The Shortlist Episode 100: 10 Years of Middle of Six

As The Shortlist celebrates its 100th episode and Middle of Six marks 10 years in business, Wendy Simmons sits down with Melissa Richey, Grace Takehara, Becky Ellison, and producer Kyle Davis to reflect on the moments that made both possible. From the story behind naming the company to experience shares about entrepreneurship, career pivots, and building a thriving remote-first team, the conversation is equal parts reflection and celebration.

Grab a cup of coffee and listen in as the team shares "pinch me" moments and their vision for the future. It's a look back at a decade of growth, 100 episodes of conversation, and the Hustle & Heart values that guide everything MO6.

Podcast Transcript

Welcome to The ShortList. We're exploring all things AEC marketing to help your firm win The Short List. I'm Wendy Simmons, and today we're talking with Melissa Ritchie, Grace Tavahara, Becky Ellison, and podcast producer Kyle Davis. Yay. To discuss 10 years of Metal Up 6. Woo. We got a big crew on here. Hi, everybody. Hey, hey. Hello. Hello. Hi.

So as we approach the end of season five, the shortlist, we just did not want to miss the opportunity to chat about another super exciting milestone. That is our 10th anniversary as a marketing company in AEC and all the things that come with that. I hear from clients and candidates all the time that they're drawn to, you know, working with middle six or working for a woman-owned company.

that comes up a lot. And so that's part of the reason why I just feel like it's really important to celebrate this 10th anniversary milestone, because it's such a small number of years. It's not 125 years, not that, but man, it's a big deal. know, one in five businesses, small businesses fail within their first year. Half of small businesses, you know, don't even make it to the five year mark.

those numbers can be daunting when you're thinking about going and starting out on your own. And I've heard that only a third of small businesses actually make it to the 10-year marker, which is a big deal. So we did it. Cheers. Yay, everybody. I mean, we did it with a lot of hard work and a lot of fun, a lot of trust, all the good things. And since this is my podcast and it's the last episode before we wrap season five. I just feel like, you know, let's take a second here. Let's pretend we're, you know, having a cup of coffee and, you know, you can pick my brain and I'm happy to share the things that I share with other clients or whoever calls me is like, hey, I'm thinking about going out on my own or a business owner who's a few years into it and wants some, I don't know, advice or experience shares. Like I'm an open book. I'm very happy to share. So grab your cup of coffee. Let's sit down for a chat. Let's talk with the middle of 16. They'll say it for real. Tell you all the real stuff and let's reminisce on 10 years in middle of six. Yeah, we've got stories. Yeah, we do. We stories. We want to hear it. Spill it. We can always cut, right, Kyle? Yep. All right. Well, this the first question, the one that we get all the time.

And often in a client meet and greet is, what does middle of six mean? What does that stand for? I mean, I literally had someone one time say, my wife said that if I don't ask this question in the meet and greet, she's going to be upset. She was, she's like, I got to know what this means, which is really great and cute. I have the answer for that, but I'm going to make all of you answer first. Anybody, what do you say when someone asks, what the heck does that mean?

So I actually had a TSA agent ask me at the airport what it meant when I took my laptop out of my bag and he thought maybe it was the letter I because that is in the middle of the word six. And I should have stopped and been like, that's incredibly creative. Like, do you have a resume on you? Cause that's, that's great ideation, but yeah, no, I don't know. It didn't occur to me. Like when I first joined, I literally had no um preconceived notion of what that might mean. Is that bad? Is that wrong?

Interesting. Yeah, I didn't. I didn't know. You just took it at face value. I did. The company's name. Go for it. Sounds good. That's right. All right. Well, thanks, Becky. I wish you would have high five that dude. I won't step on the real answer, but that's usually the answer I give is what the real answer is. But mostly I just when I talk to folks, I'm kind of like, well, you know, it got you to ask the question. Like it's kind of doing its job in and of itself in that it's unique. It's thought.

provoking, it's a good conversation starter. It's not just Simmons marketing or AEC marketing pros or whatever, you know, it has personality to it and it's different. It rolls off the tongue. It has a good sound to it. So that's usually the the tact that I take is just focusing on the unique aspects of it. I totally agree with you on that. It's a conversation starter. Yeah.

Which is so great. That's the added benefit of the name and something that I just never get tired of. Ooh, let's dig in. And then I always find out from other people their answer. Right. Melissa, what do you say? You must get this question every time as well. I get it a lot. And I guess to not steal your thunder, I also give the quote unquote real answer, but then continue on like Kyle does. you know, it's got longevity. Our founder's vision for this company was for it to be something that has legs and grows and continues on for years and years to come. So she didn't want the name of the company tied to her own name. So that's part of what I go with. also usually, if it's a more of a math person, there's like a, well, there is no middle of six and then that's a whole discussion. Right. That's the conversation that comes after it that is so, so fun.

Yeah, you always have the opportunity to say, well, what do you think it means? And sometimes people even get it right, which is honestly kind of impressive. Grace, do you have a story? I mean, I was going to bring up what Melissa just brought up, which was the different answers that you get or guesses that you get from different disciplines almost that we work with. And it's always fun just to see like, you know, where people are coming from.

What the real answer is that kind of spurs a conversation of like, Oh, I am, I guess I'm the middle of eight or something. You know, it's like, it's kind of funny. So yeah, it's just a great conversation starter in a way to almost like break the ice to and get a feel for like, who am I working with? So, yeah, it's fun name. is doing its job for sure. for, for people who don't know and haven't guessed it from our little clues we're dropping, I am one of six kids. grew up always saying that I'm the middle of six. That's what I would say. And I think I must've said that also in my adult life at some point, because one of my coworkers was like, that would be a really great band name. And I have, I am not musically inclined, unfortunately. I have two brothers who are drummers and they're like, how can you not keep a beat? I'm so sorry. What a loud house that must've been. Two drummers. Luckily they're like, yeah, 20 years apart. So my mom just got lots of drumming. They got something hot at the same time.

Yeah, so back to the reason why that was, there were lots of reasons why that was important. Kyle had that good comment here that we were brainstorming together. was, you know, before he was employee number two, we were hanging out trying to figure out like, what is this company going to be like? You know, he wasn't even probably thinking about being part of middle of six at that point and brainstorming different ideas for names. And Melissa, you're right. Like it felt from the beginning, this was not about me and I wanted it to be bigger than me. I wanted it to, you know, just be able to continue on no matter what. You know, that was kind of like my aspirational thoughts on the business. So we quickly ruled out names like Simmons Consulting or Wendy's. I mean, my name is a fast food restaurant.

So, Wendy's was taken, unfortunately. was taken. Ma'am, this isn't Wendy's. you can cut this story for too long, but I just want to say, because it's something that's very cute in my heart, like one time when I was pretty young, my grandma came over to me. She had driven up from California with my grandpa and said, Wendy, I just wanted to let you know we stopped at Wendy's on the way up here and it was delicious.

And you're like, you're welcome. Should I dye my hair red, grandma? No, exactly. was like, I don't know. Like, it's just a compliment. It was so cute. I was probably 11 or something at that time. I just kind of laughed. But yeah, so obviously we don't want to compete with other brand names. Simmons is also a brand name out there. So there's a couple of those things. I just think it sounds fun. It's interesting to say and the added benefit that once we had it, people are asking great questions and we got to know folks right away. And I love finding out that like, I'm, you know, the middle of seven or, you know, I'm one of one broke the mold, you know, all that kind of stuff that people will say. And I feel like, you know, we start to know a little bit more about them through that. I'm the youngest of two. Definitely the people that figure it out typically are from a big family because they'll ask and they'll wait and they're like, well, I was kind of wondering, because I'm also the middle of six or I'm also in a family of eight or something like that. So.

I'm always kind of surprised when I'm like, they're like, there are a lot of people from big families out there. Becky, you said you're the second. I'm the youngest of two. Youngest of two. Yeah. This doesn't have the same ring as middle. Yeah, same. Yeah. My, my marketing consultant group would be called oldest of two. What about eldest of two? No, that's even better. V2 final final.

I'm glad we picked it. I also happened to have owned all of the like handles and domain names. just was because it was before it was a company. It was just who I was out there online. And so we had to convert it. Poor Grace was like, we got to change some things on the back end of this because we had a different type of following, but we converted it all over and it was cool to own that. And I did know that the brand awareness and the SEO is going to be a hurdle because if you don't name yourself you know, something that's very straightforward. You're going to have to like make that way, but it was a fun challenge and we did it. Good job, everybody. We did it. know who we are. We don't know what to do. For years on Twitter, my full name was taken by a dog with a locked account. So I had to choose a different. Your full name? Holy cow. Which is weird because like this, I wouldn't think there's that many of us out there, it must be a pretty charismatic dog.

Yes, so this is locked. I couldn't even confront this animal. Well, I did not have to fight that battle at all. We just had to, like, let people know what we're all about. And now it is it's fun. Like, I don't know, just people say, oh, go over there. Middle six. You got to see middle of six. It became what I hoped it would become. Do you remember any of the other rejected names that you were considering before you landed on middle six?

They were all so boring. have blocked them out of my mind. is probably thinking, how is this going to be a creative marketing agency with what you guys are thinking of? But no, I mean, not to be so harsh, but there was a lot of, is it, do I bring in my maiden name? Is it something and something? A little bit of some trends at the time 10 years ago. There were a lot of like, Olive and Vine or whatever. was a lot of that, you know.

And there was like, are we going to be a collaborative? So, you know, we went through all of that and does none of it felt right? Is that is that enough strategy there to be like, hmm. Totally. Yeah. I don't like it. So they're they were a little boring. Kyle, what do you remember? I can remember uh Wendy and my wife, Laura, worked together at a GC back in the day and my wife even worked part-time a bit for the middle of six company at the very beginning. And I do indeed remember Wendy visiting and being in the dining room with my wife and doing the whole brainstorm creative session, the sticky notes and the pens and they were going up on the mirror and it was like a full on working session to try and evaluate all these different options. And honestly, it's funny.

It's not totally dissimilar to how we do a lot of our stuff now. Maybe now we do it on mural and it's digital, but the sticky note exercise is foundational and there's a sticky note on our logo for the short list. So I mean, we're all about the sticky note. It's true to who we are. Love a sticky note. The best. You know why? can crunch it up and throw it away. Well, we did it.

We named the company, then it was all easy from there. So it was a big leap, Wendy, to create Middle of Six, to build this team. And then for, you know, Melissa, Becky, Kyle, and myself and all the Middle Sixers to make the jump from in-house to consulting. But for the team, what words of advice do you have for listeners looking to make a career leap?

Career leap, yes, well, okay. There is time and space to make a career leap anytime. So that's one little piece I would say out there is that it's never too late. You can always adjust and change. like don't let that scare you off. But something that I do share in my, in those like, can I pick your brain coffee meetings with entrepreneurs or people who are thinking about starting out is that, and I don't know if it's exactly advice, but it's just an experience share. This is what I did. This is what we did. It was that we did not launch middle of six really in a bold public way for about the first nine months to a year. I can't remember the date that the press release officially went out, but we were up and running at that point, but that was very intentional. We wanted to work out the kinks. I wanted to build the structure. I needed to figure out.

The consultants that we would have, had contractors like Kyle's wife Laura who worked with me very closely in those early days. We wanted that team set so that I didn't have to figure it out on the fly when I was being asked by my network and really important people in my life to do things. I just wanted, you know, maybe that says something about how I am, but I just, wanted to feel pretty solid before we made the big announcement. And then that press release went out and the Seattle AEC community was like, what is the middle of six? What is this? And the phone started ringing and dot, dot, dot. Not too long later, we were able to bring on Kyle full time. that's part advice and just this thing that I've never really heard that before. I don't know, take it or leave it.

But also what you're saying is that your plan totally worked. Had a strong foundation under the radar for a bit. And then when the phone started ringing, you had a process and a firm in place and you were ready to spring into action. Yeah, we had we had people with emails ready to to answer something. Right. Those those are the starting of business. You do have to get some things in place before you can ask people to call.

Yeah. And you had a team to that kid like, ask those questions or think of things, you know, like that helps you have that foundation, like you're saying Wendy. So very smart. Thanks. Yeah. Wendy, you mentioned your network as you were talking. And that's definitely a tip that I have is if you are wanting to just go to another firm or wanting to make a leap, but start talking to people in your network, you if you're looking for another position at a firm, if people don't know you're looking you won't find out those opportunities unless it's just posted. that could be they were starting to think about recruiting and you were the person that maybe was on their shortlist and they're happy to hear you're looking or, oh my gosh, you are such a fantastic person. We think so highly of you. We would love to create a position for you. So I mean, that is how I met Wendy is through my network, you know, SMPS network. So don't be afraid to tell people in confidence what you're thinking about and things might start.

Coming into your lap that you wouldn't have known about otherwise. Yeah, that's so true. Melissa and I met early on in the history of Middle of Six. The positions that I had in mind, Melissa was, you know, I'm not going to say overqualified, but so qualified, like that wasn't going to be the right fit for her career journey. But it just took a little bit of time of mulling it over and we just made the space, you know, and that's you don't know who else could be in your network that's waiting to make that space to.

Just needs the things to come together. Yeah, when I joined Middle of Six, it wasn't so much of a leap, but uh my advice would just be to find smart and talented people and put your trust in them. And I had known Wendy previously and she had a close working relationship with my wife and they're very similar in very many ways. And it was really a no brainer. It's like, well, if Wendy's going to start a business, like it's going to be successful.

That I didn't I honestly didn't have any major concerns about job security or longevity or whatever. It's like Wendy knows what she's doing. She puts her money where her mouth is. So let's join this team and let's get it going. Yeah. And I will say that Wendy was extremely transparent with me as we were discussing a role for me and showing me financial information and client lists. So if you are making like a kind of really big like to a different type of business or consulting firm and if you know, if you're going in at like a leadership level and they don't want to share that information, that might be a flag that there may be something that's being hidden. But, you know, that was something that was very impressive to me and said a lot about the type of person Wendy is and how she wanted to run this business that she was wanting to put it all out there so that on both sides of the relationship, we're both making informed decisions. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. That's always been a strength of Middle of Six. And then with Melissa joining like the two leaders of the team, you guys both set that example of like, you put everybody at ease because you tell the truth and you don't BS and you don't obfuscate or keep secrets. It's like, we all know what the plan is. We all know where we stand. We know what the expectations are. And I would say that transparency piece has always been really huge, both for like, business success, but also for just the overall culture is like we all feel so comfortable speaking with one another and people are sort of like empowered in that way to be a part of those conversations. That's very true and like meeting us where we are because I, you know, I, when I joined Middle-6, I took a huge leap for me. It certainly felt like I was, I was moving across the country. I had worked in-house, you know, at a construction firm for, you know, 11 years.

I was very burnt out on that life and I was I was scared to come to Middle of Six because it was this small company. They were, you know, a consultant. It didn't, you know, I'm because I'm coming from this like huge company with players just throwing money at you and all these things, you know, that come with working for a huge established company. And I just thought like, this is going to be so different. Is this secure? Is this am I making a huge mistake? Am I blowing up my life? But I just like I met everybody and it seemed like, this seems like such a good fit. These people are incredible.

I talked with Wendy and I was, you know, I was afraid. didn't want to seem afraid, know, and you're getting a new job. You don't want to seem like I'm scared to do this, but we had a fair, had a very frank conversation about my hesitations and like, I appreciated that Wendy was very, I don't want to say what we talked about, like it made me feel like a, this person understands where I'm coming from truly, you know, like, and I don't, I don't even need to tell her all the gory details. knows. I know.

Oh, she knows. And just like we talked about, you know, the real differences that, I would experience coming from in-house to this place. And I she was absolutely right. Everything she said was 100 percent correct. I will say that. So, yeah, that that meant a lot to me that I was able to speak to the person who owns the company in such a way that I knew where where this was all going and what it was going to mean for me. Mm Yeah.

So it sounds like tapping into your network and really leaning into the trust of that network that you've built is a great stepping stone and also trusting yourself to make that jump too. And remember that if you are interviewing for a job, you are interviewing that company as much as they are interviewing you. It should be equal. It should go both ways. I believe people should be transparent.

But the way we did it was a way to basically I was allowing you all to make a decision in this process and be as informed as possible. And I think then that means we feel like everyone's bringing that with them as our team has grown to. They all had that chance and it's a good thing over here. Thanks for asking, Grace. That was fun. Yeah, it's fun hearing everybody's little stories of how they got pulled into middle of six and also just like the advice of living life. So thanks for sharing.

Mm-hmm.

So 10 years, a lot has happened in 10 years. Some of us have been here for longer or shorter periods of that, but I'm curious to hear from the team. What are some of those pinch yourself moments that you have experienced over your time here at Middle of Six? I could go first, but I'm also happy to let anyone else go. No, I'll do it. All right. I will. And I've said it before on a podcast, so sorry to be a broken record here, but it will stay with me my whole life, I hope, is the winning the best of show award at Amplify 2024 for our wild cards campaign. And we also, I know like, yay, cheers. And we also won three other awards because we also won in our category and our website, which was a huge deal. That's a very hard category and a proposal category.

I felt like if there's ever a moment where you have a crown put on your head, I felt like I was wearing it for the team up there. That is such a great example. know, multiple principals were working on that work. The entire team got awarded for that. you know, it's not all about the awards, but to be recognized by your peers and people who see the best of the best was just, yeah, amazing moment. All right.

Grace, what about you? Yeah. mean, I feel like this is such a testament to the hard work and just like the evidence of the impact that Middle of Six has on the industry. it's always just a pinch myself moment when I introduce myself and say that I'm with Middle of Six and people's faces instantly light up and they have something to say about, man, I love the shortlist or the marketers campaign was so awesome. Like the things that we do resonate with marketers and are really felt and seen and people feel really heard and that we're a resource. And so it just is really a privilege to be a part of Middle of Six and a part of this brand and contribute and also make a difference in our industry, both with just what we provide and knowledge, but the services we provide as well and that we're a partner with AEC marketers. So I feel like, you know, beyond the the awards, which are so awesome to be recognized by our peers at a national level. It's being recognized at an individual basis and the way that we touch people's lives. And that's really felt every time that I show up at an event. yeah, just really cool. Well, that brings up for me, I've been here since 2020.

I've seen the evolution from when I started here and people being like, you work where now? What is that to now introducing myself and saying I'm with Middle of Six and people being like, oh, I listened to your podcast. Like, or, I love what you did. it like the evolution for me is like, really amazing to see that we got brand recognition build over the last several years for all the work we put in. And having it pay off with people knowing who we are and feeling like we're helping make the industry better for them. So it is very much like a pinch me uh type of feeling. Well, for me, pinch me moments, of course. I mean, the wild cards, obviously, that's probably the most fun I've ever had in my professional working life. Being able to put that together. I feel like there's a pinch me like every day when I just think like, I can't believe I work with these people who are so fun and like we trust each other so much and like everybody gets along and we've just, it's a, it's a great job. It's remote. work in my PJs. That couldn't be better. like Wendy gives me the space to try things and take risks and be weird and just come up with like funny, silly, weird ideas. mean, that that's so valuable to me. And then I gotta say like, truly like the highlight of my life right now is hosting a shorter list. mean, that just, seems crazy to me that I literally get paid to do that like that. But I just it feels like a dream. Like, when am I going to wake up? I don't know. Is it going to run forever? We'll see. But I'm really enjoying it. It makes me feel creatively fulfilled, which is I just couldn't be more important to me. And I hope Wendy knows that. And yeah, I know I will try not to get too serious here, but it means more to me than I can explain to be able to do that. So that's my pitch me.

That's a good one. The creative fulfillment thing is real. Like even in AEC marketing, right? Like not everybody is given the free rein or the space or the time to truly go down those rabbit holes or brainstorm the way that we do. And that is a very awesome thing that we get to do is, you know, we get to try to push our clients. They don't always go with our wild card ideas or fun creative ideas, but

we get to find our own ways to express our creativity and not everybody is always afforded that luxury. So that's huge. For me, when I think of the pinch me moments, it's like weird little things like sometimes when we get on teams and I'm just like, look at all these people, look at all these squares on this team. Like there used to be two or three or sometimes four. And now it's like nine or 10. And it's just like especially we get together in person. Like, for instance, we're going to have an upcoming retreat and it's like nine, 10 people. Like, where did all these people come from? Like, totally bizarre. And then I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that not only are we celebrating the 10 years of Middle of Six to keep the round numbers going, this is indeed going to be our season five finale and our 100th episode of the podcast. It's so wild. 100 is wild. 100 is pretty wild. That's a little bit of a pinch me for sure, because that's a lot. 100 episodes, no repeats. That's a lot of content. I feel like we got a few little sneak peeks of this.

This question I'm going to ask, but I'm just curious, you when did middle of sixth verse come on your radar? You know, and what have you see changed maybe since those first days and months of being part of maybe the first year since you were like part of the team? And be curious about your perspective on that, your early perception and then what it's like now. I'll jump in because I've already kind of told my origin story, so I won't rehash it here. But to your second part of the story, like,

Wendy, like you and I at the beginning, don't know if mantra might be too strong of a word, but man, the amount of times we would say fake it till you make it to each other was just numerous. Oh, yeah. All the time. It be like, what are we going to do for this meeting? Like, what are we going to say to these people? Like, what do we need to show them? What are we going to put together? What's the slides going to look like? Or how are we going to run this meeting? How are we going to figure out the budget and just hammering through all those particulars were very like a little scary, but we always knew we'd figure it out. But it was very much like, well, you know, we're just going to fake it till we make it. And it's going to work out like the last one did. And we'll be totally fine. And I got to say, like, we've kind of struck the fake it till you make it from our language for many years now, because as crazy as it sounds for me to say, like, we're not faking it anymore. Like, we're the real deal.

And we have the slide decks and we have the processes and we're always constantly working and improving and making things better. But like we kind of know the playbook now and we're very adaptable to things that come our way and curve balls we can totally handle with poise and patience. And it's just it's a way different feeling than it was when I was in a much smaller bedroom talking to you about what should I say to this person on this email? I don't even know how to reply. I mean, for real, like I used to send Wendy my email drafts to clients where I would be like, is this OK? Yeah. Is this what a professional would do to respond via electronic mail? Help me. Can you proofread this?

I do not remember that.

It happened. Or when we used to just send an email around on Mondays and be like, this is what I'm working on this week. No PM system. of us. Yeah. Here's my list of stuff I'm doing. Yeah. Well, if I can just like add a little element there to build off of what you say, Kyle is like, true. We did. We were deliberate about striking that phrase from our language. was it was it made sense in the beginning.

It was kind of funny for a little bit and then it was a crutch, you know? And as soon as we felt that we were leaning on that, we're like, no, we got to change the narrative here a little bit. So that was a fun place to get to where we were like, hey, we made it. So we know. But the other piece that still exists that sort of related to the fake it till you make it is that we have a culture of looking at the challenge in front of us and always maybe inventing the next tool that we need. And that is similar, but different.

So we'll come into, we're gonna present something we're always thinking about how, not how can we do it better, but there is that element to it. So there's an invention, like what is the right thing for this client or this group or whatever it is, and if we don't have it, we're gonna make it. So there's a lot of making. Yeah, I think, you know, reflecting after projects, debriefing internally.

What went great? What do we want to do better for next time? What did we learn that we want to bring forward to the next website project or the next branding project? think kind of that culture of always wanting to keep elevating our practice and in the kind of DNA and culture at Middle of Six is to how can we improve? How can we evolve? How can we make the next project stronger, better, not necessarily faster, maybe faster? Now I'm doing Seahawks tag lines from five years ago.

Yeah, never a bad thing. I like that we do that. I mean, that's that's how I learned. mean, that's just like my style in general. Like you just want to do something and you think, all right, I'm to figure out how to do this. And oh, yeah, you know, and then it's like onto the next thing. And so that that worked very well for me. Like I think like I wasn't I wasn't even aware of Middlesex when I came here. I had never heard of them. I just like again, I didn't think anything of the name. I was not involved in the AEC marketing world. I was not an SMP as any of that. I was just I was moving out of state. I was looking for a new job.

I wanted to like shake off my in-house AEC marketing trauma. So I thought, you know, like anything but AEC marketing, let's get out of this industry. then, um, I, I found, I found the job announcement for middle of six completely by accident, but I thought, okay, this is interesting. I looked it up. thought, oh, they're women owned. They're small. They're remote. They got a podcast. They seem fun. Like I thought, okay, maybe they're different. Like, you know, Wendy looks like a nice person. Like, I don't think she's going to traumatize me.

And if she did, I could probably take her and fight. And then I went to the week because we do a group interview when we hire people for those who don't know. And it's a long hiring process, very thorough, which I respect. But the final stage is you get to the group and you meet everybody. And I had met these various groups of people and they all kept saying, you got to meet Kyle. We can't wait for you to meet Kyle. That's something that stands out to me and probably will forever. But anyway, I met the group and everybody was cool, you know, and I just like I thought, yes, this is so right. And then I came on board and the second I got here.

I started working on refreshing the brand because when he was just like, okay, let's do it. We don't have a brand guidelines. We want to take this to the next level. Go. And I was just like, what do mean go? Like, why do you trust me? This is so weird. Um, then we just kept doing that kind of thing. Like when I first got here, you know, we didn't have a brand guidelines. We didn't have a social media plan. We didn't have a comms team. weren't doing campaigns like the wild cards. That all came from just people saying, Oh, you know, it'd be weird if we tried this. And then just, now we've got this whole we've built this company into like a functioning system from just trying things. And I think that's wonderful because then there's no waste in that. That's very lean to use the terminology like that. We're not doing things just to do them, you know, or this just because this is how it was always done. We're we're truly innovating to use a buzzword. Yeah, we are.

Well, yeah. And that's in our DNA, too, is like, everything's always strategic, even if it's something off the wall like the wild cards, like a ton of thought and strategy goes into both the execution and the implementation of those things. And that that's something that has not changed is the strategic thinking and the strategic mindset that Wendy and Melissa have always had for everything we've always done.

AKA overthinking everything, but hey, if it works. works. it has worked. Positives and negatives to overthinking things. ah Grace, you knew Melissa. was being professional, but also having you in her mind as someone who might really enjoy this group and this company. Tell us about your origin story. Yeah, my Middle of Six origin story. Yeah, I feel like this touches on the earlier question that we had about, you know, making that career leap. And for me, was, you know, seeing Melissa transition to Middle of Six. And I know that Melissa is just so capable and she's going to hitch her way into something that she really believes in. so when I heard and knew that Melissa was moving, making that move, I was just like, I got to pay attention to this Middle of Six firm.

What are they going to be up to? then from there, just was... And you hear this story a lot of when candidates come, they almost like stalk Middle of Six. But I remember going to an S &PS Seattle South Zone Roundtable that Wendy, you hosted in the Middle of Six office and just getting to meet you and some of the team members and then just keeping an eye on social media and the shortlist. So I had my eye on Middle of Six after that stamp of approval that Melissa gave by making the transition over. so from there, it's just been really amazing to be a part of this team and see the team grow, I think, by like 40 % since I joined. know, we're a team of 10 and, you know, continuing to grow. But it's just going back to that point of us coming together and the evolution that I've seen is with the growth, there's been a lot of meaningful thought and strategy in that growth.

We may have old processes or processes that work, but I feel like with each new team member, we're like evolving and they're bringing something from another corner of the AC world and just like making everything a little bit smoother or rounded. And it's just been really cool to see like the scaling and the new ideas that are brought to like things that work at Metal 6. It just keeps getting better and better with like the evolution of the team growth. Yeah. We, we have not been afraid of, well, we've got this system that works and then we hit these, where it's like, oh, we are now too big of a team for that, or this is not a dynamic enough system to work for managing our projects. So that's another thing that has changed is just getting stronger processes, more grown up company, 10 years old now. Yeah, like that startup mentality to an established firm. I feel that I wouldn't have thought I needed to experience that kind of growth, it surprises me, but it just feels, I feel like good and settled compared to in the beginning, which was me just like trying to make sure everything was thought about and, you know, running numbers and then amount of time I spent in spreadsheets then, you know, is replaced by spending time in smarter systems that tell me things instead of me putting those inputs in and whatever. it's honestly, the big change for me is just feeling more confident in what we're doing and total confidence in the team. know, Becky, yes, of course I was going to let you free on those brand guidelines. And you know, four years later, I'm going to let you free on hosting the podcast. Like, yes, absolutely. And that opportunity is out there for everybody on our team. It's really fun. It's kind of for the person where we hire great people and then like find out what they really like to do and then let them loose.

Which is awesome. How about you, Melissa? What was your first chapter, the first chapter in your middle of sixth story? Yeah. Ted Tsai from S &PS Seattle. He's a fellow of the... Shout out to Ted. Ted, yeah. He's the one that introduced Wendy and I, and she kind of alluded to, we had a first little lunch and it was like, okay, great. Now they're on my radar. And, you know, it wasn't the right moment there. And then I think probably that was like maybe a conversation in the spring. And then by the end of the summer, when you had come back from a vacation where she likes to do lots of her deep thinking about the business and called me and we met up again and started figuring out what would this look like. So definitely from, you know, almost day one, we were looking at a business book that we've talked about in the podcast before traction. you know, dove right in on how to run this company in the best possible way. And, you know, just, just the three of us, me, you.

Wendy and Kyle just, you know, making things happen to hiring two people by the end of 2020. And then the team just growing by, you know, a couple people every year since then. And it's just been really great to see what people accomplish. it does kind of like often reflecting on it. It pinched me moment where you're just like, wow, look what we did. Look what we're doing.

Yeah.

And you started at such an interesting time, you know, right before everyone went home for a few years to work. And that was a uh change that we all had to go through. mean, like the entire world had to figure out how to do that. And I feel like the company changed a lot through those, those mid years. uh And I would say for the better, we've been able to like hire more broadly, work with clients more broadly. And everyone's just sort of, not only okay, but like actually appreciates like this efficiency that can come from the way we can meet and jump in and get the information and do our work. So yeah, Melissa, you're right at the front seat of that and probably thinking, what did I do? That's another point where the transparency, you're like, okay, I'm sure you guys are all wondering how long can we survive if we don't get another project? yeah, like, you were very clear and then oh my gosh by the end of 2020 we hired two people. So no, I mean I will never forget that moment talk about flashbulb moments where it was like, okay The world that the world is ending everything's locked down and Wendy got us on a call and she was again so Honest and transparent and she was like this is what's going on. This is money coming in money going out This is our plan. This is what we're gonna do and at a time of massive uncertainty. I never felt uncertain about my job and we made it happen even under some pretty trying circumstances and that sticks with me for sure. Being like, oh, I'm freaking out. And then Wendy's like, hey, I got you.

Yep. Those spreadsheets came in real handy. Yeah. Talk about a small business style where you're like this is literally how many times I can pay payroll. But don't worry, look at this, that's coming in. Yeah. What a wild moment. And I got a lot of, a lot of coaching from my husband too. mean, in those early days, I needed that sounding board even at home to say, how do I say this confidently? Um, when I'm uncertain, you know, I made a graph that I would, should pull up cause I'm sure it's in one of our early PowerPoints, but I was like trying to predict how long this dip would be based on the pandemic. think I got it right. So that's why I want to pull it up so I can brag about that more confidently. Yeah, there But it was like, remember, we're going to have a new normal in two years. And you know, it's interesting. Thanks for sharing that, Kyle. It brought up those memories of that in the beginning, it was exciting, but it was not easy. And now it's a lot easier and it's even more exciting. So that's like kind of the transition I've seen from the early days. All right.

Well, since I had my brilliant prediction on the pandemic, can you all get your crystal ball out? Tell me, what do you think Metal of Six will be like when it's celebrating 20 years? Wow. What do you wish for it? Maybe that would be another way to say it. Like, what do you want to see in the next 10 years? Big question. It is. I was just going to say, you know, we build so much community, even though we are this consultant and all working remote. And I just think that it would be great to see middle six get bigger in the sense that we're creating these opportunities, creating this community, creating almost like this AEC culture of like, we have some merch, we have maybe some in-person type of camps or get togethers with fans of Middle of Six or that want to tap into our thought leadership. Maybe there's toolkits that we develop and maybe more resources that people can pull off the shelf and use internally. think that just continuing to be a resource for people, but bringing it more to life and maybe scaling it up. I think it'd be a lot of fun. Also, I just want to design some merch with Becky.

Yay! Me too. Let's do it.

Approved. Approved. Let's do it. I like all of that, Grace. Thank you. You know, it's hard for me to think, like, where do I think we're going to be? Because every time I've made a prediction of where I think something's going to be in however many years, it always ends up being just the absolute weirdest opposite scenario possible. I mean, look at everything in the world that has happened. I hope that the 10 years from now that we have grown as a company, but that we have not changed who we are. hope that we still operate the same way. hope we still have the same values. I hope we still have the same trust in each other, that we're still joking around, that we're still, you know, being open and honest about what's going on in our lives, that we still have a wonderful work life balance and we're still having fun. And like, we don't turn into like a huge evil corporation just because we're big. I don't think we will because we do have a lot of heart and soul that I see.

You know, and we protect that every time we bring on a new person, like we make sure that that is going to remain, you know, so that that's, that's awesome. But I think, you know, I want us to do more. I want us to have more fun. Um, if that's even possible, more, more like fun campaigns, like the wild cards kind of stuff. Um, I want us to go viral. What would that look like? I want to go international. I'd like to open the European office of middle of six. There I said it.

Put that one in the parking lot, Becky. We're going to have to brainstorm. No, we should only be so lucky. Yeah. Yeah, I also struggle with that future casting. Honestly, I was going to put it on you, Becky, because you're the one that comes up with all the good ideas. So no pressure. But I just think it's I just think it's more, more, more, more, more of everything. Right. Like it's kind of what we've been doing. It's like just getting better, getting a little bigger, being very thoughtful and considered with what we do. I mean, I think we can definitely say that we're kind of expanding our reach down the Pacific Northwest into California. And we keep having more opportunities to get even into the Midwest or potentially the East Coast and things like that. But ultimately, it's like, I just want to keep doing what we do and working with awesome people on the team and working with awesome clients and finding fun and exciting ways to do creative things together and connecting. And just like Becky said, I'm not worried about it at all. Like just keeping that heart and hustle and heart because that's kind of what makes our work special. And that's kind of what makes us stronger as a team at the end of the day. Yeah, I think that that's such the important part that we all share is that we want it to be how it is where we are tight-knit team, that we are a group that have shared values and want to do good work and have fun together and laugh and that it's not just a grind. It's not like growth for growth's sake, but growth because it makes sense and it makes us a better collective whole or adds a new service or creates an opportunity for someone on the team who wants to try something different.

But, you know, not just growing to get bigger because we're trying to dominate the world, but growing because it makes sense and it is what the team wants and what's best for all of us. Well said. We've been growing over these 10 years because to meet the demand, the inquiries come in, which we appreciate. Thank you people for reaching out because we can't reach out to you any other way. So thanks for coming to us and for starting the conversations. And sometimes it takes a couple years for the thing to go from a seed of an idea to us supporting, but that's kind of how I see the pace of our growth continuing. And as we have more people internally to implement, create the idea and then for us to implement it, our reach does grow. And that just feels like nice pacing because as Becky mentioned, we're fiercely protective of the team and who we bring on.

The hiring is not fast. It's not get a warm body in here like, or scoop up all the marketing unicorns we can find and just, you know, get them to work. It's way bigger than that. So, you know, for the next 10 years, I'm, I'm open to where the company will go and uh keeping sort of a similar mentality is what we've had is that we are pushing forward intentionally and trying to have fun by pushing the ideas further than we had a chance to before.

And with every new team member, feels like a whole new packet of ideas come. And so I love all of that. And I trust the process that that is enough. We're going to have this retreat, like Kyle mentioned, and just wait to see all the ideas that come out of that. Every year, just feels like we do more and more cool things satisfying people are happy. And it comes from the group, the brain power that we have across us.

I don't know, hopefully that's inspiring enough for the middle of Sixers and anyone who's listening, but it is important. I think it's the way we've been so successful. So we're going to keep that going.

Well, that's it. My coffee cup's empty. That was all the brain picking we could do today. Let me finish mine. Yeah. God, now I'm thirsty. You're supposed to get your coffee at the start. Drank my whole jar of water. Yeah, I gotta hydrate. Ten essentials.

Chug, chug.

Gotta hydrate. What you thinking, man?

Seriously, we have so much language now from this all this time at middle of six. And that's why to Grace's point, we're going to work on building this community in this space that people can interact because this is a safe place and we feel like, you we love what we've got going and we want to share it. So that's an exciting thing to look forward to. Before we wrap, get your empty coffee cups. Cheers to 10 years. Cheers to 10 years.

Cheers to a hundred podcast episodes. Yay. Everyone have a great summer. Enjoy. Take a break from proposals. We will see you in September.

The Short List is presented by Middle of Six. Our producer is Kyle Davis with digital marketing support by the team at Middle of Six. If you're looking for past episodes or more info, check out our podcast page at middleofsix.com slash The Short List. You can follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram at Middle of Six. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode. Until next time, keep on hustling.

Bye.

Bye.

Bye bye.

Thanks for listening.

It's a good boat.

The Shortlist is a podcast that explores all things AEC marketing. Hosted by Middle of Six Principal, Wendy Simmons, each episode features members of the MOS team, where we take a deep dive on a wide range of topics related to AEC marketing including: proposal development, strategy, team building, business development, branding, digital marketing, and more. You can listen to our full archive of episodes here.