welcome back to a beer in business we’re
here at Cassie Brown the founder the CEO
and the inspirational center of smart
city apartment locating here in Dallas
Texas it’s a privilege to have you oh my
gosh I’m so excited to be here making me
feel way cooler than I am so I’m excited
well you’re pretty cool and your company
is pretty cool and you’re you’re doing
it in an industry that is got a lot of
competition and then you boldly walked
in but first we are here at the
community beer company and we are
celebrating with them this summer their
Texas lager this is a beautiful
beautiful smooth wonderful lager for the
beer lover in you and it’s a great
summer drink mm-hmm and we appreciate
community beer company allowing us to be
here again for another episode of a beer
and business so what what led you to
take your very first step you were
sitting somewhere doing something and
you said you know in all of the real
estate and all the apartment locating
stuff that’s out there I think there’s
room for someone to do it better
cooler differently and damn it I’m gonna
be that girl what’s so funny is that
that’s actually that didn’t go through
my head at all so when I started you
know I was I was going through a breakup
and you know 21 years old and I was like
well I need money and you know I was
like I’m gonna I’m gonna get my real
estate license and I’m gonna sell
million-dollar homes right well it turns
out I didn’t know any millionaires so
and apparently you have to know
millionaires in order to sell
million-dollar homes who can read it you
know who can write a check for a million
our home right so I didn’t know any of
those so I was like okay well what all
my friends need it turns out all my
friends needed apartments so I started
kind of like soliciting myself on
Facebook and you know this was nine
years ago and just kind of you know
started helping my friends and then my
friends would tell their friends and I
kind of built my business around that
and then you know a couple years later
it was like okay this is what I’m doing
now I’m an apartment locator
and it kind of just it kind of scaled
from there so when did you realize that
you were from helping friends you said
wow there’s a business here and I’m I’m
gonna take this and I’m gonna run with
it
well I always had a passion for
marketing I thought it was like a really
cool thing to kind of get in the way
that Minds worked and you know I noticed
that when I was looking for an apartment
you know it’s kind of a psycho about it
I was like I’m gonna look I’m gonna look
everything everywhere and you know in
Austin this is and this is where I
started I started in Austin and in
Austin in the summer everyone wanted to
live in 7 8 704 it was like the cool
place to live right is that where the
bats are yeah South Congress yeah that’s
where the bats are everyone want to live
there but these properties would be a
hundred percent occupied so most
locators would just be sending a list to
clients and then I had like two or three
clients call me mad and they were like
hey you sent us this property but when I
told you I wanted you know that’s the
point when I was interested in you said
that oh it’s a hundred percent occupied
and I was like well I’m gonna start
calling before I send you properties now
because that’s and that one little piece
of service where I was like you know
what I’m going to take care of the
client first kind of turned into this
whole thing it was just you know I put
the clients before myself before
Commission before everything and it
shaped the way the business was was it
built basically so suddenly people that
are looking for apartments are now
getting the level of service that a
professional realtor would get you and
you say hey I got 300 grand or I’ve got
a loan I’ve got some things set up and
I’m gonna buy I’m gonna buy the
townhouse I’m gonna buy a house and you
get this wonderful service from realtor
because you’ve got this economic
capability and then renters didn’t
normally have that and you put that
first and said okay I’m gonna treat you
well the way a real or to retreat you if
you were going after a bigger house
definitely and even even more so
sometimes you know and we we made it so
much more casual like sometimes Realtors
can like put a suit and a tie on and
they you know they’re like oh I’m gonna
show you this house and it’s not stuffy
at all and I hated the stuffiness of
that and so I was just like I’m gonna
wear jeans and a t-shirt and I’m gonna
be me and you’re gonna be you and I’m
just gonna help you find what you need
I’m gonna solve that problem for you you
know and
and it just it became so quiet focused
that you know now it’s it’s our brand
that people trust because I’m very picky
on who I hire I don’t hire people who
are already licensed I don’t hire
Realtors I hire people who are good
people
you know I hire people for values who
really care about people and then I
train them how to do real estate and
that’s kind of what’s been the
difference between our business and
everybody else in the industry service
first you hire the people that can
deliver the service and then you say if
you’ll be patient I’ll train you do what
I need you know I’ll tell you at the end
of the day you know there’s ten
apartments they all look the same you
know it’s its most of its the same stuff
but you know I can trade apartments but
you can’t train people how to be good
people you know and so you hire for that
that’s what I hire for you know every
picture I’ve seen of you it’s been like
this highly styled but very casual no I
mean this is you know but what it says
to this is this is a person like me this
is an approachable person this isn’t the
stuffy real estate agent that’s I mean
that’s one of our values one of our
values is that we’re real people like
we’re human beings and what goes with
that is like we treat people like
friends we care about people and we’re
also hume beings that can make mistakes
and we can wear whatever we want to like
like I want to create a place where
people can be themselves you know both
at work and for at home so and that’s
been my whole thing is like I never
wanted the stuffy corporate office I
just wanted to be me and the truth is is
like professionalism now like what we
believe in and our values like
professionalism is just doing what you
say you’re going to do and taking care
of people and going the extra mile and
you don’t have to wear a suit and tie to
do that fantastic how do you balance
this tremendous theme and around service
and good people you just said with
performance because it’s also a business
and you got to get performance out of it
so you can be laid-back to a certain
degree what is your leadership style to
get accountability and throughput and
all the things that CEOs need to get out
of their team see there’s a there’s a
big difference between being laid-back
and being human you know what I mean
like like you can be like a real person
and be laid-back and approachable but
still have goals you know and and that
and that’s a big thing it’s like the
solving the right problems and and
setting goals and achieving them is what
actually creates happiness
don’t think that you know just being
yourself in a job or you know wearing a
t-shirt and jeans those don’t cook those
things don’t create happiness I think
that happiness comes from a job where
you set these goals and you set these
high standards for yourself and you’re
like I don’t know if I can do this but
you put the effort and you put the work
and you put the time in and you know
you’re working around the clock and when
you hit that that that right there is
happiness you know what I think is
really interesting you know about your
company is I was reading what the
clients were saying about it and how
they found the apartment they found what
they wanted and how you facilitated that
so you know describe for me a little bit
you know from your side of it so someone
calls you and what you put around this
attitude of service was a delivery of
helping you find the perfect place take
me through the the customer experience
on that hey I want to find a place it’s
me and a roommate he works there I work
there you know we don’t want to be too
far from here here here’s our fax we got
good credit I’ll show it to you go you
contact us for an apartment and and
you’re looking for something and the
main thing for us is like we know how
difficult it is to be looking for an
apartment and and there’s an
overwhelming amount of options so like
what we do is you know we kind of narrow
that down for you when we send a list
it’s not like here’s a list of five
apartments that work for your budget in
your move date when we ask questions
we’re not like what’s your budget what’s
your move date you know how many
bedrooms you need we’re like where do
you work you know do we want to get you
a close commute where do your friends
live like where do you party you know do
you like party or would you rather be
close to White Rock Lake and be close to
the trail do you have a dog do you need
a yard for your dog you know what I mean
like what exactly are you looking for
and then we tailor our searches around
that so and so when we’re sending you
between four and eight options for
apartments we’ve cut out the other
thousand options and narrowed it down to
just these and we get pricing
availability like accurate pricing
availability like that day so like we
call every property and we say what do
you guys got for this move-in day you
know for this for this type of client so
it’s it’s hyper personalized on a whole
other level and people know and that’s
why that’s why the brand has grown so
much because there isn’t in
consistencies in our service you know
I’ve
buddy in the in the company provides
this same level ins of service you know
that if you work with you know agent a
or agent B you’re gonna get that same
quality and and I and that’s because the
people that work for us have the same
values that we do that is fantastic you
just talked about growth can you paint a
picture of growth of like what the past
three years have been like I know you’ve
gone to some other cities I don’t want
to spoil at somebody here from your
voice because your your heart and look
at you speak here your you’re somewhere
between full enthusiasm and an espresso
machine and it’s there’s a lot of energy
but it’s it’s people gonna look at it
and say when I build a company or my
company that’s the kind of energy I want
or I want to be associated with take us
these three years and tell us what the
growth has been and how you as the CEO
has led the company through that growth
I start we officially got our first
office five years ago and that’s when
like the company officially started and
every year since then we’ve doubled in
size the first couple years it was kind
of easy to double you know it’s like
okay just add two or three more agents
and we’re doubled this last year we
tripled in size and that aged me about
seven years because you know getting
getting from you know a four million
dollar company to a ten million dollar
company going from 30 employees to a
hundred employees is a whole different
ballgame operationally on the back end
so it’s been more fun than I have ever
had in my entire life and it has been
harder and I have had to face some
things myself and look at myself and
realize that like hey I have made a lot
of mistakes here and I need to learn
from those mistakes and so it’s been
it’s been amazing and I’ve been very
self-critical as well so it’s it’s been
it’s been the toughest couple years and
the best couple years I’ve had in my
entire life
so you started in Austin and then you’re
here in Dallas yes how did you get here
and then I heard there’s another city
expanded to yes so my wife my current
wife she was my girlfriend at the time
she actually forced me to move Dallas
and I came kicking and screaming because
I loved Austin I was I’m Austin born and
bred and you know but but you know I
moved to Dallas and and
is such an amazing city III couldn’t I
could never move back to Austin only
because I’ve fallen in love with Dallas
and the opportunity that it provides
here so when I started officially in
Austin but my first office was in Dallas
and then we actually opened the Austin
office about a year and a half after the
Dallas office so I kind of did things
backwards but but we actually last year
just opened Houston too and so we’ve had
a lot of growth I will say that the the
other cities like having having other
cities where it’s not in your
headquarters it’s a lot harder because
it’s harder to to be there you have to
be there to really grow things but you
know you put the right people in place
like our teams in Austin or Houston are
incredible teams I mean these people
they kill it man they are just amazing
with what they do and and they’re the
reason that we’re growing in those
cities I have an idea can you share a
mistake you made that didn’t work out
and you just had to reel the whole thing
and clean up the spilt milk off the
floor and it was just a mistake
absolutely and then after that share
here’s where I made a mistake and here’s
where I found a silver lining absolutely
I mean I I have made a lot of mistakes
over the last few years and I think
that’s part of it you know and and one
specific mistake that I’ve made is I you
know through all this growth when we
tripled last year I didn’t create enough
of a plan to show people their growth
within the company and so where a lot of
people started getting restless was hey
I don’t know where I’m going in this
company I don’t know what why don’t know
what’s next and I didn’t show them hey
this is where you can go and I didn’t
create that clear plan because in my
head I didn’t communicate my vision
enough and you know and I get in trouble
with my words sometimes sometimes I
don’t say the right thing or you know
and especially the bigger that we get
the more I’m under a microscope and and
that that happens with you know with
just people taking things the wrong way
and so I made a lot of mistakes with
that and we actually lost some people we
lost some really great people and you
know I kicked myself for a long time and
say you know hey this was this was a
mistake that I made and all these things
and you know what I did is I created
this super long list of questions
and I did very thorough in exit
interviews with every person that left
and I figured out okay here’s what I
need to change this is what I need to do
and this is how I’m gonna this is how
I’m gonna fix it and this is how I’m
gonna fix myself did you share with that
transparently with your crew to say you
know what
this person was a great person and I
gotta apologize to you as an
entrepreneur here’s the on here’s the
entrepreneurial spirit I had but here’s
where I made some mistakes and we’ve
we’ve lost this person and it’s on me
yeah and ultimately you know I’ve
certain part of my team countless times
and been open and honest and said hey
there’s a hundred of you in this room
and I want you guys to know that like
I’m doing the very best that I can and
and I heard this quote the other day and
forgive me if I butcher it but it
basically says that that people will
forgive you for not being the leader
that you’re trying to be but people will
never forgive you for not being the
leader that you say you are and that’s
that’s that quote really would home for
me because I was like I want to be a
better leader for everyone and the more
vulnerable I can be in front of people
and say listen I’m not perfect I’m not
perfect human this is my first time to
run a company ever I mean I was an
administrative assistant before this
like I have no experience no college
experience nothing so this we’re all
going through our first time of scaling
a company and it’s exciting and it’s fun
and there are some days when I come home
and I’m like this job is amazing I love
what I do and I love the people I work
with and there’s some days where I come
home and I’m like whoo this was a tough
day you know and and I think the more
role where you can with your team and
the more open and honest you can be and
be like hey I’m a human being too that’s
one of our values I’m a human I make
mistakes that I own up to it and all I
can do is try to change things for the
future and some mistakes that had some
silver linings so I don’t make that
mistake we don’t find this person
if we don’t make this mistake we don’t
discover that we’re gonna add this to
our product service me as a human you
learned that I I just I see the silver
lining in everything so even all of the
people that I did lose were not people
that that that wanted to be here you
know
and so you know being surrounded by a
team that wants to be here is so is so
important
you know seeing those people leave was
very very hard on me but ultimately like
like it was good because I learned so
much from it and we’ve already
implemented these changes so I think
that that every single mistake that we
make has a silver lining you talked
about surrounding yourself with good
people inside who do you surround
yourself or have been surrounded by on
the outside could be one could be five
there are those external mentors that
became your cheerleaders when they
realize wow you’re so you are building
nest you’re you’re taking this apartment
servicing you were doing Facebook with
your friends you’re running with it yes
I am
who are those mentors you had on the
outside I actually didn’t have any
mentors a partial mentor was my
stepfather he was in land development he
was the one who kind of pushed me to do
this and he was just like why not like
what do you have to lose you know it’s
just money
like whatever you go get a job if you
lose your money and I was like okay
you’re right like there’s not really any
risk here what a jump out of the
airplane yeah
yeah yeah I wrecked his car one time it
was a Mercedes and I wrecked it and I
remember him telling me you know I was
terrified to tell him he was my step dad
of like a year or something and I was
like I’m scared to tell this guy that I
just wrecked his car and so I was like
all right Larry I I wrecked your car so
sorry okay I’m so sorry and you know
buddy said to me he goes it’s just a car
we could buy another one like well we
have insurance
it’s just a car that’s why we have
insurance and in that mindset has kind
of taught me to be okay with risk you
know what I mean like bad things are
gonna happen but like if you just work
harder you can do more you know what I
mean and so I also have a couple of
other people that I’ve met along the way
especially recently as we could since we
tripled last year I’ve been seeking a
lot of outside help and you know I’ve
met a lot of people that are just good
humans and have really helped me just
better understand myself so another
person would be actually my landlord at
my office his name is Mitchell yeah he’s
the landlord of my office and I and I
met him because I had been looking for a
new office for seven months we were in
five hundred square feet right and we
had 20 people in five hundred square
feet yeah five hundred square feet five
hundred square feet twenty people that
we would fit we would cram inside this
room people were sitting this close
together working and like trying to find
people apartments I’m telling you
it was there were good times from that
office so I was looking for something
that was bigger and we were at method
coffee which is now fiction coffee one
of our favorite coffee places and next
door there was like this this office
space open and there a bunch of guys in
suits and the the owner of method was
like hey there’s a guy over there named
Mitchell who has his office and so I I
walked in there I was like are you
Mitchell and I was like and he was like
he was like yeah I’m it she was like I
love this office space and I just went
up I was just so excited I was like I’m
so glad to meet you like I love this
office I need it like I really really
want it because we’re in five hundred
square feet and I’ve got this many
people and he was like I’ve never met
somebody so excited to meet me and I was
like I’m excited and so we just instant
friends and you know he’s he’s twice my
age and he has helped me navigate the
waters on a lot of things real estate
and that and I really respect him he
owns a lot of commercial real estate
property here and he’s taught me a lot
about this business in general
so well you know I love what you just
said and you know you are like a
perpetual celebration you have so much
energy professional celebration and you
can’t whisper to me when you came in
here that you were celebrating because
you just had like a record week it was
important milestone what happened when
we got on Instagram you know a couple
years back we were like okay cool we’ll
just start posting fun pictures around
the office and and it kind of turned
into so much more than that so we have
like 76 thousand followers on our
Instagram page here and so what it’s
turned into is you know we’ll we’ll post
an apartment on on Instagram and then
all of a sudden we have people
contacting us wanting to look at that
apartment and so I was like wait we’ve
got something here like this is crazy
and so it’s built up to this many
followers now and so now what’s
happening is even cooler and this just
kind of fell into our laps we were like
how’s this happening
so we’re negotiating deals with
apartments now and so apartments are
coming to us saying hey we have units we
need least like we are struggling and
you know our our previous record was
like you know we will get hundreds of
dollars off per month so say a
one-bedroom is like $1400 a month you
know in Uptown or Oakland or whatever
they’ll call us and be like hey we want
to be on your Instagram we’re willing to
give you one bedrooms for nine and $9.99
in order to fill up in bulk because
you’ve got audience because you’ve got
and you’ve got an interested audience
capable audience it’s going to convert
customers so they’re coming to you as
this modern digital media version of the
back page of the Dallas Morning News
from 1980 exactly and that’s what social
media has become and so they’re giving
us $400 off a month which is five grand
a year in savings for your client for
our clients and we’re like yes yes well
we’ll do that you know like sure sure
we’ll take that and so we started doing
it and you know you know our record of
all time we least released 35 units in
one week and that was our record and
that was the most we had ever done and
last week we did we did a special with a
property over fo Walnut Hill and and
they were like hey we have 65 units that
we need leased and we were like that’s
more than we’ve ever been able to do
like maybe we can at least thirty maybe
you know and and they’re like what
prices do you need and we’re like okay
well we’ll give you the price of you
here we know here we go let’s like we
need 899 on this and we need 999 on this
and we send them as pricing and we’re
over here like they’re never gonna prove
that like that’s crazy like these
savings are crazy and they came back and
they’re like approved and we’re like
like all right here we go here we
said yes let’s go let’s go let’s go and
so we were hyped we were so hyped and so
you know we just blasted it out to
everyone we leased all sixty five and
four days your best week effort was 35
and then you beat a prior best ended 65
just hit one property I mean we leased
thousands of apartments but but a one
property our record was 35 units last
week got one property released 65 units
we took them from a 78% occupancy rate
to a 97% in four days insane like
unheard of they probably fired their
rental quarter why do we need you we’re
gonna call these people yeah it’s just
really cool because you know like where
I’m in the business of win-win-win if
somebody has to lose I don’t want to do
it I want to play that game I’m not I’m
not in that business so the clients are
winning they’re saving thousands and
thousands of dollars our agents are
winning because they’re pumped because
we have more happy clients and the
property’s winning because they’re
leasing in bulk and you know their
investors are like cool we like smart
cities because because rented for 1100
is better than empty for another week
another a month at $14.99
exactly exactly and so in this again
it’s fell in our laps like you know and
that goes back to my elevator tip just
start something everything else will
fall in line just start great so you’re
out there setting vision and everything
how do you articulate that for people so
the new person coming in goes wow I’m
critic credible vision it’s amazing
where the company’s going I am here and
I’m gonna follow her how does how does
that come out to infect all those new
people that are coming in all those
amazing people you just said you hired a
whole bunch of this past year where you
tripled in size how do you articulate
that out as you’re setting vision and
that’s the lane and that’s what you’re
doing
starts with values it starts with you
know us agreeing I think that it’s a
two-way street so before I ever start
talking about vision of the company I
make sure that that that person aligns
with our values and who we are and that
person is a good human and wants to do
do great things
Rogalla I’d say that’s being in sync yes
principles I by Ray Dalio I haven’t I
haven’t but it’s been on my on my list I
have like probably a hundred books on my
list I love that but yeah so I start
with values and and when I talk about
the vision of the company it’s it’s more
along the lines of like what we can what
we can do together you know and and I
and I do have a vision for this company
that that could be so massive I mean the
fact that we’re helping people find
places to live when they don’t know like
when there are so many options and we’re
able to give that hyper personalized
service and we’re able to negotiate
these deal with properties where if you
go through smart city you’re getting
thousands of dollars off per year I mean
that’s a trip that’s it that’s go to
here a backpack for a month on that
money you know what I mean so like like
the fact that we’re able to help our
clients so much and in what I what I
sell people on the vision and the
company it’s not it’s not a sale it’s
it’s more like this is where we’re going
and if this sounds like it’s something
that you want to be a part of then then
come onboard and and you know I have a
vision that goes nationwide for this
company
and it starts with Texas so before we
ever get there tell me about that vision
I think the negotiated deals thing has
has has creeped into my vision and now
is at the forefront because I didn’t
realize that that it could be so big and
my vision has changed over the years you
know first I was like oh let’s just be a
great apartment locating up
and now it’s like wait this is so much
bigger and you know what we’re doing in
Dallas right now can be replicated in
every city across the country and and
what we do this level of service that we
provide it can be replicated and and the
thing is is that it would be so cool to
be able to say hey I’m moving to Chicago
or I’m moving to Nashville Tennessee and
I I need I know I need help like that
kind of help that that that hyper
personalized service with people who
really care when you build a brand
around caring then that that’s what what
people remember and to say oh I’ve got a
friend moving here it’s like Oh smart
cities in that city you know what I mean
and you know that that brand is a brand
that you can trust and that brand can go
in nationwide who are some of the CEOs
maybe you haven’t even met them or
business leaders because you said you’ve
read you read about people in a lot of
books who are some of the leaders that
you’ve read about that you look at and
say wow I like that I want to be that or
that just taught me something really
like that was some of the ones you at
Morrow there’s actually somebody just
recently I was in a conference yesterday
with somebody named and Rhodes and she
built the culture she helped she was a
big part in building the culture culture
in southwest and women and leadership is
and naturally I have to love that
because I think that’s it’s so important
to see that equality and to see women
standing up and and building things and
to see her help build the culture at
Southwest and now at JetBlue I mean
she’s killing it and I look up to her so
much
have you read man’s search for meaning
by Viktor Frankl yes okay that book
changed my life he was a Holocaust
survivor horrible situation to have the
attitude he has that comes across in his
book it’s just phenomenal it’s
unbelievable that book changed my life
and I see him as such a strong leader in
this world that that to be able to go
through something like the Holocaust and
to be able to come out and say you know
to find a meaning and that suffering and
and to show the different ways that you
can find meaning
I implement that in my business every
day you know and and all the hard things
there’s there’s meaning in that there’s
silver lining and that and so a lot of
his practices I preach about quite often
in our team meetings and stuff so he’s
another one and then Stephen Covey of
course his his seven Habits of Highly
Effective People he’s brilliant got it
you know if you were an elevator with a
young entrepreneur what two tips would
you get them if they’re a brand-new
entrepreneur the first thing again would
be to start now just do it just do it
and and the second thing you know like I
said in the beginning read get that
knowledge but also just build a company
around doing things the right way you
know and and really caring about your
people because if you you put your
people first nothing else matters you
know everything else will fall into
place and it always does well here’s to
you and here’s to you going nationwide
and see in a smart city and all the
cities across the United States thank
you so much for watching this week on a
beer in business we’ve been here at
Cassie brown go check her out smart city
apartment locating thank you very much
we’ll see you next week I’m Tom
Ellsworth the biz doc and I hope we left
you better than we found you [Music]
here at Cassie Brown the founder the CEO
and the inspirational center of smart
city apartment locating here in Dallas
Texas it’s a privilege to have you oh my
gosh I’m so excited to be here making me
feel way cooler than I am so I’m excited
well you’re pretty cool and your company
is pretty cool and you’re you’re doing
it in an industry that is got a lot of
competition and then you boldly walked
in but first we are here at the
community beer company and we are
celebrating with them this summer their
Texas lager this is a beautiful
beautiful smooth wonderful lager for the
beer lover in you and it’s a great
summer drink mm-hmm and we appreciate
community beer company allowing us to be
here again for another episode of a beer
and business so what what led you to
take your very first step you were
sitting somewhere doing something and
you said you know in all of the real
estate and all the apartment locating
stuff that’s out there I think there’s
room for someone to do it better
cooler differently and damn it I’m gonna
be that girl what’s so funny is that
that’s actually that didn’t go through
my head at all so when I started you
know I was I was going through a breakup
and you know 21 years old and I was like
well I need money and you know I was
like I’m gonna I’m gonna get my real
estate license and I’m gonna sell
million-dollar homes right well it turns
out I didn’t know any millionaires so
and apparently you have to know
millionaires in order to sell
million-dollar homes who can read it you
know who can write a check for a million
our home right so I didn’t know any of
those so I was like okay well what all
my friends need it turns out all my
friends needed apartments so I started
kind of like soliciting myself on
Facebook and you know this was nine
years ago and just kind of you know
started helping my friends and then my
friends would tell their friends and I
kind of built my business around that
and then you know a couple years later
it was like okay this is what I’m doing
now I’m an apartment locator
and it kind of just it kind of scaled
from there so when did you realize that
you were from helping friends you said
wow there’s a business here and I’m I’m
gonna take this and I’m gonna run with
it
well I always had a passion for
marketing I thought it was like a really
cool thing to kind of get in the way
that Minds worked and you know I noticed
that when I was looking for an apartment
you know it’s kind of a psycho about it
I was like I’m gonna look I’m gonna look
everything everywhere and you know in
Austin this is and this is where I
started I started in Austin and in
Austin in the summer everyone wanted to
live in 7 8 704 it was like the cool
place to live right is that where the
bats are yeah South Congress yeah that’s
where the bats are everyone want to live
there but these properties would be a
hundred percent occupied so most
locators would just be sending a list to
clients and then I had like two or three
clients call me mad and they were like
hey you sent us this property but when I
told you I wanted you know that’s the
point when I was interested in you said
that oh it’s a hundred percent occupied
and I was like well I’m gonna start
calling before I send you properties now
because that’s and that one little piece
of service where I was like you know
what I’m going to take care of the
client first kind of turned into this
whole thing it was just you know I put
the clients before myself before
Commission before everything and it
shaped the way the business was was it
built basically so suddenly people that
are looking for apartments are now
getting the level of service that a
professional realtor would get you and
you say hey I got 300 grand or I’ve got
a loan I’ve got some things set up and
I’m gonna buy I’m gonna buy the
townhouse I’m gonna buy a house and you
get this wonderful service from realtor
because you’ve got this economic
capability and then renters didn’t
normally have that and you put that
first and said okay I’m gonna treat you
well the way a real or to retreat you if
you were going after a bigger house
definitely and even even more so
sometimes you know and we we made it so
much more casual like sometimes Realtors
can like put a suit and a tie on and
they you know they’re like oh I’m gonna
show you this house and it’s not stuffy
at all and I hated the stuffiness of
that and so I was just like I’m gonna
wear jeans and a t-shirt and I’m gonna
be me and you’re gonna be you and I’m
just gonna help you find what you need
I’m gonna solve that problem for you you
know and
and it just it became so quiet focused
that you know now it’s it’s our brand
that people trust because I’m very picky
on who I hire I don’t hire people who
are already licensed I don’t hire
Realtors I hire people who are good
people
you know I hire people for values who
really care about people and then I
train them how to do real estate and
that’s kind of what’s been the
difference between our business and
everybody else in the industry service
first you hire the people that can
deliver the service and then you say if
you’ll be patient I’ll train you do what
I need you know I’ll tell you at the end
of the day you know there’s ten
apartments they all look the same you
know it’s its most of its the same stuff
but you know I can trade apartments but
you can’t train people how to be good
people you know and so you hire for that
that’s what I hire for you know every
picture I’ve seen of you it’s been like
this highly styled but very casual no I
mean this is you know but what it says
to this is this is a person like me this
is an approachable person this isn’t the
stuffy real estate agent that’s I mean
that’s one of our values one of our
values is that we’re real people like
we’re human beings and what goes with
that is like we treat people like
friends we care about people and we’re
also hume beings that can make mistakes
and we can wear whatever we want to like
like I want to create a place where
people can be themselves you know both
at work and for at home so and that’s
been my whole thing is like I never
wanted the stuffy corporate office I
just wanted to be me and the truth is is
like professionalism now like what we
believe in and our values like
professionalism is just doing what you
say you’re going to do and taking care
of people and going the extra mile and
you don’t have to wear a suit and tie to
do that fantastic how do you balance
this tremendous theme and around service
and good people you just said with
performance because it’s also a business
and you got to get performance out of it
so you can be laid-back to a certain
degree what is your leadership style to
get accountability and throughput and
all the things that CEOs need to get out
of their team see there’s a there’s a
big difference between being laid-back
and being human you know what I mean
like like you can be like a real person
and be laid-back and approachable but
still have goals you know and and that
and that’s a big thing it’s like the
solving the right problems and and
setting goals and achieving them is what
actually creates happiness
don’t think that you know just being
yourself in a job or you know wearing a
t-shirt and jeans those don’t cook those
things don’t create happiness I think
that happiness comes from a job where
you set these goals and you set these
high standards for yourself and you’re
like I don’t know if I can do this but
you put the effort and you put the work
and you put the time in and you know
you’re working around the clock and when
you hit that that that right there is
happiness you know what I think is
really interesting you know about your
company is I was reading what the
clients were saying about it and how
they found the apartment they found what
they wanted and how you facilitated that
so you know describe for me a little bit
you know from your side of it so someone
calls you and what you put around this
attitude of service was a delivery of
helping you find the perfect place take
me through the the customer experience
on that hey I want to find a place it’s
me and a roommate he works there I work
there you know we don’t want to be too
far from here here here’s our fax we got
good credit I’ll show it to you go you
contact us for an apartment and and
you’re looking for something and the
main thing for us is like we know how
difficult it is to be looking for an
apartment and and there’s an
overwhelming amount of options so like
what we do is you know we kind of narrow
that down for you when we send a list
it’s not like here’s a list of five
apartments that work for your budget in
your move date when we ask questions
we’re not like what’s your budget what’s
your move date you know how many
bedrooms you need we’re like where do
you work you know do we want to get you
a close commute where do your friends
live like where do you party you know do
you like party or would you rather be
close to White Rock Lake and be close to
the trail do you have a dog do you need
a yard for your dog you know what I mean
like what exactly are you looking for
and then we tailor our searches around
that so and so when we’re sending you
between four and eight options for
apartments we’ve cut out the other
thousand options and narrowed it down to
just these and we get pricing
availability like accurate pricing
availability like that day so like we
call every property and we say what do
you guys got for this move-in day you
know for this for this type of client so
it’s it’s hyper personalized on a whole
other level and people know and that’s
why that’s why the brand has grown so
much because there isn’t in
consistencies in our service you know
I’ve
buddy in the in the company provides
this same level ins of service you know
that if you work with you know agent a
or agent B you’re gonna get that same
quality and and I and that’s because the
people that work for us have the same
values that we do that is fantastic you
just talked about growth can you paint a
picture of growth of like what the past
three years have been like I know you’ve
gone to some other cities I don’t want
to spoil at somebody here from your
voice because your your heart and look
at you speak here your you’re somewhere
between full enthusiasm and an espresso
machine and it’s there’s a lot of energy
but it’s it’s people gonna look at it
and say when I build a company or my
company that’s the kind of energy I want
or I want to be associated with take us
these three years and tell us what the
growth has been and how you as the CEO
has led the company through that growth
I start we officially got our first
office five years ago and that’s when
like the company officially started and
every year since then we’ve doubled in
size the first couple years it was kind
of easy to double you know it’s like
okay just add two or three more agents
and we’re doubled this last year we
tripled in size and that aged me about
seven years because you know getting
getting from you know a four million
dollar company to a ten million dollar
company going from 30 employees to a
hundred employees is a whole different
ballgame operationally on the back end
so it’s been more fun than I have ever
had in my entire life and it has been
harder and I have had to face some
things myself and look at myself and
realize that like hey I have made a lot
of mistakes here and I need to learn
from those mistakes and so it’s been
it’s been amazing and I’ve been very
self-critical as well so it’s it’s been
it’s been the toughest couple years and
the best couple years I’ve had in my
entire life
so you started in Austin and then you’re
here in Dallas yes how did you get here
and then I heard there’s another city
expanded to yes so my wife my current
wife she was my girlfriend at the time
she actually forced me to move Dallas
and I came kicking and screaming because
I loved Austin I was I’m Austin born and
bred and you know but but you know I
moved to Dallas and and
is such an amazing city III couldn’t I
could never move back to Austin only
because I’ve fallen in love with Dallas
and the opportunity that it provides
here so when I started officially in
Austin but my first office was in Dallas
and then we actually opened the Austin
office about a year and a half after the
Dallas office so I kind of did things
backwards but but we actually last year
just opened Houston too and so we’ve had
a lot of growth I will say that the the
other cities like having having other
cities where it’s not in your
headquarters it’s a lot harder because
it’s harder to to be there you have to
be there to really grow things but you
know you put the right people in place
like our teams in Austin or Houston are
incredible teams I mean these people
they kill it man they are just amazing
with what they do and and they’re the
reason that we’re growing in those
cities I have an idea can you share a
mistake you made that didn’t work out
and you just had to reel the whole thing
and clean up the spilt milk off the
floor and it was just a mistake
absolutely and then after that share
here’s where I made a mistake and here’s
where I found a silver lining absolutely
I mean I I have made a lot of mistakes
over the last few years and I think
that’s part of it you know and and one
specific mistake that I’ve made is I you
know through all this growth when we
tripled last year I didn’t create enough
of a plan to show people their growth
within the company and so where a lot of
people started getting restless was hey
I don’t know where I’m going in this
company I don’t know what why don’t know
what’s next and I didn’t show them hey
this is where you can go and I didn’t
create that clear plan because in my
head I didn’t communicate my vision
enough and you know and I get in trouble
with my words sometimes sometimes I
don’t say the right thing or you know
and especially the bigger that we get
the more I’m under a microscope and and
that that happens with you know with
just people taking things the wrong way
and so I made a lot of mistakes with
that and we actually lost some people we
lost some really great people and you
know I kicked myself for a long time and
say you know hey this was this was a
mistake that I made and all these things
and you know what I did is I created
this super long list of questions
and I did very thorough in exit
interviews with every person that left
and I figured out okay here’s what I
need to change this is what I need to do
and this is how I’m gonna this is how
I’m gonna fix it and this is how I’m
gonna fix myself did you share with that
transparently with your crew to say you
know what
this person was a great person and I
gotta apologize to you as an
entrepreneur here’s the on here’s the
entrepreneurial spirit I had but here’s
where I made some mistakes and we’ve
we’ve lost this person and it’s on me
yeah and ultimately you know I’ve
certain part of my team countless times
and been open and honest and said hey
there’s a hundred of you in this room
and I want you guys to know that like
I’m doing the very best that I can and
and I heard this quote the other day and
forgive me if I butcher it but it
basically says that that people will
forgive you for not being the leader
that you’re trying to be but people will
never forgive you for not being the
leader that you say you are and that’s
that’s that quote really would home for
me because I was like I want to be a
better leader for everyone and the more
vulnerable I can be in front of people
and say listen I’m not perfect I’m not
perfect human this is my first time to
run a company ever I mean I was an
administrative assistant before this
like I have no experience no college
experience nothing so this we’re all
going through our first time of scaling
a company and it’s exciting and it’s fun
and there are some days when I come home
and I’m like this job is amazing I love
what I do and I love the people I work
with and there’s some days where I come
home and I’m like whoo this was a tough
day you know and and I think the more
role where you can with your team and
the more open and honest you can be and
be like hey I’m a human being too that’s
one of our values I’m a human I make
mistakes that I own up to it and all I
can do is try to change things for the
future and some mistakes that had some
silver linings so I don’t make that
mistake we don’t find this person
if we don’t make this mistake we don’t
discover that we’re gonna add this to
our product service me as a human you
learned that I I just I see the silver
lining in everything so even all of the
people that I did lose were not people
that that that wanted to be here you
know
and so you know being surrounded by a
team that wants to be here is so is so
important
you know seeing those people leave was
very very hard on me but ultimately like
like it was good because I learned so
much from it and we’ve already
implemented these changes so I think
that that every single mistake that we
make has a silver lining you talked
about surrounding yourself with good
people inside who do you surround
yourself or have been surrounded by on
the outside could be one could be five
there are those external mentors that
became your cheerleaders when they
realize wow you’re so you are building
nest you’re you’re taking this apartment
servicing you were doing Facebook with
your friends you’re running with it yes
I am
who are those mentors you had on the
outside I actually didn’t have any
mentors a partial mentor was my
stepfather he was in land development he
was the one who kind of pushed me to do
this and he was just like why not like
what do you have to lose you know it’s
just money
like whatever you go get a job if you
lose your money and I was like okay
you’re right like there’s not really any
risk here what a jump out of the
airplane yeah
yeah yeah I wrecked his car one time it
was a Mercedes and I wrecked it and I
remember him telling me you know I was
terrified to tell him he was my step dad
of like a year or something and I was
like I’m scared to tell this guy that I
just wrecked his car and so I was like
all right Larry I I wrecked your car so
sorry okay I’m so sorry and you know
buddy said to me he goes it’s just a car
we could buy another one like well we
have insurance
it’s just a car that’s why we have
insurance and in that mindset has kind
of taught me to be okay with risk you
know what I mean like bad things are
gonna happen but like if you just work
harder you can do more you know what I
mean and so I also have a couple of
other people that I’ve met along the way
especially recently as we could since we
tripled last year I’ve been seeking a
lot of outside help and you know I’ve
met a lot of people that are just good
humans and have really helped me just
better understand myself so another
person would be actually my landlord at
my office his name is Mitchell yeah he’s
the landlord of my office and I and I
met him because I had been looking for a
new office for seven months we were in
five hundred square feet right and we
had 20 people in five hundred square
feet yeah five hundred square feet five
hundred square feet twenty people that
we would fit we would cram inside this
room people were sitting this close
together working and like trying to find
people apartments I’m telling you
it was there were good times from that
office so I was looking for something
that was bigger and we were at method
coffee which is now fiction coffee one
of our favorite coffee places and next
door there was like this this office
space open and there a bunch of guys in
suits and the the owner of method was
like hey there’s a guy over there named
Mitchell who has his office and so I I
walked in there I was like are you
Mitchell and I was like and he was like
he was like yeah I’m it she was like I
love this office space and I just went
up I was just so excited I was like I’m
so glad to meet you like I love this
office I need it like I really really
want it because we’re in five hundred
square feet and I’ve got this many
people and he was like I’ve never met
somebody so excited to meet me and I was
like I’m excited and so we just instant
friends and you know he’s he’s twice my
age and he has helped me navigate the
waters on a lot of things real estate
and that and I really respect him he
owns a lot of commercial real estate
property here and he’s taught me a lot
about this business in general
so well you know I love what you just
said and you know you are like a
perpetual celebration you have so much
energy professional celebration and you
can’t whisper to me when you came in
here that you were celebrating because
you just had like a record week it was
important milestone what happened when
we got on Instagram you know a couple
years back we were like okay cool we’ll
just start posting fun pictures around
the office and and it kind of turned
into so much more than that so we have
like 76 thousand followers on our
Instagram page here and so what it’s
turned into is you know we’ll we’ll post
an apartment on on Instagram and then
all of a sudden we have people
contacting us wanting to look at that
apartment and so I was like wait we’ve
got something here like this is crazy
and so it’s built up to this many
followers now and so now what’s
happening is even cooler and this just
kind of fell into our laps we were like
how’s this happening
so we’re negotiating deals with
apartments now and so apartments are
coming to us saying hey we have units we
need least like we are struggling and
you know our our previous record was
like you know we will get hundreds of
dollars off per month so say a
one-bedroom is like $1400 a month you
know in Uptown or Oakland or whatever
they’ll call us and be like hey we want
to be on your Instagram we’re willing to
give you one bedrooms for nine and $9.99
in order to fill up in bulk because
you’ve got audience because you’ve got
and you’ve got an interested audience
capable audience it’s going to convert
customers so they’re coming to you as
this modern digital media version of the
back page of the Dallas Morning News
from 1980 exactly and that’s what social
media has become and so they’re giving
us $400 off a month which is five grand
a year in savings for your client for
our clients and we’re like yes yes well
we’ll do that you know like sure sure
we’ll take that and so we started doing
it and you know you know our record of
all time we least released 35 units in
one week and that was our record and
that was the most we had ever done and
last week we did we did a special with a
property over fo Walnut Hill and and
they were like hey we have 65 units that
we need leased and we were like that’s
more than we’ve ever been able to do
like maybe we can at least thirty maybe
you know and and they’re like what
prices do you need and we’re like okay
well we’ll give you the price of you
here we know here we go let’s like we
need 899 on this and we need 999 on this
and we send them as pricing and we’re
over here like they’re never gonna prove
that like that’s crazy like these
savings are crazy and they came back and
they’re like approved and we’re like
like all right here we go here we
said yes let’s go let’s go let’s go and
so we were hyped we were so hyped and so
you know we just blasted it out to
everyone we leased all sixty five and
four days your best week effort was 35
and then you beat a prior best ended 65
just hit one property I mean we leased
thousands of apartments but but a one
property our record was 35 units last
week got one property released 65 units
we took them from a 78% occupancy rate
to a 97% in four days insane like
unheard of they probably fired their
rental quarter why do we need you we’re
gonna call these people yeah it’s just
really cool because you know like where
I’m in the business of win-win-win if
somebody has to lose I don’t want to do
it I want to play that game I’m not I’m
not in that business so the clients are
winning they’re saving thousands and
thousands of dollars our agents are
winning because they’re pumped because
we have more happy clients and the
property’s winning because they’re
leasing in bulk and you know their
investors are like cool we like smart
cities because because rented for 1100
is better than empty for another week
another a month at $14.99
exactly exactly and so in this again
it’s fell in our laps like you know and
that goes back to my elevator tip just
start something everything else will
fall in line just start great so you’re
out there setting vision and everything
how do you articulate that for people so
the new person coming in goes wow I’m
critic credible vision it’s amazing
where the company’s going I am here and
I’m gonna follow her how does how does
that come out to infect all those new
people that are coming in all those
amazing people you just said you hired a
whole bunch of this past year where you
tripled in size how do you articulate
that out as you’re setting vision and
that’s the lane and that’s what you’re
doing
starts with values it starts with you
know us agreeing I think that it’s a
two-way street so before I ever start
talking about vision of the company I
make sure that that that person aligns
with our values and who we are and that
person is a good human and wants to do
do great things
Rogalla I’d say that’s being in sync yes
principles I by Ray Dalio I haven’t I
haven’t but it’s been on my on my list I
have like probably a hundred books on my
list I love that but yeah so I start
with values and and when I talk about
the vision of the company it’s it’s more
along the lines of like what we can what
we can do together you know and and I
and I do have a vision for this company
that that could be so massive I mean the
fact that we’re helping people find
places to live when they don’t know like
when there are so many options and we’re
able to give that hyper personalized
service and we’re able to negotiate
these deal with properties where if you
go through smart city you’re getting
thousands of dollars off per year I mean
that’s a trip that’s it that’s go to
here a backpack for a month on that
money you know what I mean so like like
the fact that we’re able to help our
clients so much and in what I what I
sell people on the vision and the
company it’s not it’s not a sale it’s
it’s more like this is where we’re going
and if this sounds like it’s something
that you want to be a part of then then
come onboard and and you know I have a
vision that goes nationwide for this
company
and it starts with Texas so before we
ever get there tell me about that vision
I think the negotiated deals thing has
has has creeped into my vision and now
is at the forefront because I didn’t
realize that that it could be so big and
my vision has changed over the years you
know first I was like oh let’s just be a
great apartment locating up
and now it’s like wait this is so much
bigger and you know what we’re doing in
Dallas right now can be replicated in
every city across the country and and
what we do this level of service that we
provide it can be replicated and and the
thing is is that it would be so cool to
be able to say hey I’m moving to Chicago
or I’m moving to Nashville Tennessee and
I I need I know I need help like that
kind of help that that that hyper
personalized service with people who
really care when you build a brand
around caring then that that’s what what
people remember and to say oh I’ve got a
friend moving here it’s like Oh smart
cities in that city you know what I mean
and you know that that brand is a brand
that you can trust and that brand can go
in nationwide who are some of the CEOs
maybe you haven’t even met them or
business leaders because you said you’ve
read you read about people in a lot of
books who are some of the leaders that
you’ve read about that you look at and
say wow I like that I want to be that or
that just taught me something really
like that was some of the ones you at
Morrow there’s actually somebody just
recently I was in a conference yesterday
with somebody named and Rhodes and she
built the culture she helped she was a
big part in building the culture culture
in southwest and women and leadership is
and naturally I have to love that
because I think that’s it’s so important
to see that equality and to see women
standing up and and building things and
to see her help build the culture at
Southwest and now at JetBlue I mean
she’s killing it and I look up to her so
much
have you read man’s search for meaning
by Viktor Frankl yes okay that book
changed my life he was a Holocaust
survivor horrible situation to have the
attitude he has that comes across in his
book it’s just phenomenal it’s
unbelievable that book changed my life
and I see him as such a strong leader in
this world that that to be able to go
through something like the Holocaust and
to be able to come out and say you know
to find a meaning and that suffering and
and to show the different ways that you
can find meaning
I implement that in my business every
day you know and and all the hard things
there’s there’s meaning in that there’s
silver lining and that and so a lot of
his practices I preach about quite often
in our team meetings and stuff so he’s
another one and then Stephen Covey of
course his his seven Habits of Highly
Effective People he’s brilliant got it
you know if you were an elevator with a
young entrepreneur what two tips would
you get them if they’re a brand-new
entrepreneur the first thing again would
be to start now just do it just do it
and and the second thing you know like I
said in the beginning read get that
knowledge but also just build a company
around doing things the right way you
know and and really caring about your
people because if you you put your
people first nothing else matters you
know everything else will fall into
place and it always does well here’s to
you and here’s to you going nationwide
and see in a smart city and all the
cities across the United States thank
you so much for watching this week on a
beer in business we’ve been here at
Cassie brown go check her out smart city
apartment locating thank you very much
we’ll see you next week I’m Tom
Ellsworth the biz doc and I hope we left
you better than we found you [Music]
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