Julie Nelson and her hunter-jumper, Just Duckie (Sancho)

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But if you ask Nelson what is the most important attribute, she would probably say the fortitude.  It takes courage to own and operate a business in a traditionally male-dominated industry.  As a subcontractor in the fire alarm, security installation and access control business, her company, Smith Security, works with many contractors and electrical companies in new construction.

The wife and mother of three balances a multi-faceted career, friends and plenty of outside interests.  Although you may see her one day in the latest fashions and designer shoes, don’t draw any conclusions.   The next day she may be decked out in cammo with a rifle slung over her shoulder, ready to hunt whatever is in season. 

Where do your personality and your interest in security come from?

My mom is a little spitfire and my dad has always been in the security business – Jo-Lynne and Sterling Smith. 

Tell me about the rest of the family.

My sister is two years older than me, and her name is Hallie.  I have a brother and his name is Sterling also. They all live in San Antonio.

I know your father and your grandfather were both in the security industry.  Tell me about that.

My grandfather, Stanley Smith, started Stanley Smith Security in 1928.  It really kind of started out as a little investigation firm. Then my dad came on and they did the Hemisfair and they did all the guard service for the Hemisfair, which then prompted it into a big guard company.

They ended up merging their armored transport and other divisions with Australia and Mexico.  They sold in the late ‘80s and my dad started another security company – Sterling Smith Security. They did security alarm installations, guard patrol, investigations, across the board.

I went to work for him for six years and learned the whole business, including the fire alarm systems.

Let’s back up a little.  Where did you go to high school? 

MacArthur.  I wasn’t a cheerleader, I wasn’t a dancer, I was a horseback rider. My mom always kept a horse.  Every day she would pick us up and we would go out to the barn and we would ride around, get dirty and muck the stalls and all that good stuff.

Did you go to college?

I did for a bout a year and then I decided it was a waste of my time and my parents’ money.  I had to work.  I had a friend (who is still one of my best friends), and she hired me as a loan officer at a mortgage firm.  I was the assistant to the assistant to the assistant loan processor.  I am not kidding.  Slowly I took that job, then the next job and I got the loan officer job.  I worked for her for about four years and then my dad needed a sales person and he asked me to come over there. 

After you left your father’s company you started your own business.  What was that like?

It was a passionate decision to start my own business. When I started it I had no money in my pocket.  I really didn’t have a dime.  A lot of people do not know that.  They just assume because of my grandfather and father and their success, that I had money. 

I went to my grandfather and he said absolutely not.  He said, “I could live to be 100, and I need all the money I’ve got.” 

A friend of mine put up his car for a line of credit.  He believed in me and my abilities, and I clearly was young and passionate about it. 

I started out with zero employees and I had a little over 300 employees in seven years.

I moved into the heavy construction in ‘05 and ‘06.  That’s when my fire got up and running and it was running pretty heavy.   I am fire-licensed myself.   You’ve got to know what you are doing.

I picked up some really awesome clients that were real professional and good to work with and it took off from there.   

Is your company still called Smith Legacy Security (SLS)?

I went back to Smith.  It happened about two years ago.  I have a funny saying that I say now, which is “Give up the hoopty-do and get back to your boots.”  I tried to get away from Smith, but I am just a Smith girl, so it’s Smith Security.

 
What is the company’s focus now?

I don’t do electrical anymore – fire, cameras, access control, security installation and we work with a lot of electricians.

With new construction slowing down like it has, my business partner, Michelle Peavy, and I are evaluating where can we find our niche.  We collaborated all of our services and found there are different types of clients out there that we can service.  Since there are a lot of renovations that go on people don’t know that you can get someone else versus the person that did the original installation.

Let’s talk about your husband and kids.

I am married to Bobby Nelson.  He is with IBTX.  He and I grew up in the same neighborhood, but we didn’t know each other.  Then we went out once when we were 19 and that didn’t work out.  Then 10 years later his brother set us up.  We’ve been married almost 10 years.

And your kids?

Duke is 7, Scarlett is 5 and Violette is 3. They are wild, crazy and nutty.

I understand you stay busy with outside activities.  Let’s start with your horse.  What is his name?

Just Duckie, but I call him Sancho, because he is tall, dark and handsome and costs me a lot of money.  You know what Sanjo means, right?

No.

In Mexico a man’s mistress is his Sancha.  So Duckie is my Sancho. He is awesome, beautiful, and he is a humongous 17 hands tall.  A thoroughbred.  It’s like you want to put a seatbelt on when you get on.  He is fun.

How long have you had him?

Three or four years.  I think he has trained me enough to where I might get into a show this year.  He is like clockwork.  I don’t even have to think about it, he just goes over those little fences and just trucks around.

What other outdoor activities do you enjoy?

My family grew up offshore fishing. My dad and my grandfather had a boat and all six of us would stay on the boat for like three or four days.  My mom totally trained us by dramamining us.  Now if I go offshore fishing I just go to sleep until the fish are on.  I can sleep with like 20-ft. swells. 

I like to bayfish for trout and redfish. 

What’s the biggest fish you have caught bayfishing?

I caught a 26-in. trout last year when my girlfriends and I went out.  We limited out before 8am.  It was disgusting.  We had breakfast at 9:15 at Aransas Pass.  We took our photos, went to Wal Mart and got our pictures developed and put it in the frame and came back the same day to the marina and said hang this sucker up!

I also love to bird hunt – anywhere anybody calls me to go to.  If there is a bird lease and a bottle of wine, I will be there. 

I did a lot of deer hunting and I went to Africa once.  I shot a Kudu. 

I understand you like to garden?

I have always had this fantasy of having a home that you could go and send your kids outside and say, “Pick the broccoli and bring it in.”  This season I have broccoli and lots of herbs, lettuce and cauliflower.  I tried strawberries but the squirrels eat them.    I have always wanted to try more outdoor activities and learn more things about how to live off the land.  I have always wanted to live on some acreage, like move out where you are in the country, and have my horses and my garden, my fishing and build a little trench around it.  Somewhere where I can fish and I can hunt and go outside and shoot birds from my back patio. 

Anything else you would like to do?

I want to start a fishing and hunting show for women, where you could bird hunt and fish, all South Texas-based. You kill it, you clean it and you cook it. The final show of the season would be a surf and turf.  You would spend half your day fishing and half your day shooting and pull it all together with a great dinner with the right kind of wine and beer.

There is a whole world of women like us that like to fish and we are good at it.  I think that women would enjoy watching a show like that. 

Tell me about Stick Chic.

I have another little business on the side called Stick Chic – Stickchicstore.com – about awesome women.  It’s all about being a woman and taking life by the horns and having a good life and having friends and trusting each other and having a good time.  It’s all about just being cool.  –kf