How Do You Carry a Family Legacy Forward Without Staying Trapped Inside It?

Alan Melton: Most businesses think that the Owner’s Trap is about working too hard. The trap is about building a business that can’t run without you—and not realizing that until it’s costing you everything: your time, your freedom, your family, and your future. I’m Alan Melton, founder of Small Business Coach Associates, and over the past 24 years, I’ve helped more than 1,100 business owners find their way out of that trap. And this is Beyond the Owner’s Trap: real stories, real frameworks, and real freedom. Let’s get into it.

Alan Melton: My guest today has lived one of the most layered business stories I’ve encountered, because she didn’t just build something from scratch. She inherited a legacy, survived the loss of the person who built it, and then grew it into something bigger than he’d ever imagined. Betty Mooney is the president of Brick Restoration Incorporated, a family-owned masonry restoration company founded in Houston, Texas, in 1993 by her father, Roberto Zemeta. He started with a trowel, a bucket, and a belief that craft matters. Betty started working alongside him, moved into the CFO role, and then into the president’s chair after Roberto’s passing in 2019. Today, Brick Restoration serves Houston and Dallas–Fort Worth across three locations, has completed more than 20,000 projects, and is recognized as Texas’ number one masonry contractor. What Betty did between then and now—through grief, loss, and hard seasons that many business owners never survive—is what we’re here to talk about. Betty, welcome to Beyond the Owner’s Trap.

Betty Mooney: Well, thank you. Thank you for having me, and that was a lovely introduction. I’m moved by it.

Alan Melton: Well, you have a moving story. So, let’s jump right in. Tell me what it was like growing up around the masonry business. Was this your world always, or did it sneak up on you?

Betty Mooney: You know, it kind of snuck up on me. My dad was always very handy. He didn’t have formal masonry training, and masonry wasn’t his primary craft, but he learned along the way. We’re Cuban immigrants, so he did a lot of work himself around our home and for friends and family. He was really an inventor at heart. That is what I grew up around: invention, constantly trying to improve the way things are done.

Betty Mooney: Brick Restoration started with him seeing bad masonry repairs and saying, “Gosh, I really could do that better.” He developed proprietary methods, processes, and materials to do exactly that—make repairs better, make them look better, and address both the structural problem and the cosmetic issue. He started in 1993, when I was in high school. He had tried other businesses through the years, so I thought, “Dad’s doing his crazy things again.” I did not fully appreciate it until I had graduated college, entered the working world, and realized it was actually a very good idea.

Alan Melton: So he found a need and filled it.

Betty Mooney: That’s right. That was my growing up.

Alan Melton: Your father built Brick Restoration with a trowel and a bucket in 1993. When did you first realize this might be your future?

Betty Mooney: I definitely did not think it would become a huge part of my life. I went to university and did not want to come work for the family business right away. I felt I needed to learn something about the world and gain my own footing. I completed a business foundations certification at UT alongside my political science major. I worked at the Capitol, then for payroll and tax companies, and learned a lot from those experiences.

Betty Mooney: Later, I saw the business progressing and also saw problems I thought I could help improve. I was married and planning to start a family. I thought I could help the family business keep growing while having the flexibility to be home with my kids. Initially, I joined as an independent contractor, handling bookkeeping, payroll, and related work.

Alan Melton: Was that initially part-time?

Betty Mooney: Yes. I had a baby at home and wanted to work two or three days a week, which is why I was a contractor at first. Through that role, I got into what I consider the meat and bones of the company. I found issues and opportunities for improvement. It was fulfilling, and I could do it in the time I had while still spending time with my son.

Alan Melton: Did you have any early vision that you could run the business in the future?

Betty Mooney: Not really. Honestly, that idea would have scared the living daylights out of me. I thought, “I don’t know anything about masonry.” I probably knew more than some people because I had been around the language, but I initially thought it was too small for me. The more I got into it, though, the more I realized it could be much bigger than it was. My dad had done a great job, but I knew there was more that could be done. As I became more involved, I saw more potential, and that slowly drew me in.

Alan Melton: Looking at the Owner’s Trap, you were running a masonry company while raising children. What did that cost you personally at the hardest point?

Betty Mooney: I had three boys, each about two and a half to three years apart. I was not fully running the business at first, but as I took on more, I found more I could and should do. It meant a lot of work at night. When you are young, you have the energy. I could work until midnight and still feel okay in the morning. I got used to the lack of sleep with little kids.

Betty Mooney: Even now, it is not flawless. Sometimes I am late picking the kids up because I have a meeting or something at work needs my attention. But I have found a decent balance. I have a great team behind me—or really, in front of me. We have people who have been with us for 10, 20, and even 30 years. That is a big deal.

Betty Mooney: Beyond sleep, the cost is that when you are in a business, that is what you do. Other interests take a back seat. I am okay with that because I value what the business has brought to my life, our employees’ lives, and the people the business has touched. Our purpose statement is improving properties and improving lives. That is how we started: my dad trying to improve his own life. That is what we keep doing.

Alan Melton: Tell me about the season when your father was ill. What was it like to fully step into the business while watching him pass?

Betty Mooney: That was very hard. My dad had a great partner in crime for many years, George, who is still with us in a part-time consulting role. My early thought was that George could take the bulk of the ownership responsibility while I continued in a more back-end role. But George had his own plans for retirement and his personal life. I realized it was my privilege—not just my obligation—to grab the torch. Not doing it likely meant dissolving the business eventually, and keeping the business and legacy going mattered much more to me.

Betty Mooney: My father died of colon cancer. His illness unfolded over time: an initial diagnosis, surgery, chemotherapy, about five good years, and then a recurrence. The second diagnosis made the future of the business feel very real. We hoped he would come through it, but I knew I had to seriously think about what I would do.

Alan Melton: You also lost an employee. Tell me what that was like and what it took to keep the team together.

Betty Mooney: That was very hard, and it is still fresh—it has been less than two years. It has been our biggest test. We have been through financial crises, recessions, hurricanes, weather events, and betrayals from employees and family members. But losing an employee who had been with us for 12 years brought a kind of tragedy beyond anything else I have experienced.

Betty Mooney: Our employees are family. Family is one of our core values, and they proved that through my dad’s illness and through the loss of this employee. They loved each other, cared for me, and continued to uphold the company’s values while I handled the requirements that come with a tragedy. We tried our best to support the employee’s family. I learned business lessons and personal lessons, but it was one of the hardest things I have faced as an owner and leader.

Betty Mooney: I remember praying and wondering whether God knew I would be the one who had to go through it. I wished my dad was there so I would not have to face it alone as an owner. But my family—my husband, mom, and sister, who is also part of the business—were huge supports.

Alan Melton: You mentioned that your father’s passing, as painful as it was, freed you to do some things you wanted to do. Tell me about that.

Betty Mooney: My dad was great—larger than life. Everyone loved him. But he had his way of thinking, and it could be hard to change his mind. We would show him data and explain why we should do something a certain way. He might agree, and then the next morning he would say he had thought about it and decided we would do something else.

Betty Mooney: When he passed, I had reached a point where I was confident in my analysis, vision, and ability to execute. I needed room to do it. There was some fear among employees about whether the business would continue, whether the ship would sink, and whether I was capable of keeping it going. But we made changes, made progress, and it worked. Hearing employees say they appreciate what we are doing is incredibly validating—especially when it comes from the masons.

Alan Melton: You took Brick Restoration from Houston to Dallas–Fort Worth, a brand-new market. What made you decide to grow rather than simply maintain what your father had done?

Betty Mooney: It was an epiphany. We had always thought the business could be done in other places, especially in Texas. Over the years, we had created many processes. I always said I would not open another office until the Houston office worked like clockwork—until the processes and procedures were working practically perfectly and we could repeat the model somewhere else.

Betty Mooney: The business reached that point, then my dad passed away in 2019 and COVID hit in 2020. At the time, I was living in California, doing mostly back-end work while George handled daily operations in Houston. He retired, and our longtime production manager, Gregory De La Torre, took over operations. During COVID, my family needed a change. Our house was being remodeled, the kids were doing online school, and we were all working from home in a small space.

Betty Mooney: I asked my husband, “What if we use this time to go to Texas and open another office?” Dallas–Fort Worth was the logical place because it was similar to Houston in demographics and marketplace. We packed our minivan, drove to Texas, and began opening the Dallas office. We stayed in Airbnbs and moved around every month while our kids were in online school.

Betty Mooney: We thought it would be temporary. I thought I could set up the Dallas office, hire the right people, and go back to California when our house was finished and COVID was over. But the kids loved Texas, and opening a new location was harder than expected. Hiring brand-new people is not the same as having people who have been with you for 20 or 30 years. The business—and the fact that our kids loved it—kept us here.

Alan Melton: Texas’ number-one masonry contractor, three locations, $5 million in sales, and more than 20,000 projects. What actually built that, in your own words?

Betty Mooney: It started with the desire to improve your life and improve the lives of other people. That is where our purpose comes from. What built it was hard work, hiring great people, training them well, innovation, proprietary ideas, and not being afraid to try new things. We are always looking for ways to improve. Improvement and creativity are core values. My dad started this company because he invented new things, and he had patents for some of them.

Betty Mooney: From a practical standpoint, it is also procedures—lots and lots of procedures and processes. They are not fun to create, but they make life much easier. That is what makes the business successful and scalable.

Alan Melton: You are strong on processes, but you have said you need to work on leaders. What is the one thing you know still needs to change?

Betty Mooney: Being in a business for a long time creates depth of knowledge. But bringing people in from the outside can improve your breadth of knowledge. If you only go deep into what you know and do not gain an outside perspective, you can live in a tunnel. People who have been here for 20 years or more have valuable knowledge, but new people with broader industry experience are critical. They help us see outside ourselves, make improvements, and continue our values of creativity, improvement, and progress.

Alan Melton: Your father started the business with a trowel and a bucket, and you are carrying it forward across three locations. What do you want your children to see when they look at what you have built and survived?

Betty Mooney: My kids are 20, 18, and 14. They are teenage boys, and they have told me they are proud of me. That is the most wonderful feedback I could ever receive. I think it scares them a little, too, seeing the things I have gone through. But I hope it inspires them.

Betty Mooney: I do not need them to come work here or continue the business. What my dad would want for them, and what I want, is for them to go into the world and do whatever they feel led to do—something they are excited and enthusiastic about—and do it to the best of their ability. I never thought I would run a masonry company, but I give it my all every day. It gives me purpose and makes me feel important in the lives of the people we touch. That is what I want for them.

Alan Melton: We are at the part we call the Stage Check. Our seven stages to business freedom are: Stage 1, Dream; Stage 2, Chaos; Stage 3, Break-Even; Stage 4, Burnout; Stage 5, Profitability; Stage 6, Success; and Stage 7, Freedom. My sense is that you are entering Stage 6, which is about equipping leaders. Does that sound right?

Betty Mooney: I agree 100 percent. When I made the decision to take on this business, I understood it would mean not doing other things I was interested in, and I was okay with that. But I am still young. If the business runs, grows, and expands on its own, I can have time for other interests. I do not have a time frame, and I am not in a rush. But regardless of whether I keep doing this forever, I would love to see my leaders confident in their ability to lead, grow, and take the business to the next steps.

Alan Melton: For those watching, maybe you see yourself in part of Betty’s story: the weight of a family legacy, hard seasons, or painful moments that opened a door for something good. That is the Owner’s Trap, and it does not care what your background is. It finds everyone who builds something. If you are ready to find your way out of the Owner’s Trap, visit smallbusinesscoach.org and book a strategy session.

Alan Melton: Betty, thank you for one of the most honest conversations we have had. Not just because of the accolades, the project count, or the scale, but because of what you were willing to say out loud about grief, freedom, and what it costs to carry something forward. Your father started Brick Restoration with a trowel and a belief that craft matters. You have proven that belief at scale. That is not just a business story—it is a legacy story. Where can people find Brick Restoration online?

Betty Mooney: We are on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, but you can go straight to brickrestoration.com. You can find information for Houston, Dallas, Humble, Kingwood, and outside Houston—and hopefully other locations coming soon.

Alan Melton: Everybody, go support Brick Restoration. The links are also in the show notes. Before we close, for anyone who heard themselves in Betty’s story: the hard season that nobody sees, the moment something painful opened a door you never expected—that is not weakness. That is what building something real looks like. The only way through it is one honest step at a time. Share this episode with another business owner who needs to hear it, contact us through smallbusinesscoach.org if you are ready to find your way out of your own Owner’s Trap, and subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or our website. Betty, thank you so much for your time.

Betty Mooney: It was a pleasure. It was very enjoyable. Thank you, Alan.