By Sarah Card

Strange title for a girl who grew up in Sunday School, right? I’ll be honest, when my brother, Jake, and I came up with the name it felt a bit uncomfortable. It was risky. It might turn some people away. Does it really represent who we are and the message we’re called to share? Will it make my sweet, innocent Mom cringe? The more I let it marinate, the more it resonated with me. It’s exactly who we are. It’s exactly the impactful message we are called to share. It’s the team we’ve built. It’s the people we serve. And if that name stirs something in you…good, because that’s exactly the point. Building Badass isn’t just a podcast title, it’s an identity and it’s our mission.

Jake and I founded GC Legacy Construction in 2019, and yes, we build physical structures, but as business owners we quickly realized that building goes way beyond a hammer and nails. The Oxford English dictionary defines building as “the process of constructing, shaping, developing, or forming a particular thing.” That’s exactly what we were doing. We were constructing a business. We were shaping a team and culture. Most importantly, we were developing ourselves. And isn’t that precisely what each of us are doing? We are all building something.

When you hear ‘badass’ what’s the image that pops into your head? For me, it’s the heroic soldier bravely putting his life on the line to save a child in a war torn country. It’s the exhausted single parent selflessly sacrificing so much to create a better future for their child. It’s the entrepreneur who feels the sting of rejection a thousand times and still doesn’t quit because they believe in their idea with every ounce of their being. It isn’t loud or arrogant. It’s quiet resilience, willingness to do the hard things, courage to press forward even when you’re afraid, and discipline to finish what you start.

It’s easy to look at others and see them as badass, but do you see the same in the reflection staring back at you in the mirror? It took me a long time to own this identity for myself, but when I was finally willing to truly reflect on my own stories, I realized I’m pretty darn badass too. I was a single teenage Mom, and I raised my son into an incredible adult. I gave birth naturally (no medication). I lost everything in the 2008 financial crisis and rebuilt my life from the ground up. I quadrupled my salary in my corporate job in 10 years through multiple promotions. I’ve moved to new homes in new states six times, all while raising three kids. I’ve built a business with my brother that grew to 8-figures in 3 years with 40 employees. Overcoming all of these setbacks, and so many more, required the resilience, grit, tenacity and fortitude of the badass persona I envision when I hear the word. I AM a Badass!

Whether you realize it or not, you too are building badass every day. We’re all builders. We build careers, families, businesses, teams, character, legacies. You are doing amazing, incredible things all the time. But most people don’t realize they’re allowed to build those things with intention, and even if they do, they aren’t sure how. This is exactly the gap the Building Badass podcast closes. Jake and I have learned so many lessons in building a business, teams, families and ourselves. We’ve experienced life’s cracked foundations, leaking roofs, flooding basements and definitely survived a few major renovations. We’ve taken those valuable experiences and created a space to have raw, honest conversations about the lessons we and our guests have learned as we’ve built every area of life, business…and physical structures too. If sharing our journey can make the pavement a bit less bumpy for those that come after us, what right do we have to keep that to ourselves? The mission of Building Badass is helping you become a better builder. We can’t wait for you to join the conversation because ‘Badass’ is an identity and I give you permission to own it.