Adrianne Lynch

Guiding conversations with community leaders.

In this podcast, we'll explore the human journey of leaders, their stories of humility, triumph, roadblocks and lessons learned. Come join us as we journey together and uncover the questions you've always wanted to know. This podcast is brought to you by the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce, perhaps providing resources, connections and belonging for business professionals.

And Rocket Space, an event and meeting venue in the heart of the East Valley with a full service four person podcast studio. Sarah, today is a special day. Do you know what today is?

Well, there's a lot of things that are today, but the most important piece of today is that we have a very special guest with us.

That's where I'm going with this. So who do we got today?

This Arizona native grew her passion for helping friends and family grow wealth through real estate into a successful career. Those who know her can tell you she leads with heart and courage. She is never satisfied and always pushes herself to exceed her own expectations. She is a mom to two boys and has been married to her husband and business partner for more than 23 years. And she's still trying to convince him that she is always right. Please welcome Adrienne Lynch.

Hello. Hello.

She is right. She's right because she's here. That's what's so right about her. I'm glad you're here.

I agree. We just have to convince her husband of that.

Yes.

Good old Terry. All right, so what we're going to start with today is Rapid fire. Okay, so first question, Sarah, would you.

Rather sing in public or dance in public?

Dance.

What was one of your nicknames?

A.

Would your 12 year old self think you're cool?

Yes, because she's always been cool.

Have you ever, ever, ever won a contest?

I've won awards. Is that a contest?

We'll go with that.

We'll go with that.

Would you ever skydive?

Already have.

What's your favorite breakfast?

Favorite breakfast is anything that has bacon.

Nice. I can hang with you.

What is one thing you wish you enjoyed more?

Relaxing.

I know this, but maybe I don't. Are you introvert or extrovert?

I am an extrovert. Slash introvert.

Okay.

Do you have a favorite book?

I love Chasing the Lion.

Okay, last question. Glass half full, half empty.

Always full, always full.

Not even half.

Probably three, four.

Okay, we'll take it.

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Well, we're excited to have you here today. We both know you so well, but there's so much more to explore and to share with our listeners. So thank you for being here.

No, I'm excited and nervous. We've known each other for so long. I feel like this is almost a reunion.

Yeah, definitely a reunion.

We've grown up together.

We have.

I think you're more anxious than you're nervous.

Yeah. Maybe anxious because of fun.

I understand that.

That vibe. I get that vibe sometimes. Okay, so let's go to the very beginning of Adrienne's World. Talk to me about your youth and growing up, what it was like in your household.

So it was just my brother and I and my parents. We grew up in west Phoenix and. And we called them mini farms. So they were like little extra houses, had like, lots. And we had cows, neighbors had horses, so corn fields, cotton fields. So we grew up really where everyone just was everywhere. I mean, you could go a 20 mile radius as long as you were home when the lights came on and everybody knew each other. So it grew up very different than it is now. And my brother and I fought like cats and dogs, but are great friends now as we got older once I moved out. So I don't know if that meant anything, but.

So living with you causes. Okay, Got it.

Yeah. A little stress. Used to me. He's an introvert.

What kind of kid were you?

I was the most an outspoken. And even though I was the baby of the family, I'm the one who controlled everything. So by age 2, my brother asked if they could return me to the hospital because I controlled everything. So that's kind of my whole life. My mom's an introvert, so I am the control freak and the one who plans everything.

Yeah.

Okay, good.

Yeah. So I think the fun kid.

Really? Yeah. Were you a rule follower?

I am. There is always black and white. I don't do well in gray. So I would say I'm a rule follower. I will push it to a limit, but I definitely have those lines.

Let's skip to the awkward, not awkward, teen years.

So I was. I did a lot of sports. So my whole life I did softball. So in high school with softball, tennis, really any sport they allowed me to try out for, I would try out for. So I tried volleyball. Five was not great at volleyball. And so that didn't last long. And then I decided to try track. At five' five, I was a hurdler and made it to state my first year. And they Said I couldn't do hurdles because I was too short. And I decided, no, I want to jump a hurdle. So I did hurdles. And then I was bored of softball, which my mother wanted to kill me because after 14 years of paying for everything in every camp, I was over it and decided I wanted to do tennis. So then I played tennis and through the rest of school until I got a job. And that's when I realized I loved money and I loved people. And then everything went away because I just loved working.

When you say money, you mean shopping.

No, just earning money. Ways to how much I could earn, what I could do to earn money. The different personalities of learning. I was a waitress, so it became fun learning personalities. People who came in, people who had a bad. Were in a bad mood. Could I change their mood? It just became a game to me of I could make money, and I was having fun being around people. So then that shifted in high school that I just started. My mother says the worst thing she did to me was make me get a job, because the requirement to have a car was you had to pay your insurance, so you had to have a job. And she said that was the worst mistake she did, because once she did that, it just. Everything snapped in my brain that I was like, ooh, what else can I do? What else could I earn? Money. Is there other things I could learn?

Light bulb.

It changed it.

So during those years, who would you say is somebody who really influenced you and your trajectory during those influential years?

I will say during those years, I didn't see it then, but I see it now would be my mom, because she worked our whole childhood. There weren't many female mail carriers, and she had to go into a man's world and prove that she could do it and haul heavy mail bags. And she did that all day long. But still would, you know, take us to sports or be at the games or show up after work and watch a tennis match. And so when I was younger, I didn't see it until I got older, that my work ethic came from her. And she was very big on, you know, she was a 60s child. She burned the bra. Women's lib. So it was always, you need to make sure you can always take care of yourself, even though, you know, she was married to my dad for, I don't think, 25 years. But it was always making sure that you could always provide for yourself. You didn't need someone else to do it for you. And hard work and grit would make it happen. I would say my Mom. But back then, of course, I didn't see that.

Yeah, of course. Well, I mean, her message paid off, sunk in.

Well, okay, so what's the next chapter after that then?

So after that I started just doing different jobs. I wasn't sure I wasn't one of those who knew what I was going to do after high school. So I was going to college and then I was working different jobs trying to figure out what I wanted to do and ended up with an opportunity in a software development company. And I worked with all engineers and me, and that's who I actually talked into skydiving. They told me to plan a team event and they didn't know I planned skydiving. But it was so fun to get all these introvert software engineers in this room and they already had signed the waiver, so they had to do it and jump out of a plane. And so once I got involved in these businesses and they started training me to do other jobs and learn stuff and I was always someone that would go and say I'd have something done. I'd say, okay, well how do you do your job? What are you doing there? Is there something I could learn? So they would just move me around in different jobs. So I didn't end up finishing school because I decided I wanted to go that direction. And they were doing marketing, hr, you name it. I would have project management, I was learning systems and so all these different things. And then I met my husband and he at the time was launching an Internet company. And then the Internet was still dial up. I can still hear the sound in my head. And I would hear him like the computer log out. He's like, I'm going to show you something.

Be like that in a minute or two or ten.

So I'm going to show you this.

Grab a drink, come back.

Okay, like we're ready. And. And so I decided, you know what, I. I can make calls for you. So then I started with him that I would call contractors and just say, you need a website. And they'd say, why do I need a website? I'm like, you're going to need this. You need this in the future and we can help you. And so then that kind of shifted where it was really his business running, but I would do behind the scenes, behind the scene things with him. And then I was getting bored with the other job and bored by if it's not challenging me, I feel like I have to move on and I have to go do something else. And I had already done every level other than the next step they wanted me to do. I didn't want that career. And then I met the Chamber world and thought, oh, I'll go work for a nonprofit that's easy to do and get my real estate license and we'll do both of those.

How did you meet the Chamber World? You happen to stumble across that?

So in between all of this, Terry and I were buying houses. We had bought our first home in our 20s. We had lived in it a couple years. We fixed it up, we rented it, we moved to another house. So we were playing that game. And I liked real estate and got my license. But then someone said, I heard this job is opening at the Chamber. Do you want to check it out? And I thought, well, I'll learn about the community if I'm going to sell real estate and it's a nonprofit and there's only two and two and a half employees. I came from a 300 employee place. I'm like, this will be a piece of cake.

And.

And walked into a world that I knew nothing about and that was not a piece of cake. And taught me so many things that between the Chamber and real estate, that really shifted my. I didn't realize then that within 10 years I'd be on a completely different path.

So in the engineering world, before we go to the Chamber world, were you just kind of running free learning as you go, or was there anybody that was kind of your mentor then?

There was one lady, her name was Jody, and she had been there a long time. And so she had the respect of everyone. So she was probably the one. When I was in my early 20s, I would just pop in her office all the time and say, hey, do you need me to do something? You want me to learn something? And she might mention another manager needed help on something, and I'd pop in and say, hey, what do you need? I can figure this out for you. All the way to the end, they had me. The CEO kept firing every assistant and they said, go work with him. And I'm like, are you trying to fire me? But they had me. What are we doing? They had me work with him. And he actually, we had a great relationship. And I learned a lot just Even understanding different CEOs and the mentality they have and that difference of he had started the business so he'd never worked for anyone else. So his mentality was different than when I had worked for like an IBM or a Quest and corporate world. So it was just fascinating to learn how an entrepreneur thought versus a corporate world. So that was really how I learned. Was just popping around and same in chamber world. Constantly I would agree to anything just because I was like, oh, I'll figure that out. Or oh, that sounds interesting. Or oh, we heard this was happening in another state. I'm sure we can implement that here. So it's just always just to challenge myself. And I loved that world. But I think for me again, it's as soon as I know I'm hitting a level where, okay, there's nowhere else for me to go that I want to go. What's next in my future? Where am I going to do next that's going to get me to that next level where I feel like I'm challenging myself.

Okay, makes sense.

What do you think during those. Because you were really a big part of the chamber and its growth during some of the major formative years of our own community. What do you think were some of the lessons learned on your professional journey during that time?

I think on that one was learning the dynamics of everybody and personalities. And just when you're in a growing community, there are a lot of people, there's new people coming in to make change. There's old people who have the history. And how do you learn to navigate everyone's personalities and everyone's passion for the community? And everyone has the same vision. It's just how does everyone get there on the same terms? And everyone agreeing to where the vision is going and even seeing even downtown now is just fascinating to me. When we were in a building that's no longer there and it's a dirt lot that the vision that everyone was talking about to then see it and then I think too, seeing a lot of businesses come in, I promote every chamber. You know, anyone says chamber, I'm like, you've got to get involved because one new business is coming in. There's so many people who start and have no idea what they're doing. And that coming into a chamber, being able to see the businesses and say, okay, that one's going to be successful because you can tell that owner is open minded and they want to learn to some coming in and you could know right away, like, I'm not sure this one's going to make it. That taught me on the business side of just being open minded to what's happening and where's the future going and not staying in my own mental box that you have to think future and find those people who know it and can help you. So I feel like that in the chamber world and when I was deciding to become run my own business. That's really where it came from, is we worked with so many small businesses that it hit me where I'm like, why am I helping every small business and I'm not doing this for myself. And so I feel like that's probably the biggest part I learned.

So you had the unfortunate opportunity to work with our Sarah in that moment of your life.

Aw, it was so much fun.

Any stories you want to share with us about that?

So one thing I. One thing I've picked up on even throughout the years is your interest in how people tick and how they. They work. And I think that that plays a huge part in today, in your leadership of a team and how you sort of navigate their success. And so I'd love for you just to share a little bit about how you. Some of the challenges that you faced and also some of the success that you faced on that front.

I think on the team, the hardest part on team was I had to learn that not everyone thinks like I do, and I get it to an extent, but learning what makes them tick and really what their goals are. So me coming into it, even getting into the business, you know, I am a numbers person and I have worst case scenario, middle scenario, amazing scenario. So in my head, I'm constantly. I know where I need to be. But when people are coming into real estate, a lot of times they just think it's fun to sell a house, but they have no idea the emotional drain and stress that comes along with being a real estate agent. And so them coming in and they have families and kids. I really tried to mold our team to be, what are your goals? Where do you want to be financially? Where do you want to be in your freedom? Where do you see yourself when you want to retire? And then I have tried on all of them to build that plan for them. So. Well, you know, if it's financial and they don't have a retirement plan, we'll start talking to them and have them talk with people. If it is they want to, you know, have sell this many home or make this much money, but they want to be able to be with their kids or their grandkids, then I'll map out, okay, this is how many appointments you need. Because I really have learned. I love to work and people aren't like me. Like, I thrive on that. It's fun for me to meet new people and help them. I know financially what real estate does for myself, what it does for people. So I love doing that. Some love doing that. But they also want to travel half the year. So how do we mold them that they can have the life they want? I feel like on our team, I was a little different when I started it because everyone, it was what their plan was. And then I'm going to help you get to that goal. And then they help me along the way because I have my own goals I'm trying to hit. So I feel like on the team, that's what I had to learn. And I had to learn their personalities. And that's hard because I, you know, when we've ever done any personality test, I is like the lowest thing for me. So I really have had to work hard to have a team to be, okay, this person's personality. I need to make sure I say this or, oh, they went to their kid, had an appointment at this I will put in my phone, like, remind yourself to ask them this question, because it's not my personality. So I've had to learn to mold to make sure I understand them, but also I'm teaching them personality, because same with our clients. They're not like us. So they know me. If I say something and you think I'm harsh or I was upset at you, send me a text message. Because it probably wasn't. It's just my personality and how I'm thinking. So that's how I feel on the team. I've just really tried to make it personal.

That would have been really helpful. Probably when you're working at the chamber to deal with Sarah, to understand how to work with her, I would imagine.

Oh, I know Sarah. You gotta have a plan, you gotta have an action. You gotta tell her in the future.

So this real estate thing, the license you got looks like you got it in 2001. How did that even. It's become such a huge thing for you now.

And you're like, oh, boy, let's give Ben credit. Let's just do it.

Where did that come from?

So when we were. Terri and I were doing our, you know, purchasing our own houses and started to see how that worked. So our first house, the agent really didn't represent us, but it was our first house. And I didn't realize that. And the things we were asking for didn't happen. So when we kept that house as a rental and we bought a new build, that new build agent, she was amazing. And the details and customer service, just the way that she answered our questions, I was like, that's what I should have had the first time. And it was such a different experience. So when we were thinking about purchasing another house. I thought, well, we like doing this. I like real estate. I love looking at houses. I'm going to go get my license and let's see what happens. And I was in a software development company. We were on our second merge with the talk of a third merge. So you're talking, you know, whenever you have emerges with 300 employees. And we had 100 employees, and we had. And I thought, I don't know if I want to do this forever. And it's sad when you know, people and, you know, they're losing their job and they have families. And that just for me, was not a great fit. So that's when I went and got my license and we ended up buying a few more houses, selling houses, and then friends started asking and family members started asking me. So I started slowly selling real estate to other people. And then within 10 years, real estate was starting to pick up. And then Terry was like, could you pick a career now? Because now you're working chamber, you're working real estate. And we had our two boys. They were toddlers then. So he's like, could you just decide what you'd like to do? And that's when I decided I wanted to go into real estate, because that was. It was so much fun for me, even with that stress of it. It's every day. I love real estate and just I've met so many amazing people now that are friends of mine that I never would have met had I not gone into this career.

Yeah, that's cool. I love the networking on that.

Well, the one thing I've told you several times, but it's worth repeating, is how proud I am of you, of the work that you've done, and the way that you have fully dedicated yourself to a successful career and serving other people. And you do lead with courage always. And I just wonder, where do you find that strength to lead with courage? Even in areas or territories that are so unique, unknown or uncertain.

I think for me, I just. I never want to be complacent. I don't want to look back when I'm 70 and say, oh, I didn't do that because I was afraid, or I didn't do that because I thought I'd fail at it, or I just have always lived that where if I feel it in my heart, if I have prayed over it, it keeps popping up to me, then I know that's what I'm supposed to do. And I tell the team all the time, if there's not a pit in my stomach every day, then I'm not doing something right. There's something else I'm supposed to be doing or challenging myself.

And.

And that is just how I've always lived that. It's just that I don't want to be complacent. I love my mom and she did the same job for 20 something years and she enjoyed it and that's her happiness of that. But for me, I don't want to be in a box. I want to make sure that I'm making a difference. And with real estate it's so different because now we love to volunteer, we love to give back in organizations. And now I have opportunities, not just with our time and financial, that we can go and make a difference in other lives. And I couldn't have done that with a normal job. Now I have opportunities that I never would have seen before. And had I been afraid to step out and do go and try a new career, I never would be where we are now. So that's.

Yeah.

So I know the other success in your life is showing up for your kids every day and how important that is for you.

Yes.

I was just going to ask about the boys.

Yeah, they're 17 and 18 now, so it's crazy to have an adult and a 17 year old that's practically an adult. And yeah, both of them, it's interesting as they get older, it's a different phase in life. So when they were little it was fun and playing and then they came tween years and that's not so fun. And they're on their own and now they're kind of coming back and when they call or ask for advice or they. You can see things changing in them. Like even last night, Joey came in. Terry's like, there's no boundaries in our room. Literally there wasn't. And him and his girlfriend came in, they had their prom signs and she'd asked him to prom. And it's like just such a cool experience that now he has a relationship and she's kind of part of our family. And so it's such a different world now that they're older. And it's fun for that part, but challenging because obviously, you know, kids are kids.

You had a unique start with them.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I will say I was meeting with the family last night because foster, we fostered and then adopted. And the foster world is just such a different world. And these children have so many mental health disabilities and that's a whole nother career and job really now I'M an advocate for a lot of families for what they deserve to get, how hard you have to fight here to have the right medical services for our children. And then also it's taught me a lot of empathy because I am a control. I have a personality of a control freak, and I'm a type A personality. My husband's a Marine. And then you bring foster kids in. Oh, every rule goes out the door because each kid has different traumas, and the way they act and respond to things are different. And that has opened my eyes to have so much empathy for people, because, one, you never know what someone's going through. And people are so easy to judge a parent, but you don't know what that kid mentally is going through. Or maybe that parent mentally went through his trauma in their life. And now everyone's just trying to survive. And then having someone come alongside and just sit with them or just empathize with them has really shifted the way I see the world. And just the heart now I have for people, and especially people who take in foster kids.

Where were you at in your life when that. When you decided to go into foster care? How did that. How did you get into this?

So. Well, growing up, I always had friends that were foster kids, and I would bring them home and offer to take them on vacation with us because they didn't have that. A lot of them were more kinship families. And sometimes my mom would block us. I would start getting in trouble with them, and then she'd be like, you can't hang out with them. And I would be so offended. And now I understand, because when kids have trauma, they don't intentionally get in trouble, but they do. And who you're with, you can start doing the same things. So I understand a lot of that now, but I always just had a passion for if families, parents couldn't afford vacations. My mom will tell you, our whole life, some kid was on vacation with us, sometimes four or five, if we were going to the lake, because if their parents couldn't afford it, but my parents could, then they were coming with us and they were going to have that experience. So that probably started it. And then when Terry and I couldn't have children, I just immediately looked at him and said we had gone through IVF twice. The second time I said, I just want to try one more time. And in the middle of ivf, and that's not cheap, I looked at him and said, I really think we're going to become foster parents. He's like, could you have said that before we paid the bill. And I'm like, well, I'm just saying if this doesn't work out, I really think we need to look into it. And so when it didn't work, within a couple months, we were in classes. And so I will say we went into it naively because I went into it with the attend, like, I'm going to save the world and I'm going to save some kids. And I will say they saved me because obviously they changed my mindset of the world. But also we had no idea what we were getting into. And we definitely, over the years, Terri and I have more strength than I ever thought we did to go through being a foster parent. But that's where it started. And then we wanted one kid and they kept bringing two because in foster world it's hard. And so finally we looked at each other and they were like, just come to this conference room and just look at this picture and let us tell you about these boys. And they hand me this picture of the two. Most foster kids are the cutest kids and they're the most adorable kids and these pictures. And I look at Terri and he's like, we're taking two, aren't we? And I was like, we are taking two. We go over to the daycare, we meet the two boys, and that was probably 4, 4:30 at night. And by 11:00 clock in the morning, they were at our house with their case manager. Her hair was everywhere. I guess they tried to jump out of the car. That should have been my first sign. And it was just chaos going on. And we're like, oh, we got this. And we've been on a roller coaster ever since. But I can't imagine them, not in our lives, as crazy as our life has become. I just couldn't picture just being Terri and I. And even now, as we're getting older, I'm almost sad even with the chaos leaving that they're grown and.

Well, I've loved watching you as a mom and I get so much advice from you. I mean, you've shaped the way that I'm I mother because I come to.

You and she needs a lot of advice.

Yeah, we get that.

We get that.

But you are. You love unconditionally. You love with your whole heart. And it's been an amazing journey for me to watch as your friend as well.

Thank you. It's hard to believe how long you've been there. Since the beginning.

Okay, so real estate's doing great, the market's insane. You've Got to be just super busy. What's the future look like for you?

I think for me, the future will be my team will be growing, and that really is. My focus is women, and my focus is moms. And I really want to help moms realize that there are so many opportunities out there for them and that they can create the life they want and financially make a great living and still be around for their kids. I mean, sometimes do we show up on the football field in heels and a jacket? Absolutely. But we're at the game, and we're there for them. But we also are making a living, and our kids are seeing that. That you can juggle things. And, you know, women are amazing, and dads are, too. But women can. I mean, they can be at a doctor's appointment, they can be at a school play. They can all of a sudden close three deals, and then there's dinner. Somehow miraculously shows up the house, whether it's Uber or they've actually cooked it, but it's in a day. Sometimes the things that we do, it's pretty amazing. And women get overwhelmed or they feel like they're missing out because they're in a job. And that's the part where I feel like my passion is that if you're willing to trust me and you're willing to go all out and you just want to try to make a difference and do a change and not be afraid, then that's the people I'm looking for. And that's how my team has been created. And so that will be my focus, will be growing more women.

Okay. Growing women. I've heard of reigning men. Now I've heard of growing men women.

Okay, you glossed over with all the women talk there. Well, how are those Easter baskets coming?

That's right. Well, that's cool. I really appreciate this story, and this has been a really great conversation. I've learned a lot from you. I've enjoyed getting to know you over the years as well. We've had lots of great experiences and encounters, and this has been a fun discussion.

Yeah, I know.

Well, I mean, I love her. So I'm biased or just make it mushy.

Yeah, well, we'll keep it that. So if you like this show, like I know you do, join our tribe and learn more and hear more as we bring more guests to you and we get to interview more people like Adrienne. So thanks for being here.

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Thanks, everybody. Guiding conversations with community leaders.

Ben, let me ask you a question. How do you see other community members being involved in this podcast.

This is going to be a great opportunity for so many people in the community to have a chance to be heard if they want to tell their story or if they just want to be part of this journey with us and help sponsor in a way that helps bring more people to the table with us. So I think there's many opportunities at hand. Whether you want to again be on the show, reach out to us, let us know what your story is and how you think you could be part of it. We'd love to hear from you. Reach out, let us know, and we'll see if we can make that connection.