in my life. So I don’t even know how to do that I do what I like to do. I’m always excited when I start a new project because I only take on projects that I love, or I love the people or the cars or something, there has to be something there for me to connect to. Otherwise, I’ll just move to the next person and see if that person is going to do it for me. I want to love what I do. I want to continue to love what I do. I really babysit that idea when I’m when I’m out there. I’m interviewing clients as much as they’re interviewing me, and I don’t take all business because of that. Sometimes that sounds crazy when you’re starving, but I’m gonna I’m in here for the longevity of it. So I got to do it that way. You know? So the answer your question, I do everything. What gets me going is their excitement because I’m excited so they’re automatically excited. I mean, the challenge is to keep that excitement going through the process. That’s the Yeah.

Max Branstetter 25:01
How dare you want to love what you do? That’s so controversial, I can’t believe. Now. That’s that’s such a strong approach to it. And I think that will resonate with so many people about, yeah, it helps to get really good at a certain skill and be niche down or niche down whenever you prefer. But also, I think people really appreciate variety and doing projects in different spaces. And you’re an example of that. I know, I’m the same way as well, like, if I was working on the same exact genre of stuff all the time, I would go crazy. But lots of different areas, or lots of different projects is what keeps me really excited. What would you say differentiates your firm as far as you know, your approach to the actual interior design work that you do?

Sheryl McLean 25:50
Of course, one of the strongest things that differentiates me is the fact that I came out of the architecture world. So my perspective starts with that three dimensional structure kind of thing. But also in that you’ve got the history of that structure, that area, that community, that sort of thing is going on, in my mind, I’m coming at design with a lot of knowledge. And let me just put it in that perspective. The other thing that differentiates me is I have a love for color. So you see color in my designs, do I do neutral environments, especially with the generation that is that is existing now that is just starting in design? They’re very, very neutral? Yes, I can do it, will I try to convert you to play with a little color? Yes. Because color, it’s free. No, it’s what nature gave you, it’s all out there. And it’s, it sets the mood, it sets the tone, you physically react to color, that’s why in certain hospitals there, you know, and you go into emergency room, or in the operating rooms are always blue, they’re not pink. And when you go in places where you have very, you know, volatile emotional people, they’re not going to have a red room, because you physically have a reaction to that. So I love to use color, to get that emotion that you want. When you when you walk into a space, people are afraid of colors. So it’s always a challenge. They are I’ve never been that might be for my trap. No, it can’t even be from my travels, it’s got to be just how I grew up. Because my mother, she used to paint, I both my parents were very creative. So my mother used to paint, her occupation was a teacher, but she used to paint and she made all the clothes that she had. And they were fabulous, seriously fabulous. And so I learned textile and color and mixing stuff from her. My father was on the building side, I learned all the structures stuff is like I just got, they just put it in me. And when they pushed me out. Color is one architectures the other. And also, I get into your head, I do I don’t I can’t help it. That’s my personality. You know, I’m pretty insightful. So I get into who you are, and what you’re gonna respond to. I just get into that very, very quickly. So I know how to talk to your heart. Those Those three things are the ones that have kept me in the game so long and has brought all the clients that I have. Yeah.

Max Branstetter 28:22
And this might be me just being totally foreign to interior design. But in your typical project, how much time do you spend on like the early kind of research and design blueprint type part of it versus the actual like, tactile, you know, buying of the goods and set up and all that.

Sheryl McLean 28:43
So the largest part of my time is usually in the early stages, the concept and schematic that’s when I’m putting it all together, I do do something that I don’t talk about. And that is I need a day of inspiration also. So when I take on a design, I go out and get inspired by something, if it’s going to a museum, if it’s going to the beach, whatever I think this theme is going to come I go visit that where that place is so I can get in touch with that a little bit. I do that first. And then I come back and I start doing concepts and schematics and usually after my day or my moments or hours of inspiration, I’m ready to go. And I spent a lot of time there so that when I present they’re on board immediately and I can go right into design development. Now that whole getting the furniture in and getting the contractor on board that’s like more tedious kind of things, you know, deals less with creativity. So I don’t spend that much time with that my the people that work for me too, but I’m on the creative end and I think the font part of it is where I spend the most amount of time. The rest is just okay we know what we want. We got the colors we got this let’s put this puzzle together. So it goes Really quickly

Max Branstetter 30:00
a missing puzzle piece for your podcasting and or entrepreneurship goals. Or just you know, if you want to be like a comedian get really, really good at comedy because the jokes are so good. Might be the Podcasting to the Max newsletter. It was right in front of you this whole time, you can sign up at MaxPodcasting.com/Newsletter. And boy, oh boy, will you be happy with that puzzle and your new one liners.

Now, let’s continue our segue tour. So Sheryl, you could not have segwayed that any better. Because right now I’d love to dive into pretty much a segment called inspiration and creativity. And you couldn’t have teetered off better day of inspiration. I’m all for that. And I think so many businesses can benefit from that. I’m curious on your end. I mean, I know you mentioned museums, but I’m sure there’s plenty more different activities as well. What things have you done on these set day of inspiration that have got you most inspired and creative, creatively energized? This

Sheryl McLean 31:06
is gonna sound really corny. But when Beyonce came to town, I had the ability to to be in the one of the suites. And with the bow Collective, we had gotten a suite. And everybody was there for Beyonce, and I was there I was there, because I was just about to jump into a project that’s going to have some, a little hip hop in it, I call it hip hop, which means I’m gonna be dealing with a lot of color, a lot of current conversations of current political things, there’s going to be some political thought that’s going to go into this. I’m also into politics. I think they’re all connected. And when I was looking at Beyonce, with whom, you know, I’m no, no different than anybody else. I loved her. Was I looking at what she was wearing? Yes. But for a very different reason. You know, I’m looking at the colors, I’m looking at the mood, I’m looking at the people, I’m taking it in, because whatever that energy is, the energy I wanted to take with me into this other project. So that was one that was kind of unusual. You go to Beyonce concert, concert for inspiration. But that’s what I did. You know, I recently have been working and we’re almost finished with the North is the Native American Rights Fund. Their headquarters is in Washington, DC, and I did their corporate office. And I went for a few times up to the Indian Museum in the Smithsonian. They have great food, by the way, but I went up there. And it was funny, I learned so much, because I didn’t know I you know, I only know what most people know if you’re not around that that culture. But I just learned so much that I could bring, or at least I can understand my client more. It even if I’m not bringing anything new, it’s new to me. It’s not new to them, of course, but I can understand their perspective more. So that was that’s another cool thing. I have some done something as simply as go to the beach and take my journal and just sit out there and do nothing. Because I needed a blank space, I needed to just kind of free myself from all the craziness, just to create some clarity about what is it that I’m going to do with this project? So it just, they’re all different is the point I’m making? What do you think?

Max Branstetter 33:22
Is it about these days of inspiration, or these days of, you know, pretty much unplugging, doing something energizing like that, that helps to fuel these projects so much.

Sheryl McLean 33:34
It creates so much clarity, in my mind of what it’s going to be if you’re clear on something, you could just move forward. It’s like a runway, it’s just clarity, I could just go for it now. And that’s important. Because the worst thing in the world is to get stuck on the design before you even get to the design. That’s really our

Max Branstetter 33:57
bow. I don’t know if this is intentional or not. But you’re incredible with using idioms that tie back to your career. So you just use runway as a flight attendant. And you said blueprint earlier, just you know casually.

Sheryl McLean 34:14
Well, it’s more than just what I speak is what I do is what I am I mean, I’m a collection of everything that I’ve ever done, you know, which makes to me, that’s what makes me you want to know what distinguishes me, is the collection of what I’ve accomplished in my life and done. I carry it with me. And it makes me a better designer for sure.

Max Branstetter 34:36
Well, it’s a fantastic runway. You mentioned at the beach, that you take your journal, I would guess or guesstimating as the kids say that sometimes you take your journal to other places as well. What’s your approach to using your journal? As far as like inspiration and creativity goes?

Sheryl McLean 34:53
It depends on the moment. Sometimes I’m sketching. Sometimes I’m just doodling Sometimes I’m actually writing out my ideas. I’ve even like, written out a recipe, because that’s what was on my mind. At the time, there is no, there is no planned activity when I have that it’s just whatever I feel like doing, you know, I’m just freeing myself up when I usually am in that, that kind of space, whatever’s around me that brings my attention, I might focus on it might not have anything to do with design, per se, or that project, it might be something else, but for some reason, my mind wants to go there. So I just let it go.

Max Branstetter 35:37
We have a couple lighter, kind of rapid, fiery segments to wrap up here. And this first one is called the unusual. So this is about you don’t have to tie back to your business at all. But you on the personal side, I just love learning from entrepreneurs, you know, outside of work, what you know what the personalities are like, what kind of makes them tick, what makes them tick off. But first one is, I call them weird talents can be a party trick, or just something that you have a knack for, that you’re just really good at. But it doesn’t, in a sense, impact the day to day. That’s

Sheryl McLean 36:10
a hard one. And I’m saying that because I asked somebody, what do you think, weird tricks that I have? And they said, Well, you’re just a weird person. And I’m thinking, Well, what does that mean? How did I get to

Max Branstetter 36:21
be? I love weird people. I’ve heard the same thing about me.

Sheryl McLean 36:26
I don’t know that answer. And I know that that’s not fair. But I really don’t. Because I think I’m very saying there’s nothing I do. That’s weird. I tell you what I do do that’s a little different from me, especially from people that are my age, I seem to be ageless. And I accepted that about two years ago about myself. Because most people don’t know my age because they say I don’t act my age. And I don’t know what that means. But I’m past retirement age. And I have friends in their 30s in their 40s and their 50s. And their 60s, I’m sort of I respond to the energy and the you know, what you have to offer into the person and I don’t have limitations and, and supposed to be so you need to be I don’t live by those rules. So it surprises people that when I’m you know, I’m out and I’m partying, and I’m dancing like I’m at their level, like I’m 30 years old, or 35 years old, they’re looking at me like, Oh, they’re so shocked. It’s like, because I don’t have those kinds of things about myself. I don’t think those things. So I guess kind of that if that makes any sense. Yeah, that’s

Max Branstetter 37:33
an awesome trait to have. How about quarks with something your family team friends, somebody calls you out for it’s a little quirky about who you are, but it’s who you are.

Sheryl McLean 37:44
Once again, they all think I’m weird.

Max Branstetter 37:47
What do they think is not quirky? Now just got it.

Sheryl McLean 37:51
If I had to say what they notice about me, I’m pretty spontaneous, but in a an odd kind of way. Like I don’t just jump out there. I have to be spurred on in some kind of way. And then something clicks and it’s like, boom, I’m very spontaneous. I’m very receptive to energies. I know that sounds so gooey and all of that, but I am I’m very receptive to energies always have been. So if I’m in a place where there’s, there’s a lot of energy, I’m going to have a lot of energy. And if I’m in a place where I feel like I have to leave immediately, I will leave immediately. Because I don’t like to get sucked in, you know, it drives them crazy, because I can and I know that that’s not good. But I can answer your question before you ask it or in your sentence. And I don’t mean harm. I’m just already locked into you is what? We

Max Branstetter 38:41
could have done this whole interview different. I could have just said the first word and then you guessed the question, and the answer would have been Yeah, that’s what I was thinking perfect.

Sheryl McLean 38:50
And I’m never and I’m not wrong. That’s the that’s what takes them.

Max Branstetter 38:56
Wow, that’s, that’s incredible. And then pet peeves. This is that I’m referring to like miniscule things that really aren’t a big deal. But so for me, for example, like I can’t handle when, like my wife, Dana, for example. Now she does as a joke, but leaves the cupboards open, or like cabinets open or like fridge or something like that. So what’s something that just ticks you off a little bit?

Sheryl McLean 39:20
On? This takes me off every day. I am crazy about this. And there’s nobody else I know that. I’m always on the verge of road rage really? Because I just don’t understand why you can’t drive on your right and pass on your lap. Okay, that’s a big thing with me. So if I’m driving, and yeah, I might be driving over the speed limit. And you don’t want to can you move over cuz you drive on your right and you pass on your left? It drives me crazy when people have decided what the rules are, and that you have to follow the same rules they follow so they’re gonna force you It’s like they didn’t They really are driving me crazy. force me to drive in the speed limit because they want to just move over. That’s kind of weird. But I do this every day. I literally am mad every day about this literally

Max Branstetter 40:14
literally driving you crazy. I’ve asked so many entrepreneurs about what grinds their gears and I’m shocked that I hadn’t thought about it till now. But you would think road rage comes up way more or just driving faux pas and some people have had some comments like that. But now that that takes the cake I’m totally with you. There’s a reason why road rage is is a thing. Yeah, let’s drive our way peacefully to Rapid-Fire Q&A. You ready for it?

Sheryl McLean 40:44
Yes. Alright.

Max Branstetter 40:45
Let’s Get Wild. What is your favorite dish of the New Orleans or

Sheryl McLean 40:56
Well, gumbo, gumbo. Gumbo so good.

Max Branstetter 40:59
So good. We make a jambalaya here and then when Shut up my my buddy John. And when I was at his bachelor party last year in New Orleans, I think there were multiple meals that we ate out and I had both jambalaya and gumbo. I was like, why not? Course, so good. What is your favorite restaurant or bar in New Orleans?

Sheryl McLean 41:22
I don’t even know if it’s there anymore. But there was a restaurant called Jakes that I really really liked. I don’t know if it’s there. You know, New Orleans has changed so much. But I don’t eat in restaurants too much in New Orleans. You know, I’m from there. So I’m meeting in at family and friends and rarely do I eat at restaurants. It’s funny. I don’t do the tourist thing when I’m home. Ever. Except me. You know, I go get a poboy and I will go get a poor boy.

Max Branstetter 41:49
That’s always good as well. Yes. I’m starving now. Thank you. What is a you think your favorite thing that you kind of just casually doodled probably

Sheryl McLean 41:59
has nothing to wear has more to do. I’m in the fashion by the way. And beauty I’m in. I’m in the beauty and fashion a lot. So I sketch sometimes that kind of stuff too. So I want to say my favorite thing, which is going to be kinda odd, because I needed these cowboy boots. And I couldn’t figure out why I hated all the ones that were out there. They were just a little too cowboy ish. And so I decided, okay, let me draw some cowboy boots and a design on it that I think I want it was kind of weird. I was in a weird place. And do you know, I found those cowboy boots. It’s, it’s like, I actually found something very similar to what I was drawing. And of course, that bottom, but that might be one, there’s so much stuff that I that I sketch, that

Max Branstetter 42:45
might be a new way of finding the perfect product for you just sketch it and then put it out in reverse Google search it Google reverse google image, and then it’s got to be out there somewhere.

Sheryl McLean 42:55
I’m a true believer of energy out energy and you put it out, it’s gonna come back. I’m a very strong believer of that. And

Max Branstetter 43:03
then back to flight attendant, I couldn’t resist. I’ve always wondered this, when you are on flights. So often do you just get used to your ears popping and like any potential nausea up in the sky like that? Like, what, what does that like over time,

Sheryl McLean 43:19
I never got nauseous, and the only time my ears will pop is. Now if you have a cold, you shouldn’t be fine. But it might do it there. But usually, like if you’re gonna go, it depends on the speed of the plane, how high up they are that sort of thing. I used to have more of that when I was flying to Japan out in New York and Tokyo, you’re flying over the poles. So there’s all kinds of weird stuff that’s happening in your body anyway, but I don’t really, I never had the knowledge. I never had any of that. And by the way, I’m terribly afraid of heights, which is really, you will never get me on the edge of anything. You know, it’s like no, or in a helicopter. It’s like I’m not doing that either. So but you know, you feel kind of safe in your in these planes. And my planes are big, I don’t do the if they don’t if the plane isn’t big enough to have two flight attendants. And at least two pilots is too small. I’m not getting them.

Max Branstetter 44:12
On that note, do you have any tips for dealing with turbulence because whether you’re afraid of heights or not, I just feel like turbulence is just one of those unsettling things.

Sheryl McLean 44:21
It’s unsettling for everybody, even flight attendants just breathe. That’s how you can do is just take a deep breath and breathe you have absolutely no control. So just lean into it. Because that’s what’s freaking you out is you don’t have control. You don’t have a break. You don’t have anything. You just lose control. I mean, give in to it cuz you’re not you don’t have any control and just go with it and just breathe. Close your eyes if you have to. And just breathe, just let it go because there’s nothing you could do. But it scares everybody. I mean, it’s upsetting is what it is. That was

Max Branstetter 44:55
very calming, just right there so you tell your know your stuff. And then last one you mentioned you started at United in that space to this day. Are you a loyal United flyer? You kind of all over the board.

Sheryl McLean 45:08
No, I’m still loyal to United but I also fly Southwest a lot too. So I like them as the airline and they go to the places sometimes sometimes I don’t have it depends on where I’m going you know, that may not fly. I still do a lot of international travel on my own. So these are places that I have to fly you know their airlines but yeah, I’m loyalty and 90 United United is, you know, they were good to me. I was with him for what, 2628 years or something. So yeah.

Max Branstetter 45:38
Well, great runways all around. Cheryl. Thank you so much. This has just been an absolute blast and really enjoyed learning so much about your background and how everything’s connected and your amazing business. Thanks again for coming on. And where’s the best place if people want to connect with you personally online as well as learn more about your business? You can

Sheryl McLean 46:01
go to my website, which is McLean & Tircuit

Max Branstetter 46:09
I’ll put it I’ll put it in the description all spelled out. So we don’t have to spell it here. But everybody will guess wrong.

Sheryl McLean 46:15
Everyone. I’m cleaning turquie.com Is my my website. You can find me on LinkedIn, which is just Sheryl McLean. Sheryl with an S. You can find me on Instagram, @McLeanTircuitDesigns. If you put McLean & Tircuit in the same sentence, I’m gonna pop up.

Max Branstetter 46:37
That’s for sure. That’s for sure. Yes, I’m

Sheryl McLean 46:39
gonna pop up. Yeah, absolutely. And then I have, you know, I have I didn’t say I have a boutique in my studio. So I’m here in Laurel, Maryland, on Main Street in the historical area of Main Street of Laurel. And that’s 617 Main. And I have a boutique there. It’s in front of my studio. So yeah, perfect.

Max Branstetter 47:00
And shout out once again to Sheryls with an S. Last thing here final thoughts. It could be a quote just kind of word solidify, whatever you want. Send us home here.

Sheryl McLean 47:08
Okay, and let me see send you home. Like a flight attendant.

Max Branstetter 47:12
Okay, sorry.

Sheryl McLean 47:15
Yes, when you see these signs when the when the things drop down. So, no, just put positive energy out as much as you can, because you’re gonna get it back. It comes back all energy comes back. So put out there what you want, because that’s what you get.

Max Branstetter 47:37
And we have gotten so many so many, so many, so many awesome tips, stories, advice, beyond from Sheryl. Thank you so much, Sheryl with an S for coming on the Wild Business Growth Podcast, sharing your incredible stories in multiple careers. And thank you our listeners for tuning in to another episode. If you want to hear more Wild stories like this one, make sure to follow the Wild Business Growth Podcast on your favorite app. And make sure to do that if you haven’t already. It’s on of course you can find us Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, all the above including Goodpods where there’s really good, good good good pasta, good pasta, good podcasts and podcasts, people and recommendations and tell a friend about the podcast. This Sheryl interview is a fantastic place to start. For any help with podcast production, you can learn more at MaxPpodcasting.com and you could sign up for the Podcasting to the Max newsletter at MaxPodcasting.com/Newsletter. Until next time, let your business Run Wild & Tircuit…Bring on the Bongos!!