Bridging the Gap: How Community Engagement is Revitalizing the Trades for Young People

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios, it’s time for Women In Motion. Brought to you by WBEC-West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Women In Motion and this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC-West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Women In Motion, we have Brianna Birdwell with EID Solutions. Welcome.

Brianna Birdwell: Good morning. Welcome. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m so excited to get caught up and learn. For the folks who aren’t familiar, can you share a little bit about EID Solutions? How are you serving folks?

Brianna Birdwell: Well, Lee, thanks for asking. EID Solutions is a multifaceted professional services company. Now, multifaceted is kind of a big word, we manage everything from environmental sustainability to construction management, even all the way up to people development. So, those are a few of the services that we offer as a whole.

Lee Kantor: So, what’s your backstory? How did you get involved in this line of work?

Brianna Birdwell: Well, back in 2005, after I had just completed graduating dive school to be a commercial diver, I know in a women’s industry, you don’t see a lot of women out there in the dive industry, but I had my goal set on becoming a diver. And lo and behold, Katrina had just happened, so when I completed my training, I asked my instructor, I got all these job offers coming from New Orleans, and he said don’t do it. He said, they’re breaking people out too soon, meaning they were putting them in the water without enough training and people were dying.

Brianna Birdwell: So, I had to adjust quickly. Living in San Diego, of course, we all know it’s expensive here. I had to adjust quickly to determine what I was going to do to stay in San Diego, so I started hustling, I guess, is a good word for it. My brother had mentioned something about eBay, and so I started developing myself on eBay and learning what that was and e-commerce as a whole. And I put an ad on Craigslist and I said let me help you sell your items on Craigslist. And I had zero experience, so I sat behind a desk in my garage for about three years working with a business partner way before smartphones, where he would call and he’d ask me, What is the value of this? How do we sell it?

Brianna Birdwell: And about three years of that, I really developed a skillset that I could walk into any organization, and I could point out their entire assets, and then I could show them how to recover all the value from those assets after they deemed those assets no longer useful. And I just kept following down that trail until I turned it into a business.

Brianna Birdwell: My first business was Pro Transactions. We did that for a while really successfully, but I could only get so far. So, I decided to go consult for businesses and to support them doing what I was doing. And in that, I worked in a nationwide company where I learned to train and develop people all over the nation on how to do what I do, which is recover value, and I did that for four years.

Brianna Birdwell: And then, I met with my current business partner, Karl Miller, and he mentioned that they had a lot of challenges as it relates to managing meter recycling or managing transformer recycling. What do they do with all of these assets once they’ve completed their use? So, I stepped in and said let’s start a business. But I don’t want to start a business anymore just to make money. I want to start a business that I can actually make a difference in the community.

Brianna Birdwell: And Karl had mentioned that he had a program called the San Diego Competitive Edge Program, which was a workforce development initiative here in San Diego meant to diversify the workforce here on the construction sites in San Diego, as well as bring in some youth. And then, lo and behold, EID Solutions was created out of that meeting. And we’ve just been hitting the ground running with supporting all sorts of organizations with their sustainability initiatives, investment recovery, as well as construction management, project management, QA, QC. As well as now I get to lead their San Diego Competitive Edge Program, which I think is the biggest goal I could have ever reached was to be able to make a difference in the community, and I’m there now making that difference.

Lee Kantor: Now, how is it different doing this type of asset disposition work at the level you’re doing it now compared to, you know, when you were doing it at the eBay level when you first started, is it philosophically similar? It’s just you have different resources you use?

Brianna Birdwell: It’s not philosophically similar. It’s wildly different. I’ll give you an example. On eBay, my assets were selling between $100 and 500 all the way up to $1,000 each. Now, we’re looking at assets where I walk in and advise on projects. A company will say, “What do I do with all these meters?” And I said, “Well, this is worth $2.5 million.” Of course, I’m the only woman standing there, and they look at me like I got three heads and telling me this is not possible. So, I give them a name of a company that will support them with it, with their project, and they call them.

Brianna Birdwell: So, they call me back the next week and they say, “Well, they’re going to give us this $2 million.” And I said, “Well, I know.” And they said, “Yeah, but you’re not getting the big picture.” And I said, “Well, what’s the big picture?” They said, “Well, we already put 5 million in set aside in an escrow account to have to recycle this product, and you’re telling us now it’s worth something.” So, it was a $7 million upside. The value of the equipment and the size and scale has grown from being an eBay, e-commerce person to now a large scale investment recovery organization.

Lee Kantor: But the activity that you’re doing in terms of assessing the value, is that similar in any way? I mean, I’m sure you’re looking at different places to find the value for these assets, but is it kind of similar in any way at all?

Brianna Birdwell: It’s similar to some sense. We know that all equipment has value in my world. I look at everything all the way down to what’s the value of the equipment as a raw commodity. So, it’s similar but not similar in the sense, one side is investment recovery recycling and one side is investment recovery reuse. So, there are some distinct differences in the material.

Lee Kantor: And they’re hiring you because you have an expertise of being this kind of high level matchmaker when it comes to assets like that?

Brianna Birdwell: High level matchmaker and high level investment recovery vision. So, a project we’re working on right now in Austin, we’re decommissioning two transformers. And most companies look at this product and they go, “Get this out of my space. It’s a problem for me.” And I say, “Well, I could turn this problem into a $100,000. Let me show you how.”

Lee Kantor: So, the people who own the asset, they’re not even aware, like they don’t know what they don’t know. But you can come in kind of with fresh eyes and see what they see, but just in a totally different way.

Brianna Birdwell: Exactly. I’m looking all the way down to the commodity level of what is in a transformer. I know that transformer has a coil. That coil is made out of X amount of copper. I know that copper is $4 to 6 a pound. So, how can we recover that value to offset having to rent the crane to actually lift that transformer and put it onto a vehicle? So, I support them in offsetting the cost by identifying all of the present value in the equipment.

Lee Kantor: And then, you also have to have the resources that can execute kind of your vision on how to get rid of it or to repurpose it?

Brianna Birdwell: Exactly. And we can provide the resources to perform the work or we can simply advise on how to get the work done.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you were starting out, was there any challenges coming into a project? Like you said, you entered into a room and you’re telling them you’re sitting on $2 million and they’re looking at you like, you know, what are you talking about? This can’t be possible. Any challenges on having to educate people on things that you see, you know, crystal clear?

Brianna Birdwell: Well, some of the challenges that I interact with daily is when some larger organizations look at their waste management strategies, I’ve been told that’s so low on our budget line item that it doesn’t even matter to us. And that’s when I have to pull in, if it doesn’t matter to you, I could definitely make 5 million here, and you could take all that 5 million and put it back into your community. Now, would that matter to them?

Brianna Birdwell: And so, I have to pose them with those questions of, you know, if it doesn’t really matter to you, how can it matter to someone else? And that’s one of the hurdles that I have to get over with organizations, as well as being a woman in this industry, there’s not a lot of women waving the flag of, hey, let me just get in there and get dirty and show you exactly what you can do with this. There’s not a lot of women around me that are fighting this battle with these organizations the way that I’m kind of interacting with them.

Lee Kantor: Well, it sounds like you can clearly see something of value where they’ve kind of dismissed it as something that’s not a value. I mean, you can go in and say, I’ll take this off your hands, you know, like you’re doing them a favor, and then do what you do. But you’re going in with a heart of service and saying, look, I’m going to help you get the most out of this if you can just open your mind and listen to me.

Brianna Birdwell: Right. When I first started out, Lee, I would just drive around to the local nonprofits and recycling centers here in San Diego. And back then it was the wild, wild west. I mean, there were no contracts. You could buy equipment for $0.50 a pound and turn around and sell all of that equipment for $5,000 each, just each asset on the pallet. And so, early on, all I did was drive around and talk to folks and say, “Well, you’re going to send this over to the recycling yard, what are they going to pay you for it?” And they pay them pennies on the pounds. And I say, “Well, you know that pallet is worth 10,000, give it to me and I’ll be back next week with a check.”

Brianna Birdwell: And so, for a long time, people just did the right thing because there was money at the end of the agreement. Now, I’m really pressing to do the right thing so that we can take that money and make a difference in the community.

Lee Kantor: And when you’re talking to them, how open to this are they? Because it sounds like a big mindset shift that they really have to see things in a different way to really appreciate all the value you’re bringing to them.

Brianna Birdwell: So, what was the question again, Lee?

Lee Kantor: How do you kind of communicate this, because I would think this is a mindset shift for them. They’re seeing this as something that has little or no value and is even a hassle in some ways, where you’re giving them this gift, so how to kind of educate in that manner?

Brianna Birdwell: The mindset shift really comes with getting connected to, well, what kind of difference does that organization want to make? And how can I align myself with their goals and their visions, and then support them by identifying areas where they could recover value so that they can make that type of difference?

Lee Kantor: Now, is there a story you can share where you kind of blew them away that this was something that just – I know you mentioned one earlier, but I don’t know if you have another one that is – go ahead.

Brianna Birdwell: That was probably my biggest one because it took me all of about 20 minutes to produce. So, that’s when I early on realized in my career that it couldn’t be just about making money anymore because it was so simple. It’s so simple for me to identify and show organizations how to recover this value, that it now has to be about making a difference. So, shifting their mindset is getting connected to what kind of difference does that organization want to make.

Lee Kantor: Now, are there certain industries or certain types of companies that they’re just kind of sitting on gold and they don’t know it?

Brianna Birdwell: Well, I work a lot with the utilities. And in the utilities, a lot of those jobs are multi-million dollar projects. And so, when they look at having to decommission something, it always occurs as just get that junk out of here because we’re focused on building the project. We’re not focused on dealing with the aftermath of a previous project.

Lee Kantor: And then, is this falling in the hands of the sustainability folks at the organization?

Brianna Birdwell: It sure does. I talked to a lot of sustainability folks. One project that we did here locally in San Diego, we identified their vegetation waste. So, they had a vegetation waste goal of being completely landfill diversion by 2030, and they’re currently sitting at 50 percent. So, they engaged with us and they said, “Can you look at this challenge and what can we do here?”

Brianna Birdwell: So, my team engaged with every community in San Diego that dealt with any sort of vegetation mass, so they would take it and recycle it and turn it into compost so they could give it back to the community. So, our team went out, located those vendors, and then presented them to the clients so that the client could then determine what other vendors do we want to associate ourselves with so that we can divert this vegetation waste from the landfill. So, that’s one project.

Lee Kantor: Now, in your business, I would imagine you have a lot of partnerships with a variety of different organizations. How do you kind of identify the ones that are kind of aligned from a value standpoint with yourself and your team?

Brianna Birdwell: Well, I talk to everybody about sustainability and investment recovery and doing the right thing, and then how to invest all of that investment recovery back into our community so that we can continue the difference with those assets. Does that kind of answer the question?

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m just trying to get an idea because I would imagine in the world that you’re in, there’s some people that you would want to work with and some that maybe aren’t philosophically aligned with you and your mission. And then, you’ve done a great job of identifying certain groups that you work with that are really collaborators in the sense that you have a deeper relationship than maybe a transactional relationship with them.

Brianna Birdwell: Yeah, that’s definitely going to be the sustainability departments of every organization. Those are my key targets. I know that I can make a difference with those folks. And then, it really takes the other key stakeholders to buy-in on the difference that we can develop. So, it’s definitely the sustainability departments of all organizations.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned the importance of kind of giving back to your community, can you talk about some of the relationships you have when it comes to mentoring and to helping kind of that next generation?

Brianna Birdwell: Yes. So, one key role that I play is being a facilitator for the San Diego Competitive Edge Program, and we source 20 candidates annually from the community, and we put them through paid training for six weeks. We provide breakfast and lunch. We’re giving them a tech package. We’re giving them PPE. And we’re training and developing them to be able to go out and work on construction sites.

Brianna Birdwell: And my role in the program, in the training development is specifically geared towards their soft skills. A lot of the folks that I interact with, they may not have had mentorship growing up. They may not know what direction that they want to go in. And there’s a lot of confidence building that I put into training and development with the candidates so that they can go into an interview and say, “You know what? I’m the right person for this job. You need to hire me. When can I start?”

Brianna Birdwell: Folks that I interact with, their interpretation of a job is I’ll do whatever I can do. I just need to make money. And I’m squarely focused on how do I get you to do what you want to do so that you’re happy to show up to work? Because I could teach anyone to swing a hammer, but who are they going to be at the end of the hammer when they show up at work? And the Competitive Edge Program is the way that I have found to be able to give back to my community and make a significant difference in young people’s lives.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you find that young people are kind of looking for these types of opportunities, or is it a struggle to find the right young person to be part of the program?

Brianna Birdwell: It’s kind of both. It’s hard to find the candidate, specifically because they don’t know what they don’t know. They see all these people out on construction sites, and then they say, “Well, I wonder how they do that.” But we don’t have people at home talking about the trades as a viable source of income and, really, a career trajectory for these folks, then nothing’s going to shift. So, we go out and talk to folks all day long about what it would look like to work in the trades and the difference that this type of career could make in their life and their family’s life, so on and so forth. It’s a trickle down effect when you support someone getting into a role that can turn into a career.

Brianna Birdwell: The biggest challenge that we faced was a lot of folks think that this program is too good to be true. That they’re going to pay me and they’re going to give me breakfast and lunch, and they’re going to have me sit there for six weeks and learn. And I just have to show up with integrity and just pay attention, and I’m going to get a job. A lot of folks don’t want to believe that that could be true, but that is the case.

Lee Kantor: So, when they’re done with the program in six weeks, they’re hirable? There’ll be opportunities for them to get work?

Brianna Birdwell: Yes, that is true. At the end of the program – not at the end of the program, but during the program, we sit them down with our contractor partners here in San Diego, and they get an opportunity to interview them. And I think right now we’re running 65 percent of the candidates that did our program this year have been placed within the trades, within other construction companies.

Lee Kantor: Wow. I mean, I would imagine for you it must be frustrating being this kind of best kept secret.

Brianna Birdwell: Yes and no. The challenge that we’re faced with after we train and develop these young people is that we have to make sure that there’s jobs there for them when they complete the program. Because nothing worse than boosting someone’s ego and getting them all the way up to the plate and then there’s no one even pitching, so they’re kind of left with, “Well, now what?”

Brianna Birdwell: So, we continue our mentorship far beyond a year, and we’re engaging with the candidates of the program every week to check in on them, to see how they’re doing, are there any struggles that they’re facing that we could support them overcoming, or are they not happy in their current role, would they like a new role. I believe the ongoing mentorship and community aspect of this program really pulls for something unique here in San Diego.

Brianna Birdwell: I was talking with a contractor, a utility company in California, and they said, “Well, how do you do this program?” And I said, “Well, we just enroll our community in hiring these candidates, and we enroll our community in leading the program.” And the woman said to me, “Well, how do you get them to do it?” And I said, “It’s just a good idea.” We just set forth a good idea here, and we have everyone hire from our good idea. There’s no contracts. There’s no you have to do this by this date. It’s just a good idea.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. I mean, it makes so much sense. They’re training their people, basically. You’re training them for them to get them into their business with the right attitude and the right skills they need to be successful in their business, that they’re helping to craft the curriculum for them. I mean, it just makes sense.

Brianna Birdwell: Correct. This is our third year that we’ve produced the program and next year will be our fourth. And the first year was a little rough. They paid an outside company to come in and lead it, and it was upwards of $18,000 a candidate. We’ve brought that down to $8,000 a candidate, because my perspective on it was, well, if this is a community program, why don’t we have the community lead it? And if X company says, “Well, I’m looking for this type of candidate,” I say, “Well, come on in and why don’t you teach a full day curriculum on your job, on what your expectations are. And, one, give you an opportunity to engage with the candidates and it’s like a full interview session. And, two, you can prepare them for being ready to work on your job site, so there’s no, well, what am I doing here kind of thing.

Brianna Birdwell: So, the community engagement, I think, by far has been one of my biggest successes in the program because we have a financial literacy expert come in and do a program, and then we have well-being, and then I lead all personal development. So, it’s really just a good idea.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, and that’s the beauty of doing it with the community’s help, you’re not doing it for them, you’re doing it with them. So, they’re getting input and authorship and they’re more invested in the outcome, so it’s a win-win-win all the way around.

Brianna Birdwell: Correct. And the beauty about it is now that my partner, Karl Miller with Jingoli Power, they’re EPC, so now any new jobs any new work that we get anywhere in the United States, we get to host a Competitive Edge Program there, sourcing from their community there. And then, above and beyond that, we can write into our subcontractor agreements that if you’d like to work with us and be our subcontractor, we’d like you to take one or two of the graduates.

Lee Kantor: Right. So, it just kind of builds upon itself.

Brianna Birdwell: Correct. It’s really beautiful. And I’m really proud of my partners for putting this program together and allowing me the opportunity to be able to facilitate and lead and make a difference in the community.

Lee Kantor: Well, the power of the community is real. And speaking of community, why was it important for you to become part of the WBEC-West community?

Brianna Birdwell: Funny story, so, Lee, some time ago, probably about 2016, Jaymee Lomax came by. She had been working at SDG&E during that period, came by to one of my offices and said, “Hey, why aren’t you registered as a woman-owned business?” And I said, “Nah, that’s not for me. My business is doing great. I don’t need that.” So, she invited me to participate in a program with SDG&E on elevating your business. And it was, I think, maybe a six or ten week program where we would meet one day a week for a full day and just go over curriculum on how to run your business better.

Brianna Birdwell: Out of that, I got up there to pitch my business, Lee, and I couldn’t even tell people what I did. I just was like, “I sell stuff for folks. Yeah, just technology. I just sell things.” And I couldn’t articulate for myself what was really authentically there, which was the difference I really wanted to make with people around their investment recovery initiatives. And most folks didn’t even have investment recovery initiatives. So, through that class, I developed myself enough to be able to give my pitch.

Brianna Birdwell: And I walked back to the back of the classroom at the time and I said, “Jaymee, all right. I’m joining this organization. I could see that I need development, and I can see that I need my community.” And my first conference, she gave me a pass to the first conference. And I got so much business out of that conference. And I was like, how could this be the best kept secret and I’m just now learning about it? So, of course, I signed up right away, became a member, and it’s been so amazing since then.

Brianna Birdwell: There’s so much empowerment at these conferences where everyone’s got your back. I could just throw a stone and find a professional that I need to do X just within this network. And it really supports me in focusing on my own development. And now, how can I now give that back to other women who may not have their voice the way that I didn’t have my voice standing up in front of that room the first day.

Lee Kantor: Now, what do you need more of? How can we help you?

Brianna Birdwell: I think, you know, doing this podcast is one thing, just getting our voice out there. And just keep doing what you’re doing to empower women, because I’m meeting so many more women in the space, really, that I could align my values with, that we could joint venture on projects, and we’ll just keep growing.

Lee Kantor: Now, before we wrap, any advice for that emerging entrepreneur out there?

Brianna Birdwell: For the emerging entrepreneur, my son asked me this question just yesterday. He said, “Mom, what am I going to major in college?” as we were driving by the campus here. And I said, you know, “Do what makes you happy. What makes you happy?” And he’s like, “Math.” I was like, “Well then, do math. But don’t do anything just for money.” It can’t be about the money. It’s really got to be about what difference are you going to make, and what do you love to do. Because if you do what you love to do, then somebody is going to pay you, so just keep doing what you love to do.

Lee Kantor: Before we wrap, what is the best way to connect with you? If somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on your team, what is the way to do that? Is there a website? Is there a way to connect?

Brianna Birdwell: Sure, yeah. You can visit our website at www.eidsolutions.com. There is a contact link at the bottom of the page there, you can reach out to us. Or you can email me directly at brianna.birdwell@eidsolutions.com, and I’d be happy to speak with you.

Lee Kantor: Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Brianna Birdwell: Thank you, Lee. I appreciate the time.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor, we’ll see you all next time on Women In Motion.