Meet Michelle Cox: Construction Builds, CEO

We had the good fortune of connecting with Michelle Cox and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Michelle, do you have some perspective or insight you can share with us on the question of when someone should give up versus when they should keep going?
What is giving up? Sometimes it is a choice because it is too hard, too costly, too much of something. Giving up is not an expression I have used during the last decade of my life lessons. I make a choice to move on or pivot from an idea that doesn’t work and keep trying until it works. As the famous rapper Eminem raps ‘success is my only m….f…. option, failure is not’. I have learned failure is viewed differently by everyone. Pitbull quotes, ‘there is no failure, only opportunities’. It is easy to feel like a failure no matter what or where you are in life… as a mother, entrepreneur, spouse, friend, leader, follower. We have all failed at something. ‘It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously, you might have not lived at all, in which case you fail by default’. JK Rowling, Harvard Commencement speech, 2008. There are days when I wake up and I am too exhausted to follow through with anything scheduled for the day. However, giving up for the day is not an option. Rather, I may pivot and cancel some scheduled meetings, calls or other items within my control. I don’t negotiate with my mind and body to keep going or give up. When the task needs to be complete, I complete it. If I fail, then I learn how to handle in the future. How do I know whether to keep going or give up? It is all about how I communicate to myself about the meaning of the task.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Construction Builds will have a multiphase roll out connecting labor to work, back office accounting and tax prep, materials and supply chain management, merchant accounts and all legal needs fulfilled across the United States and abroad eventually. What sets CB apart is there is not another construction company like it. I am most proud that I will help an industry significantly and leave a legacy for my children, grandchildren and so on. I am proud that I gathered hundreds of volunteers from Behr Paint and Home Depot to paint a small elementary school in my town when there were no public funds to do so. I am proud of the mentoring women of all ages that we can be BOTH sexy and smart and we don’t have to pick. How did I get to where I am business wise? Many failures in my construction companies. I knew there was a better way so I searched for it a very long time. I wanted Amazon to create it but they never did… Was it easy, absolutely not. I have worked off 3 hours sleep many nights, forgone vacations, parties, lost friends, money, failed business deals, everything in between. This is not a road for everyone. It is long, exhausting, costly and frustrating. How did I overcome the challenges? I never quit. I can fail, that’s ok. Rob O’Neal – The Operator, (his seal team instructor) ‘I will never ask you to do anything impossible, but I will ask you to do something very hard, followed by something very hard, followed by something very hard and 8 months may seem like a long time to go, but don’t think of it that way. Wake up every day and make your bed, brush your teeth, make it to breakfast, get through the day, then go to bed that you made. Do that day after day, never quit and you’ll be fine’. I literally never quit. I want the world to know about my brand that I love my customer and my company is meant and developed for the construction world to flow more smoothly with way less headaches and stress. I hope the world learned from my story that I have been in every trench imaginable and have worked and learned all trades so I can truly speak about what I am selling. I know about working 18 hour days in the summer humid heat digging, painting, or being in a hot attic close to passing out installing an HVAC system. I have been in the disgust of a bad plumbing situation. I have laid landscape bricks in 17 degrees. I have seen the devastation of storms and floods so I can authentically speak about every aspect of what I am selling to every customer.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
First stop – the Atlanta Skyview Ferris wheel to see the city Second stop – Georgia Aquarium Third stop – Sundial Restaurant Fourth stop – Stone Mountain Fifth stop – Helen Ga during Oktoberfest Sixth stop – Mercedes Benz stadium Seventh stop – Lifetime gym Eighth stop – my beautiful home

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
First and foremost, I owe and thank God for my life and the many blessings. I am thankful for every trial that lead to tremendous triumphs. I am thankful to being poor spiritually and financially and knowing I wanted to be better. I am thankful for the tremendous leadership first instilled in me by my parents. They were hard on me and they didn’t fight my battles or bail me out EVER. I had to fall on my face time and time again, but I learned the lesson each time. I am thankful for the corporate world not being tolerant or supportive of my special needs child (I have 3 children) which motivated me to become a partner/owner in 2 construction companies. The failures and frustrations of construction as a whole lead me to develop Construction Builds. I am thankful for the thousands of people and times I heard I should work for someone else, that my idea was ridiculous or whatever didn’t fit into their idea of success. I am thankful for all the bullies and stereotypes that caused me to work 3 times harder as a female in the construction space. There are many people I stand on the shoulders of that lead me here. I am thankful for each and every one.

Website: constructionbuilds.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mwcox35/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-cox-150b9b4a/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mwcox35
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mwcox35

Image Credits
1 picture, instagram follow construction builds 2 Atlanta Skyview Ferris wheel 3 Atlanta Construction 4 general construction