Category: Inspiration

Posts about getting you inspired or motivated.

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What makes us the #1 Women-lead multifamily investment firm?

Why people should choose APQ:

We solve common problems that individuals in our industry do not. These include but are not limited to, flexible financing terms, boots on the ground in every apartment deal, because of our small size of a team we are able to make quick decisions, we are passionate about our community and improving quality of life, we implement business minded systems, we double check underwriting at a minimum, we do not own a construction company or a property management company to completely avoid any cross pollination or what we called double and triple dipping into the profits. We do extensive background checks on every General partner for bankruptcy and any other bad outdoor activity no matter how close of friends they are. And I think one of the biggest features that we offer is that we are in this for the long-haul. Most individuals in our industry are partially invested or only put in as much effort as they are paid for. With us all actions align with our mission, vision, values and we understand the empires are not built overnight. We love technology and strive to reduce the friction of the investment process which is very common in our industry.

What makes APQ special

For now, we are one of the very few all female lead Multifamily investment firms. We are also a Government approved “who” or Women Owner business”.

Like I mentioned before everything that we do must be in alignment with our mission vision and values. Our standards and “why” differentiate us from everyone else in our industry, and most on the planet. It makes it worth it to come to work when your purpose has a greater impact because of what you do every day.

Here are our core beliefs-

The mission of the Apartment Queen is:
To stop abuse and codependent relationships by providing women with investment opportunities and convenient education on creating wealth through real estate investing. This will create financial, mindset and other freedoms ultimately leading individuals to find and live their why and purpose in life.

The vision:

We WILL change the world, create financial independence for a minimum of 1 billion women investors and create 1billion “givers”

Our values:

-Teammates to make decisions with open constructive communication. 

-We want statements of what is strong, good, and positive, while focusing on building our strengths.

– Emotions are good, in the right time and place.

 -We are grateful for everyone and everything we have.

-We believe that our ethics are key,

-We want to help put people in the right direction when we don’t have the answer

-We’re always honest with RADICAL TRANSPARENCY and RADICAL OPEN-MINDNESS

-We keep our word, all while under promising and over delivering results. 

-Compliments are constant, treating others how we want to be treated,

-we stand up to all bullies

-we put families first. 

-Our main concerns are running a business using principles, asking questions and never assuming. 

-We always ask for help-shit happens

-MENTAL HEALTH IS A PRIORITY, physical health is a priority, and we celebrate all wins. 

-We want to know and nurture each employees Personal financial and business goals. 

-We want employees to share regularly good news, what they love/loathe in their role, where they are stuck, new ideas, fears, concerns, opportunities, decisions, and feedback from customers/employees.

What are you proud about the most regarding APQ

How we aren’t afraid to be different when we are looked at funny. This just means we are different and thats what we want. We want to focus on the exact people who align with our “why” and how impressive our team truly is when it comes to each of their skill sets in their role.

FIVE key benefits for anyone who invests with APQ

  1. Transparent updates or news, even if it is painful
  2. You’re part of a movement here to change the investing world and therefore the entire planet in-turn
  3. We are technology-driven to reduce friction. We will be early adopters and over time our investments will become the most transparent and frictionless available.
  4. We believe in giving. If this is content, property tours/ride alongs, giving more equity in the deal to our limited partners we will do it. You must give first to receive.
  5. We are long-term and business-minded. For every process there is a system. Our moves are with the long term in-mind. Ig you want quick cash we are not your sponsorship team/company. We want to help people to build long-term generational wealth.

THREE important things investors should know before investing with APQ:

  1. You must educate yourself-we have some materials and resources but we are not a mentorship program, we will not allow uninformed individuals to invest
  2. You must be an accredited or sophisticated investor- we have a quiz to help determine which you are
  3. We send out regular communication. We work best with investors who don’t need weekly communication, and actually prefer less communication. 

We will take care of you. Warren Buffet’s first investor update ever was delivered annually and was one page-keep this in mind. Also, we prefer investors who like video updates, these are our favorite.

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Emotions and Women in Multifamily Real Estate

There are not a lot of women in multifamily real estate.

I am going to give you my take on why this is the case. I think the reason that there aren’t very many women in real estate or rather, in commercial real estate and especially multifamily, is that it’s a good old boys club.

Multifamily real estate is very much a chess game, so not letting your opponent, or people that are employed by you, know your feelings is vital to “winning.” It is important to hold back feelings that would upset the team or make them feel unsure, such as hurt, anger, and fear. You can always display approval, excitement, joy, gratitude, and even personal sadness (family issues). But when it comes to apartment challenges and how they make you feel, you must have the strength to deal with your own feelings on your own time.

We deal with challenges differently.

Women and men act very differently when dealing with issues or challenges that affect them. And when you’re surrounded by people who behave differently in conflict it becomes alienating and discouraging.  Men are taught to be tough and to not let feelings show. I think a lot more women wear their heart on their sleeve. Men have feelings too but the way that we deal with our feelings, and display our feelings, are very different.

As a woman, I’ve learned that I cannot sweep the hard feelings under a rug. For me, seeing a therapist, journaling, blogging, meditating, and focusing on calm deep breathing is key. Especially when I notice other people’s reactions are affecting me. It’s important to maintain professionalism and a level head at all times. When I don’t know the answer, I tell others that I need a couple of days to think through the challenge at hand. But it’s important that my team know they can turn to me as a resource. And when I’m struggling to find the path forward, I reach out to my mentors for their insight on the best decision.

Ask for help.

I surround myself with professionals and mentors who serve as a counsel, or board of sorts. I aim to share my feelings and challenges with them, openly and honestly. This is important for both women and men, because they will understand what you’re going through and be able to offer advice that has worked for them in the past.

One of the biggest lessons in multifamily real estate is that this process does not happen successfully without teamwork. This includes the team of people who you lean on for guidance and empowerment, even when they are not financially involved in the deal.

As a single, hard-working female who has been alone for many years pursuing her career and purpose in life, I often have a very hard time accepting help from other people. Part of me feels in adequate for not knowing all the answers. But I take comfort in knowing that none of us has all the answers. Not even those experience individuals who’ve been in the industry for 20 or 30 years. So, I push myself to ask for help when I need it, rather than living on an island.

Dealing with conflict is often a part of our upbringing. In some households, women are more emotional. In my household growing up it was the exact opposite. Some people mistake my ability to separate feelings from what must be done as a masculine trait. For me, it is simply my example growing up of how to behave as a woman. This has helped me to do well in multifamily during moments of uncertainty, stress, doubt, and when people attempt to play on my fears as a woman.

Take care of yourself.

Self-love or self-confidence is an extremely important part of being involved in multifamily real estate. You are involved with thousands of people’s lives, their homes, and having an effect on entire communities. Regardless of if you are a woman or a man, putting in the work to truly understand and love yourself and be able to move forward knowing these things, is critical. Some women avoid this industry because they worry about having a child while being involved with a very stress industry. However, should I choose to have children, I have full confidence in my ability to delegate tasks to the correct people and succeed in anything I choose, with the right support of course.

Remember, when people are telling you something that “should” hold you back or are challenging your strengths that is 100% “their shit” and you do not need to take on their self-doubt and their problems.

Why women can win big in multifamily real estate.

Women have this incredible intuitive ability when it comes to making decisions. If we just love ourselves and listen and believe ourselves, we tend to be better investors, early adopters, and overall less risky decision makers.

If we will take the time to believe in our knowledge, decisions, self-worth, women can be a major asset to any team.

Communicate your wants and needs – no one is a mind reader.

Nothing breaks up partnerships faster than failure to communicate. Women often tend to internalize what they really want instead of expressing it out loud or negotiating. A good negotiator is secure in asking for what they want and asking for more than they think they can even get upfront. A good negotiator understands that both parties need to eat, and understands that everything that we do is a negotiation. If we don’t negotiate resentments tend to build. And no human can read somebody else’s mind.

Being okay with putting in the extra effort to express your wants and needs to your partners is absolutely critical. Of course, it’s important to proceed forward in the most professional manner, putting your negative or hurt feelings aside, taking care of your feelings on your own time, and negotiating to where you want to be.

You are running a business.

Remember, you are running a business. Although “housing” is a part of an apartment complex is not the same as flipping at home, working on a development of one house or part of a subdivision, or many other kinds of real estate investing.

By acting as a business owner, women have a leg up on men because of our intuition. I think we will make less risky investments, and project success for the long-haul will become more apparent.

Cheers to WMFRE! (Women in Multifamily Real Estate) I can’t wait to see more women playing in this arena with me.

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Moving forward after a loss

You know, everything right now is NOT AS WE KNOW IT. And never again will life, the economy, relationships, business, etc., be “as we knew it.”
The faster we get to acceptance, the faster we can succeed.
As you probably know, everyone goes through five stages of grieving after a loss. If you can be radically transparent with yourself about which stage you are currently in, you’ll be better able to make progress and get through these changes. Whether your loss is the loss of a job, the loss of routine, or the loss of a loved one, the way that you grieve comes in different severities. But the way that we handle it as humans is the same.
Denial – the 1st stage of grief. If you’re telling yourself things like “this is not an issue, this will be over soon, it will go back to the way things were,” you’re completely in denial.
Anger – the 2nd stage. I see a lot of this on social media, people arguing with each other and trying to prove others wrong. But in reality, they typically aren’t experts and are not even in the field. It’s really sad to see people stuck in the stage of anger. Because not only are you hurting yourself, but you’re hurting other people. Other people don’t need to look at negative, doubtful, and toxic content on their social media. I know it’s a place to speak your mind and that’s a right you have, but being hateful doesn’t fix anything and it keeps you stuck in the past.
Bargaining – the 3rd stage of loss. If you’re talking to yourself and saying “OK I’ll cut back this expense, I’ll move here, I’ll adjust a few things and then everything will go back to normal and be OK,” that is a lie that you’re telling yourself. Things will never be back to the same “normal”.
Depression – the 4th stage. Unfortunately, I’ve seen this with a lot of people that I work with directly. I know this because we have weekly calls where the content is usually very uplifting and they choose not to go and participate and stay positive. They choose to stay depressed. If you stay in a depressed state too long it could be detrimental to your entire life. Your depression starts to rub off on other people and take their quality of life downhill with yours. Also, when you’re depressed it’s hard to stay healthy and take care of yourself. It’s a stage you need to get in and get out of very quickly. You can be depressed but express yourself to deal with it and get into acceptance as fast as possible.
Acceptance – the last stage of grieving. Accepting and being real with yourself means to fully accept what is happening. The good, the bad, the evil, the fact that we don’t know when this is going to end, and the fact that even if you were great before this, you’re going to need to learn how to build a new skill set and evolve. I see this as an opportunity and a genesis for growth.
By doing more digitally, we are decreasing pollution, adding less wear and tear to our vehicles, not needing a reason to be late to a meeting, having fewer car accidents, and not constantly being stressed or rushing to be somewhere. We also tend to create more time every day because instead of being in traffic or driving around, we’re at home. Families are spending more time together and people seem to hang out on the neighborhood corner during the weekend.
Many of us want to eventually have a “laptop lifestyle” where we can literally be anywhere on the planet as long as we have Wi-Fi and still transact business. Lots of people are testing this out with their employers and the ones that can perform right now will be able to obtain that lifestyle. Most people don’t have the guts to ask their employer on a trial basis, to start working from home or working remote – but now they the opportunity to prove themselves.
Right now, our planet can breathe, my dog has mass amounts of attention, and if I had kids they would see me more and I’ll be able to have more impact on how they are brought up. I think that this is a good reset if you’ll just ride the wave and figure out a way to reinvent yourself. The most important thing right now is to realize that we have to lean on people more than ever.
There’s an opportunity right now in front of you, given by the grace of God, to get ahead of everybody on the planet. While people are messing around in all the stages of grief, you have the opportunity to pass them up. You may ask yourself “Kaylee how do I do that?” Well I’ll tell you what to get started on right now.

1- Get to full acceptance as fast as possible. Be honest with yourself about where in the grief cycle you are. Do the inside work to fully believe in the reality that’s around you and not lie to yourself – it’s not just about saying words out loud.

2- Look at all of your assets and liabilities. Assets and liabilities mean different things to different people and somebody else’s liabilities can become your assets. Do not forget this. The way that I look at assets and liabilities is if it cash flows, it’s an asset. If it does not, it’s a liability – get rid of it. For example, I just sold all of my designer purses. It’s just stuff, and if it doesn’t make me money or passive money, I don’t want it.

Literally write your assets and your liabilities down. If you need help, reach out to me. I have a really cool chart that will help you to make it very clear.

3- Get rid of anything that does not help you. When I say this, I mean it. Are you looking at social media and watching people bitch about how bad is it is? For me I’m noticing a lot of people are drinking more than normal which kills your brain cells. While I occasionally drink and don’t judge being in denial and depression, it’s not something I want to fill my head with because that’s not the stage of grief that I’m in. I’m over here working my butt off getting light years ahead of everybody else.

Whether it be a family member, a pet, a place you live, stuff in your closet, relationships, debt, not having enough knowledge to do something – things are not going to move forward until you cut it off and cut the fat.

4- Focus on everything that you do have. Whether it be your kids, spouse, health, body, grandparents, etc. – be focused on what you do have.

5- Get back to disciplining yourself to produce revenue. Look at your contracts, your contacts, and renegotiate.

6- Make a list of your product offerings.

7- Make a list of your contact/partner list.

8- Have someone hold you accountable.

We all have a choice right now, we can:

  1. Do nothing
  2. Do it alone OR
  3. Do it together

Right now, it is more important than ever to support our partners/ contacts and ask for help. We are here for you. We are truly motivated to make a large impact. And it will happen quicker together!
Click here to book a call- https://calendly.com/kaylee-6/15min

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Living with Purpose

Living with Purpose in My Personal Life

 

In my personal life it’s also important to be RADICALLY OPEN MINDED and RADICALLY TRANSPARENT. Similar to the things stated above, let people focus on their strengths and if you’re going to assist someone- focus on their self-proclaimed weaknesses. If you are a tough-love coach on someone’s weakness this could help them improve in areas where they are stuck. But make sure you only recommend adjustments if you have been through and gotten out on the other side, don’t give random advice based on what you are taught and haven’t gone through.

NEVER ever criticize someone’s strengths. This will tear them down and take away their self-confidence in that area.

Again, it’s ok to have thoughtful disagreements. But each person has to be clear how these will be handled. LET EACH PERSON FOCUS ON THEIR STRENGTHS and stay in your lane. Do not micromanage the other person. ALWAYS be truthful and open minded. Same as business, it creates an environment for everyone to share openly how they REALLY feel and what they really need. Having a mission, vision and especially VALUES in relationships are key. Knowing your minimum needs, wants, and ethics/standards/values is key.

When figuring out how to do this better, some questions you might ask are:

• What are your strengths?

• What are your roles/jobs?

• When we disagree how do we handle this?

• When deciding who does what, are we in agreement?

• What our values?

• How do we ensure positive communication?

• How do they treat others?

• Expectations/standards clear?

I’ve been working on my personal relationship principles trying to figure out what I need and don’t need. When I fail because I wasn’t clear on these things, it affects my work and friendships.

It’s not perfect and some things I’m still not clear on. But instead of blaming relationship/friendship problems on someone else or just accepting “what feels good” and having no rules for what is a deal breaker, I need to get clear.

Here’s where I’m at figuring out the people I want to have relationships with/let around me I consider the following:

• What kind of person are they?

o Things I look for include: kind, humble, open-minded, radically honest, funny, makes all people feel welcome, respectful of others needs/boundaries, hardworking, creative-entrepreneurial, warrior, someone who doesn’t give up easy, gregarious, teammate first, positive, growth-seeking, treat every day like it’s their last, generous, wants to build an empire, is ok expressing emotions, puts in 100% all the time.

• How do I meet them?

o Doing something we mutually enjoy or have in common

• How do they treat you?

o They allow me to 1000% be myself, they criticize my weakness’ but build my strengths, they look at me like they think I am one of the most awesome people they have ever met, want to see me win, treats me with respect, respects that I unplug in the evenings.

• How do they treat others?

o With respect, never taking their anger out on others, always striving to see what that person is going through.

• What are their expectations or standards?

o They set purpose, morals, goals, and values at the highest possible level

• Do they show respect with both words and actions?

o Holding the door for me, letting me choose when I want to, listening to me when I talk about my boundaries, not doing actions that show me they didn’t listen/don’t care.

• Do they demonstrate positive emotions?

o Celebrate my strengths and want to see me win!

I used to think: I’m constantly disappointed and I can’t expect anything from people. The only person I can expect anything from or depend on is myself.

Now I chose to think: I expect people around me to treat others how they want to be treated. If I do not see this in their behaviors, we are not a fit.

Things I’m looking for in close personal relationships are:

• I expect to be asked first when making decisions together or for the team like in work.

• Expect be on time. Do what you say you’re going to do.

• Expect Communication when things change. Communication to ask for act of service, ask for needs out loud.

• How do they approach relationships for long term?

• Patient- don’t rush- when someone is rushing it freaks me out and I am no longer interested. Want to build an empire together.

• Space- kindly ask/say they need “me time.”

• Beginning signs met someone with same goals and values?

• Look at their life, ask about/see what’s currently in the works/look at future goals-how clear is their purpose.

• Wants to build an empire, doesn’t want to exclude those close to them in their business. Will help me further my empire and allow me to do the same for them.

• Ok with disagreement. Participates in open dialogue about thoughts and feelings. Is careful to not focus on small things but addresses the big issues.

Discuss where we are both at with these items:

• Values-golden rule, transparency, love everyone, learn before making assumptions or being defensive

• Political- I’m a fiscal conservative

• Kids-not motivated here, not something I prioritize

• Money-it is not evil it is good, generosity is key

• Family-family is #1

• Faith- I’m not sure here-I just treat others how I want to be treated and am spiritual

• Mental health-priority not shameful

• Give-generosity is key

• Go-loves to travel

• Sex-the physical side of a romantic relationship is key

• Boundaries-are respected always

• Fitness-likes to eat right and workout on a regular basis

• Love-is a good thing, not something scary. Someone who gives it freely

Alignment here is key.

This is a deep dive into my principals, which are being added to as we speak. If you’re not clear on what you want you will never have it! Focus on having a clear picture to where you can describe what you want to others and they go away if they can’t give it to you on their own! Very powerful stuff.

Most of my posts are about work only, but on vacation I had a needed moment to reflect.

If you are in alignment with us/me please click the link below to set up a call. We would love to have your assistance in building this empire we envision and help you to grow your wealth in the process. We are truly motivated to make a large impact. And it will happen quicker together!

https://calendly.com/kaylee-6/15min

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TAOS

It’s time to let go.

It’s time to stay off my phone.

Everything has been delegated.

I expect reports to be completed today and presented to me Monday. If they are not, it’s time to talk (a verbal warning), next step is a written warning, and the last resort/third step is a termination meeting.

I realize in work and honestly every interaction, it’s so important to have set clear expectations. It’s a pain in the ASS to have to type these things up but no one can read your mind, so you have to be clear.

In work, being able to be RADICALLY TRANSPARENT AND RADICALLY TRUTHFUL are two of the most important things to possess. The goal is to get everyone involved to a place where they can share what they really THINK AND ALLOW THOUGHTFUL DISAGREEMENTS. Having everyone discover/use their strongest skill, and focus on developing their strengths, not weakness’ is key.

Then, having everyone stay in their lane is so important. We do not need multiple people doing the same job or micromanaging each other. If someone is having challenges in their role, they have the ability to reach out to the team for help any time.

In addition, it’s essential that everyone involved know your mission, vision, values/core beliefs/culture. If everyone on board wants to be there because their core beliefs align that is a good place to start. It’s my responsibility to constantly remind everyone of what these are. And remind us all that if our actions are not in alignment with these then it’s probably not a good place/ not going to make the persona involved very happy.

Here are The Apartment Queen’s mission, vision, and values:

The mission – stop abuse and codependent relationships by providing convenient education to women about how to create wealth through real estate investing. This will create financial, mindset and other freedoms ultimately leading individuals to find and live their why and purpose in life.

The vision – We WILL change the world and create financial independence for more than 1 BILLION women

Our core beliefs/values/culture –

• We run our business using principles, asking questions and never assuming.

• Teammates make decisions with open constructive communication.

• We value strong, good, and positive statements, while focusing on building our strengths.

• Emotions are good, but must be used in the right time and place.

• We are grateful for everyone and everything we have.

• Ethics are key.

• We want to help put people in the right direction, when we are able.

• We’re always honest with RADICAL TRANSPARENCY and RADICAL OPEN-MINDNESS.

• We keep our word, while under promising and over delivering results.

• Compliments are constant, treating others how we want to be treated.

• We stand up to all bullies.

• We put families first.

• We always ask for help-shit happens

• MENTAL HEALTH IS A PRIORITY, physical health is a priority, and we celebrate all wins.

• We want to know and nurture each employee’s personal financial and business goals.

• We want employees to regularly share good news, what they love/loathe in their role, where they are stuck, new ideas, fears, concerns, opportunities, decisions, and feedback from customers/employees.

Alignment here is key.

This is a deep dive into my personal principals and business principles which are being added to as we speak. If you’re not clear on what you want you will never have it! Focus on having a clear picture to where you can describe what you want to others and they go away if they can’t give it to you on their own! Very powerful stuff.

If you are in alignment with us/me please click the link below to set up a call. We would love to have your assistance in building this empire we envision and help you to grow your wealth in the process. We are truly motivated to make a large impact. And it will happen quicker together!

https://calendly.com/kaylee-6/15min

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You are worthy

Each of us could easily name all the times we compromised on something to support someone else or for the “greater good”… 

Go out for a drink after I’ve worked back-to-back late nights to talk about that bad date? I got you.  

Spend my Saturday mitigating family drama over FaceTime? Of course. 

Bring my laptop for that long weekend in case anyone needs me? For sure. 

We all have times when we want (or need) to be accommodating. And being empathy-driven is a major strength—it keeps us connected with those around us and helps us feel purposeful and useful.

But you already know the catch: Something’s gotta give. 

Our energy. Our time. Our joy. 

These are all tradeoffs we make when we say “yes” to others and, ultimately, say “no” to ourselves. 

There’s a reason saying “yes” feels so much easier than dropping that other two-letter word: Studies show our brains literally retreat when confronted with the word “no.” 

Plus, we’re often socialized to think that taking time for ourselves is “indulging” or that if we prioritize things like family or friends over work that we’re somehow “less dedicated.”

Umm, no. 

The good news? Sometimes taking even three seconds before responding to someone can help you prioritize your wellbeing and your boundaries.  

So here’s your challenge for the week, Kaylee: The next time you’re prepping a YES or NO response, ask yourself: What do I need right now? 

Maybe spending a night out *isn’t* what you need. Or maybe it is. Maybe a night on the couch watching Fleabag isn’t what you need. Or maybe it is. 

Being accommodating won’t make you worthy.

Being perpetually available won’t make you worthy. 

You make you worthy, Kaylee. 

And you only work if you prioritize what you need. 

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criticism you can learn from

  • There is criticism which attacks your weakness.
  • There is criticism which attacks your strengths.
  • How to be aware of which to listen to
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Monte Carlo

monte

This entry is a COUPLE DAYS TOO LATE. Scratch that stop apologizing! I will get great at that I swear!

As I was alone in Monaco after my friend left, I realized my time is shortening.  We only had two full days total and needed four,  I would say. We went to different regions of the south of France. He shared a special town that his family loves to visit-Menton, France. Went shopping for herbs, oils, enjoyed the wine, enjoyed the sun and talked about current legal and family battles we are both facing. We both need support. Life is hard enough-doing it alone makes it worse. I realized while sitting there In Monte Carlo-There are very few people around me to whom I REALLY should devote my time.  Those who open up, those who are honest, those who always keep their word.

This Friend always has, even when I often didn’t return the favor, because I wasn’t ready to be that vulnerable…….and I thought, as he left, Here’s the deal. As I get older, I feel worse when I drink a lot. When I drink a lot, I forget and time passes way too fast. I’ve had friends die whom I cared about, life situations change where it’s not all about fun anymore, and I want to create rich memories. I have decided to drink less and focus on who is around me. Those who have my back so I won’t need to “drink the time away”.

I genuinely enjoy our conversation and I can be completely open about what I want, who I  am, where I’m going, and what I need.  Zero judgment comes from those who truly love us.

Turning 30 and having these thoughts I don’t think come as a coincidence. For how I was raised, I feel I have done a great job at enjoying places, people, and creating memories instead of buying stuff.

But now, just as in my personal declaration, I need to focus on giving love to those who TRULY matter.  Focus on the people aspect of everything I do. Work, love, friends, fitness, faith and family.  I want to keep them all in balance but I am changing the order of these things. It will now read friends, love, fitness, work, family, and faith. This is the order I am currently comfortable with, as I am still growing, evolving, changing, learning. I am not perfect and that is ok. As long as I’m headed in the direction of my purpose (supported by those around me) my life will be ok.

My purpose, I feel, is to show others how to create independence from toxic codependent situations. First is to help them identify the codependency, because that is the hardest thing (from personal experience) to admit, that there is a problem with me/you.

I have been there-but instead of sweeping it under the rug and pretending like everything is perfect, I had to dig in and change me. Counseling has been life changing, Sticking with it is even harder through the ups and downs. This change is now my number one priority. I have to do self-work. Even while in Spain, I’ve heard several times to try meditation in the morning to battle all the flying issues always muddying up my thinking. I need to stay on track and on purpose to get there.  Just jump in not dance around it, finding alternative ways to get there slowing down progress.  It’s so easy to get off track.

I have caught myself exhausting myself with people who want to suck information from me via Text, Facebook, group message, skype, Instagram, email, voicemail, snail mail, in person at networking events and more. That knowledge I learned by reading, paying. for seminars, meeting with operators, touring properties, buying properties, relationships with mentors and much more.  It’s taken time and money and these people want to rob me of it with NOTHING in return.

I have to learn to demand the same conscious of someone’s time that I give to my mentors or walk.   I only have so much time and energy- and the way it’s going I will have none left for my workouts and loved ones. For my mentors, I decide to only contact them with questions if it’s a desperate situation (I’m under contract and they know).  I also send all questions in one email, if possible, when not under contract. I send gifts or try to bring back what they like when I travel so they know I’m thinking of them.

If you’re curious what a GOOD, APPROPRIATE addition is to my active team for partnership opportunities (which GIVES to me) – I’ll spell it out. I need help in these areas-

  1. Partner who brings money (personally and has raised before)
  2. Partner who has the skills to workout or negotiate the deal
  3. Partner who can bring mentorship or expertise
  4. Partner who can bring a track record
  5. Partner who can bring credibility
  6. Partner who can be sponsor or be a loan guarantor
  7. Partner who brings the deal

So that I can focus on my goals to be closer to family and friends, I need to create more time. I cannot do this if people keep trying to shortcut learning on their own time, skip networking and conferences and take my time to learn instead. I have been letting people take for too long. No more.   I am allowing myself to be selfish and not feel bad any longer. I will only give to those who give in exchange.

It’s not about a fair trade, but being protective of my time and energy. No one will protect it but me.

Thank you Monaco for the lesson- it was perfect timing.

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Starting to Build the Machine

machine

Starting building the Machine-
Collecting my thoughts this morning, and a lot has been changing in the past two weeks or so.

In business, I have formed a new team for a big 300 unit deal coming soon.  We are currently in the negotiating phase and in set and final on our offer. We are working at solidifying our relationship with the seller’s broker.  It has been fun to tell the team how to negotiate. A lot of the times, in the past, I’ve learned that the broker really just wants to make money there and their interest is not in line with the quality of the transaction most of the time. So, in order for me to get some of the due diligence items that I needed, to be able to get Intel or insight as to what the seller really cares about, I have to sometimes circumvent the broker. Sometimes money is not all the seller cares about. If it were me as a seller, I would just want to know that I have a reasonable buyer and someone that can perform. The relationship is really worth everything.

For example, in this process of submitting an LOI or letter of intent, the broker told my team not to contact the seller. I’m sorry, but we do not have a legal agreement signed and I’m unaware of any damages that would be caused to any of the parties involved.  If it’s a good deal, no makes no sense letting it go to waste. What I mean by a good deal is something that cash flows close enough to pay our investors out and be able to increase the value of the complex by close to double what we bought it for.

We have collectively underwritten about 100 deals, some off market, to finally find one that works.  Here is where I get feisty. And I’m willing to fight for a good deal because obviously that brings our business success. Those that won’t fight are the ones that will not succeed. I have a passion for what I do and this is actually the fun part, where they try to tell you to stay in your lane, and I am motivated as to buy as the seller is motivated to sell … so obviously my goal is to make this transaction happen.

Another thing that is changed in this process is hiring people for certain support roles. I’m reading a book right now called scaling up, and it goes over all the different support positions we need in our business model plus the key performance indicators that are necessary to meet on a weekly basis in order to meet our goals.

Alongside this, I’ve also been busy building the purpose behind the company as well as ethics and standards that the company stands for. It is important for me to define the company culture and only hire those who have a passion for the same. My goal is to keep employees for 15 to 20 years and a great starting point is having a staff filled with people who truly are passionate about the same cause or purpose. Defining the big hairy scary 10-25 year goals has also been a focus. Knowing valuation, profitability, budget, and % adherence to KPI’s (key performance indicators) are all necessary gears that run the wheel.

I’ll give you an example of the key support positions that we need in a real estate investing company-First we need a CFO chief  financial officer and Sales/Investor relations.

These roles KPIs look like-

CFO-

Measuring and understanding your financial performance

Cashflow Revenue growth rate – The rate at which you are increasing your company’s income.

Bookkeeping
Net profit – Income minus expenses – the bottom line, but certainly not the only metric you need to worry about!

Quarterly review with all state of financials

Net profit margin – The percentage of your revenue which is net profit.

#suggestions to lower tax burden

Gross profit margin – The percentage of your revenue which is gross profit.

Tax Benefits
Operating profit margin – Operating income divided by revenue – another measure of a company’s profitability

Paying bills
Return on investment (ROI) – The revenue generated by investing money into an aspect of a company’s operations, in relation the cost of that investment.

Opening new accounts at frost
Cash conversion cycle (CCC) – How long does it take for money invested in the business (for stock etc) to come back to the company in the form of increased revenue.

credit cards-mgmt

members draws

k1-generation

income versus expenses of business

insurance expense

Actual versus budgeted cost of hire

Average interviewing costs

Average sourcing cost per hire

Cost per hire

Internal, external, and total headcount recruiting costs and ratios

Percentage of HR budget spent on training

Compensation cost as a percentage of revenue

Average training costs per employee

Internal, external, and total headcount recruiting costs and ratios

Return on investment (ROI) of training

Marketing budget ratio (MER)

Staying in budget

finding deals

#investor suitability forms filled

$$ raised

Return on investment (ROI) of our brand

Return on marketing investment (ROMI)

Revenue generation capabilities of brand

Staying within marketing budget

treasurer

INVESTOR RELATIONS-
ipad for leads-each event registration

Monthly Sales Growth

Average Profit Margin

Monthly Sales Bookings-calls need calendar link

Sales Opportunities

Sales Target

LOI To Close Ratio

Average Purchase Value

Monthly Calls (or emails) Per Sales Rep

# of new investor registered Per Rep

Product Performance-keeping deal flow-constant?

Sales by Contact Method-what are top 2?  stop the rest

Average New Deal Size/Length

Lead-to-Sale %
# event planning for marketing -with assistant

# video or marketing ideas per month

Customer Lifetime Value-ranking current investors by contributions-remind assistant to send gifts

Average Conversion Time
#of leads from events active for money or deals

#meetings with interested sellers face to face

#calls to interested owners

Actual sales value versus initial bid
#off market deals that fit our criteria

Average administrative time per sales person

If you are excited to watch us grow, your support means everything! If you have any questions how you can help us build this machine, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at admin@theapartmentqueen.com

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WHO I AM and what I stand for

If you want to get to know me it will take more than a glance or a guess. My history, my motivation, my spirit is more unique than anyone that I have ever met.

That is not bad or good, I am just a little more complex to understand than most I have met.

My history is not a long one, while I am writing this, I am still in my 20’s. But I have learned a lifetime of lessons in a relatively short time frame and grown up a lot faster than my peers. Most of my friends are older than I am. I feel like I understand them better than people my age. See, while most kids were worried about what they were going to wear or what movies they wanted to see, at 15 years old, I was fighting with my parents not to emancipate me as a minor. They did not want me in the house and this is the legal way to kick someone out who is under 18. I was put in-between my parents arguments and problems like a counselor should be. A lot of very heavy stuff was put in front of me when most kids at that age were able to frolic and play. Yes, my parents should have gotten professional help and yes, I deserved to be a kid, But sometimes there is a reason why things are the way they are for with the purpose of the bigger picture.

I can’t always see or understand the bigger picture but here’s where faith comes in. As you can probably guess, when a child has to grow up fast, it’s usually because they are not allowed to have their innocence or that their innocence is taken from them. No, there is really no justification for why this would be ok to have to live through or why anyone deserves this. But I went through times where I almost took my life because of the pain and the hurt that I had to reflect on.

And something throughout the process in the back of my mind made me feel like there was “more” to come and that I had to stick around. I had faith that I should wait, faith that there was a larger purpose for my life, even if I did not see or understand it at the time.

The more open I have been with sharing my story, the more I realize my issues which stunted me emotionally and socially are not only mine. I realize as a society, 1/3 people can relate to my story, but social stigma alienates us to think we’re messed up or that we are less-than so we hide and instead of being our big bold beautiful selves. We stay co-dependent on someone else’s illness because we know nothing different. We become withdrawn socially and emotionally for the most part. Lots of us live through a version of PTSD or post traumatic stress that leaves us unable to see how our dissociation from emotions makes us unrelatable and unreachable by most people who want to love us.

You know as if “you only know what you know”, you don’t know what other people see when they look at you. You can only see what’s in front of you, you cannot see you from other people’s eyes. They see things like your pain, mistrust, controlling tendency, and more.

I know people who go their entire lives without being able to see what everyone else sees (their pain) and they end up bipolar, depressed, hateful, staying completely withdrawn from others and that is the saddest existence. There is so much that I can do to be able to help so many others see all of this and be able to grow away from it.

Starting with focusing on yourself or self love is usually the first step. Getting physically away from abuse or from those who condone this behavior. For me, it took for me to get physically away and feel financially independent, emotionally independent, physically independent, and spiritually independent. I could finally own all of my thoughts, needs, opinions, wants, etc.

My why is to create independence through wealth from real estate. I want to give others the opportunity to start over and create into existence whatever they believe they deserve (which is everything).

I stand for an abuse free community where toxic codependency will be identified and stopped.

If you want to learn more about our master plan to create independence in my community email us at apartmentqueenmgr@gmail.com