What turns a teenage construction worker into a successful architectural entrepreneur? For Lance Cayco, co-founder of F9 Productions, the journey began at age 13 when his first boss taught him the economics of service businesses while roofing houses in North Dakota. That early lesson planted the seeds for a career spanning architecture, construction, business ownership, and community leadership.
Lance's path wasn't without significant challenges. After graduating at the top of his architecture class, the Great Recession delivered a devastating blow—layoffs just nine months into his professional career. This setback became the catalyst for founding F9 Productions, built on a revolutionary premise in the architecture world: prioritizing customer service over design ego. As Lance candidly shares, "There's so many architects out there that insist on it being much more of an art than a business." His firm's competitive advantage? Simply answering the phone when potential clients call.
The conversation explores how negative role models shaped Lance's business philosophy. Learning from "awful business owners" who laid him off, he built a firm with no layoffs in 15 years by being a "positive reactionary"—deliberately doing the opposite of what caused his former employers to fail. This approach extends to his podcast, Inside the Firm, which transparently shares business lessons to counter the "victimhood rhetoric" discouraging entrepreneurship among younger generations.
Beyond business insights, Lance offers a refreshing perspective on integrating professional success with personal fulfillment through his work with Longmont Community Gardens. "Instead of work-life balance, what if we aim for work-life harmony?" he suggests, describing days that seamlessly blend office work with community gardening. For aspiring entrepreneurs questioning when to start their own venture, his advice is counterintuitive yet compelling: "The Great Depression... We started ours in the Great Recession. It put us in a corner of a corner. We were super hungry every day."
Practical, inspiring, and refreshingly honest, Lance's story illuminates how entrepreneurship can create both professional success and meaningful community impact when built on discipline and customer-focused foundations.
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