Strategies for Effective Industry Relationship Management with Michelle Childers of Chadwell Supply

You're listening to the Multifamily Women Podcast, where we extract the knowledge from executive women in leadership and inspire emerging leaders with our thought leadership platform, offering a new model for personal and professional transformation.

Welcome to the Multifamily Women's Podcast. I am so excited to have an amazing guest with us today. She is one of our Multifamily Women's Podcast. I am so excited to have an amazing guest with us today. She is one of our Multifamily Women's Summit sponsors. She's attended for years and we're so happy. She's an amazing voice within the industry as well. Her name is Michelle Childers and she is the Vice President of Industry Relations at Chadwell Supply. We will be covering all sorts of topics, from being a supplier in this industry to being a woman in this industry and attending our summit as well. So we are so happy to have you here today. I know you've been with Chadwell for seven years, which is pretty amazing and it's such a well-respected company in this industry, and I want to hear a little bit about your journey, of how you got to Chadwell and really how you got into multifamily as a whole.

Well, that's a very interesting journey that I've been on. Actually, I started on site so we were talking earlier and you also have been on the other side of the desk but I started out as a leasing consultant, rose up through the ranks there until I was a senior business manager with JMG, left that to start the Apartment Blue Book, which became the Apartment Finder book or magazine as y'all know it out here, and then went on as we sold that to become a vice president with the company. And then we sold out to CoStar and I was a regional vice president with them over the southeast and stayed there for about two years after we got everything settled and all. And my husband actually worked for Chadwell Supply believe it or not, wow and so he never, ever, came home a single day and ever had anything rotten to say. And I think that we all have. You know, something that happened during the day that becomes something that you're just like oh gosh, I hate this, I don't like this, I don't like the way that I was treated with this or that, and I mean everything. And I also got to see emails or webinars that were done by the company talking to their people, and I was like what a wonderful company.

Ownership and also some of their senior leadership had told me hey, if you ever decide that working for a Fortune 500 company isn't your thing, then come on over here. And they were actually on their second go around, because they had existed as Chad Supply for many years and then they went through sellout, so they understood what it felt like to work for a company that was publicly traded, yes, so they knew what I was going to be experiencing, which was a great experience. By the way, I loved every moment that, the people I worked with, the things that I was able to learn by working with a company like that and that big, publicly traded, you know. So it was a whole new experience and wonderful, but it was time to make a move. I had been asking give me a sign if this is time. And so, at that point in time, I got the sign and I called up John Daniel, who is our vice president of sales, or was vice president of sales at that time for the whole company, and I said hey, john, I believe I'm ready to make a move. Yeah, so before I go to anyone else, I'm coming to you and I'm coming to Chadwell, because I know what it's like already to work for Chadwell, because my husband works for Chadwell yeah, glowing reviews, yeah.

And so they actually made a position for me and I told them I wanted to take a few months off because I hadn't had a vacation and I don't know when. And so I took a few months off and then I went to work with Chadwell and my first event that I well, the first week that I was there, I was actually at their annual meeting. So I got to experience the full Chadwell way and that was just a wonderful. You felt like home instead of this is a job.

It really felt like you were doing something that was bigger than yourself and it's hard to explain until you're in that room. Like you were doing something that was bigger than yourself and it's hard to explain until you're in that room. And some of our clients that we invited to sit on a panel last year and they were in the room with us, with all of our salespeople they were like, oh my gosh, I can't believe how awesome it is to be here and just the whole vibe. This is really like family and I'm like, yeah, we say that in a lot of our stuff. We treat our clients like family and they don't get it. Until they get it, yeah, and through our service and all.

You know, and being in marketing, you can feel when someone is living that. You can feel when people are just saying that. You know everyone wants to say, oh, we're family. You know you can feel when people are just saying that. You know everyone wants to say, oh, we're family. You know, you can feel when someone's living that and I'll say, being in the industry, you can feel that with Chadwell, you can feel that that is a genuine vibe that's coming from their people, from their clients, from everybody in the organization. And so to see that you had a glowing review from your husband, it's a no brainer at that point. Right, just to be a part of something like that, and that's amazing.

You know, something that's really interesting too is we have a lot of family members where it may be a father and son that work for the company, or two brothers who work for the company, or a husband and wife. I mean, I'm one of many of this trend that we seem to have. But I think that us working together, where we have family within the family type thing, how is that, believe it or not? People always ask that and it's really great because you know, you know that you have their back and they have your back, and no one wants to let down someone who is a family member, right? They don't want to let that person down, they want to help them succeed in every way. So we all have a stake at, you know, delivering wonderful experiences for our clients, because otherwise you're going to be letting down your husband, your uncle, your aunt, your cousin. You know, who knows? We may not all have the name Chadwell behind our last name, you know, but we all feel like we all are Chadwell.

So I love that so much. That must be amazing, and so do you guys, and we'll get into the serious stuff. But do you see your husband at work, or is it kind of you're in your own little segment? And then you come home and you're like, oh, we had the best day, or how?

does that work? So we both work from home because of the positions that both of us are in. He now is a regional manager for our renovations department, so he's over all of the renovation field managers and so he's out with them, traveling on the road sometimes. Sometimes he's at home working in the home office and when we both happen to be at home, he's upstairs working at home and I'm downstairs because we're both very loud, so talking on the phone we'll hear each other. It's like close all the doors in between, you know type thing. But yeah, we do. And then at the end of the day our day usually does not end because it consists of dinner together and us talking about something that we need to discuss or that we need help with, or hey, what do you think about this, or what should I do in this instance? So sometimes it's hard to shut that down, right, and I'm, you know.

I get it Any type of thing of where you work with a family member, you work with your husband or wife. It's definitely one of those things that it can be hard to turn off sometimes but you know it makes for a really good work, relationship and friendship and all of that.

It connects you. You know which you can see on your face. It's a good thing, you know. And so the title that they gave you. You said they created a position. I'm reading it's vice president of industry relations. What does that mean?

Okay, so I have to back up because my original title was director of client services. Okay, and so director of client services, I worked within the national accounts department and so I worked on a lot of larger national accounts and supporting them, as well as making sure that the different departments within and it really helped me to see, like anywhere where we had a weak point that we needed to work on and we needed to improve that, with me actually being in charge of 27 national accounts, that I could go in there and I could see on the day to day basis where, where might there be a broken link here, and so I was able to help us even become better than what we were. And I hate I'm not saying it's just me and please cut that out.

No, I won't, because we need to be able to like talk about our accomplishments and own them.

But it wasn't just me, it was it was the people who were behind behind the scenes right and just taking it to them. And once I took it to them, then they were able to see oh, this is what we need to make better. And that's one of the things that I love about Tidewell is it doesn't matter whether it's a territory sales manager, a national accounts manager, a strategic accounts manager, a person who is in credit. Whenever there's an idea and it's brought forward, it's listened to. We think about it, we think about how can we improve on that. Our managers they all meet on a very regular basis weekly basis, monthly basis, quarterly basis in person, so that they're able to be able to improve on what we're doing and if there is a problem, we fix it.

Yeah, so it's very different than I know. A lot of times, people try to keep everything in a silo of accounting is accounting and marketing is marketing and sales is sales and renovation is renovation, and stay out of my way. But when you all come together and you collaborate and you listen to one another, I think that it makes a much better working environment as well as it makes you much more successful in what you do, thus us growing like gangbusters since I got here. So that wasn't me. That was all of the hardworking people who are out there on the streets every day making sure that product gets in the hands of our clients.

Absolutely Well, and you know, I think that that family dynamic does help there, right, I think there's been a lot of people, you know, want to have that very separate work-life balance and we talk about, yeah, your work isn't your family because you have your family and you know. But I do think that there is an element that can be kept of the way that you address certain problems as they come up with your, as you would with a family member. I hear you, I hear what you're saying, I'm addressing and validating what you're saying Things like that, dynamics that you might not pull into work, that should be there, right, I hear you. Yes, I, you are bringing a valid point, regardless of your position, regardless of your silo, right, and I think there's an interesting element there and that might be one of the pieces of the secret sauce, right?

So we say, yeah, I mean, and I do think that might be one of the pieces of the secret sauce right, that's what we say, and I do think that that is one of the pieces of the secret sauce is being able to listen to one another and see things from a different viewpoint, and when you have all people present in the room, you're able to do that.

And some other companies that aren't family-owned and operated may not have that luxury of having all the people in the room. They may think that some people aren't important enough to be in the room to discuss it. And we look at even our, you know the people who pull the orders to get on the trucks and then the truck driver who drives it to the property and unloads it, and they're interfacing, probably more than anyone else in the company, with the customer, because a lot of times, you know, our guys will go by and see them every other week, it depends on how big their territory is, you know, right, right, but they'll be by to see them. How big their territory is, you know, but they'll, they'll be by to see them. However, that that delivery driver, he is there sometimes every other day, every three days, every, you know, depending on what they have going on, but they definitely see him more or her more. We do have females who drive and deliver for us as well, yeah.

That's amazing. And our in our women's summit podcast. That's what we like to hear. That's incredible. And you're right, those are the people that are interfacing with the client the most, and so, if they're not living your values, if they're not living your brand, what are you doing? So it's really amazing that you can see that top down, bottom up, it's all the same, so that's wonderful. And so, as a supplier, partner in the industry, what are some of the top challenges that you run into?

Oh gosh yeah.

You're like how do I adjust this?

Yes, no, they're. There are always going to be challenges in anything that you do, and from any side, right? So anything from the massive amounts of sponsorships that people they feel like, oh well, we buy a lot from you, and of course, a lot from you is a different perspective from every single person out there, right, absolutely. And however, what is a lot to them is a lot to them. Yes, so it's very important to understand that. But you know there are endless. So you get it from the top level and then you get it from the middle level and then you get it from the property level, and it's a constant cycle, right, absolutely. And so you have to that. One of the challenges or the struggles is like how do you organize all of that and decide on how much can you do with each company and who is responsible for those sponsorships? So those are one of the interesting and kind of tricky things, because you don't want to not sponsor something or help a client out, right?

Yes, absolutely.

Sometimes it's like we just did this really big thing for your management company.

Yes.

And they don't necessarily know exactly how that all works when they're down at the property level. So we try to let the local guys take care of the properties and then our national salespeople take care of the management companies. But that can be a tricky, that can be a challenge of dealing with all of the sponsorships and being asked a lot to sponsor a lot of things and sometimes it's not even for their residents or it's not for for them, it's for a charity that's near and dear to them, which is absolutely we. We also like to support those. We are very charitable company. We actually have a whole department that's a Chadwell cares and we do things with move for hunger.

I'm not sure if you're familiar with them hatching hope, which is a disaster relief company which I actually sit on their board of directors for them, and then we do the tykes and bikes and volleyball tournaments and everything. I mean there are so many different things that we do that we have to have a department to deal with and what we're going to also get behind deal with it now and what we're going to also get behind Absolutely.

Yeah, well, I will validate because you know everybody feels that in the industry that there is a valid distinction between the operations and corporate and the actual sites themselves. And that's just natural, you know. And with the turnover and acquiring new properties and you know getting people up to speed to be on the same page as that, you know you are navigating that just as much as anybody else.

And so properties ownerships who got involved because they wanted to do a quick little rehab and flip that property and then they got caught up in to the interest rates and maybe they don't have enough private equity to be able to handle the financial burden that may be there, and so I think that some of the payables have gotten a little sluggish, for us and for others, I know.

And the big thing that I always tell clients is be honest, be truthful about where you are, yeah, and because we're not publicly trained, there are, you know, as long as we have communication going on. And if we know that something's going to be a little bit later than what is expected with our terms, then okay, but communicate. And that is the biggest thing that I can tell, because a lot of times managers I know I was one one time and it's like those that are hard to code out we put to the bottom of the stack sometimes, and so that week goes by and the next week goes by, and then you know, and then you finally get them all turned in.

Sometimes it's that Well, or sometimes they just acquire distressed assets and they're trying to figure out their own financial. How are we going to deal with this situation? And so those also get pushed to the bottom of the you know the stack, so to say. I've witnessed that a lot, and it's not necessarily the management company, it's just they're also trying to sort through the you know the weeds of what they've acquired as well from a financial stance, and so I could see then that the suppliers get caught up in that.

Oh, definitely, and you know, as long as they are communicating, especially, like you said, with a property that is acquired, that is one of the things that, with our national accounts, we really work on. So if we find out someone's getting it, it's like, hey, this is the situation that they are currently in, let us help you, and so, and getting ahead of it helps so much to get the correction going in the right direction. Absolutely.

No, that makes a lot of sense and I do not. I think everyone out there is probably like yep, that's the case, even the management company.

you're like yep, that's exactly what's going on and I know they don't want to talk about it. You know, like they don't want to have to tell us yeah, but it's better to tell that's great advice Than not to.

I think that's great advice and it's like look, you're a longstanding partner with us, right? Just let's have that relationship on both sides where we're honest with, we worked out a deal together and we move forward, right. So I think that's really smart and great advice for anybody who's going through that. So do you have a team underneath you at all, or how large is your team?

Oh, you know, you did ask me about what does you know?

the vice president of industry relations do, oh right, yes, yeah, so I want to know about it. Tell me about the role that you are in today, what that means and what your kind of structure.

We kind of got sidetracked with that.

I love this. Well, it's a great conversation.

Yes, let's get back. It's a true conversation.

Yes it is.

Okay. So with the vice president of industry relations, so that component that we were talking about, with the charities and all. So I do do a lot with that. I also handle events like this and the Multifamily Women's Summit, attending those, attending National Multihousing Council events, being involved in the National Apartment Association, attending all of their events that they have and overlooking all those sponsorships that we do with all of the different organizations, and so it's a lot of attending and making and building relationships Great, and you know, some great relationships have been made here at the Multifamily Women's Summit and over the years, and I was coming to this before I ever went to Chadwell, yeah, and so it was wonderful to be able to return once COVID was over and Chadwell was up and running and Chadwell Supply was up and running and going and we were able to have our some of our women take part in that.

That's one of the great things. I also work with national accounts, um as well, and some of the events that we do with some of their larger clients and um, pretty much anything anybody needs help with and a lot of times clients that were never my clients, they might need something special, and so they'll come to me and say, hey, can you help with this project that we're doing? And I'm like, yeah, well, your national account person can help you with this, but they feel like that that's something bigger than what their national account person could do for them and they feel like it was going to take some strings being pulled. Little do they know that that's something that their national account person can actually do yes, because they're part of the family.

I mean we have autonomy, we have autonomy to do things, which is nice.

So that's a little bit. It's pretty much anything anybody needs me to do, but I do work heavily with the state associations, with the National Apartment Association, of their events and making sure everything's scheduled and we know what we're going to do, just like we just finished apartmentalize and getting that booth together. As far as the team with me, I have a wonderful team. They do not work for me, they work with me and I work with them. Our whole marketing department. So we have people who write speeches for us. We have people who write commercials for us. We have videographers.

We have a whole team that's now doing our MRO show, which is our new podcast that we debuted at Apartmentalize this year Love it. And then we have people who work with us on anything that we want to do on social post and yeah, so it's funny because there were only three people in that apartment and that included the person who sent out all of the promotional products and made sure that everybody had their trade show booths for their local shows and all, and now that department is huge and some days I'm like now what do you do? But they're all very vital to what they do. Oh, 100%. It's just they do so much behind the scenes that you don't even know who's doing that, who's moving that piece, which is great, that's good, that's how it should feel very fluid.

We're all tackling this together. Like what you said, it's not so siloed, which is great.

I don't know what. In fact, I have a call right after this with my team because we're working on something, and so we we're trying to do now every week because apparently I have a lot of special projects, so we now have that up and coming event special project meeting. That goes on now.

But everybody needs to be ready to pivot. We talk about this all the time over at the Innovation Council is that you need to be ready to pivot at any moment because things are changing so quickly in technology, in the world, in events. We don't even do a trade show at our events, which you know. I love it. Tell me how you feel about not doing a trade show. Does that add value to just have genuine connection and converse with people.

Yeah, you're not stuck in an area, and I love when people try to do cocktail parties and they're like, oh, and you can put your little booth up over here, and that leaves you tied to the booth and people expect somebody to be in that booth. And the thing that I love about the Women's Summit is number one. It's the one event that I go to every year that fills my bucket. I am typically filling everybody else's buckets, whether I'm speaking at an event or whether I am, you know, showing them something new and wonderful products, whatever it may be right that I'm helping fill their buckets, of solving a problem for them, yeah, giving them new products. So this event I actually get to come to and participate. And along the way, you're making connections with people, you're building relationships, and I have some relationships that came out of this Women's Summit from years ago, years ago when I was with Apartment Finder, and they're still very intact today.

And we were talking about Rachel. I saw Rachel at Apartmentalize. I see her here and there and everywhere all the time, and so it's nice to walk into a room and there's somebody who you met. Through something like this, where you're socializing, it's totally different. I mean we get up early in the morning, no makeup, and go and work out together, and some of us haven't worked out in you know ever, and some of us are morning warriors that get up every morning and do this, and so it's kind of like building that bond between those people and I really enjoy the not having to be tied to a booth and to have those real conversations about what it is that that person struggles with. I mean, there's a lot of rawness that comes out.

And you have the same struggles, you find common ground. And that's what's so interesting to me and I loved it because, you know, I came out of here attending all the big conferences. I came here and I'm like we don't do a trade show. What are you talking about? Are you nuts, you know? And when they started explaining that to me, they're like look, you can cold call an email all day long to try to form an inauthentic bond with somebody, to then maybe get to the right person to make a sale, and then even then, if you take them out for a cocktail, it's all so forced, right. Or you can just stick people in a room where they're already having those conversations. They have like issues, they have commonality, and then you can just say hey, oh, by the way, I heard you have this problem, I solve for that problem, and then that's such a more authentic connection, it makes so much sense. It's where everybody's trying to get anyways, and it's just like. I just think it's brilliant.

Well, I know I brought over the years. I've asked clients hey, I see you're struggling with something you know maybe you might want to come with and hey, maybe we have a spa weekend afterwards or something. Yeah, yeah, and I said, oh, spring, you would love it. Spring and I don't see each other all the time. We run into each other every once in a while over in Georgia when I'm over there and then at some of the national events. But it was so nice and refreshing to be here where I could actually spend some time with her.

But she met so many new friends and people who are there to help and when you have an issue, you know that you can call them and get advice from them without them thinking Are you trying to sell me? Well, not just sell you something, but even like sometimes with a boss. Yeah, but even like sometimes with a boss, you think that that boss is going to judge you on maybe not knowing something. Oh, yeah, of course they may not know either. Yeah, yeah, why be afraid of it? But at the same time, you know she met some people who could solve some problems for her and without her ever having to feel like judged or anything for any of those things. So it was. It was nice to to bring her along last last year with so, or she actually brought herself.

But it's so important. It's so important to have relationships, especially in the industry you know to, to be able to call someone that is having a similar issue as you and have those confidential conversations. Or you know, I I loved something that the Carrie and Patrick had told me about the way that they do events. And it's so smart and they're saying it doesn't matter if you're a supplier, if you're a attendee, if you're an owner, operator, developer, property owner when you actually unite people over the same goal, which is innovation, everybody's on the same page. You're not like you're in the trade show because you're trying to sell something. You're here because you're attending. You're right, we're all attending because we're all trying to reach the same goal of innovation. Right, and I think when you unite people in that way, the playing field is level Right, we're all on the same ground. We're just women who are in the field of multifamily who are getting together to solve problems. Yeah, and it's so smart and I love it.

Well, it was really interesting. Last night my Uber driver from dinner he asked why I was here and I said oh, I'm going to be filming a podcast with some good friends of mine who they have this multifamily women's summit that I go to every year. It's one of my favorite conferences and he's like a women's summit. Why do y'all all do that? And he goes.

I mean I'm not saying from the standpoint of the fact that I don't agree with women all getting together and supporting one another. It's just like I kind of feel like you're separating yourself from the men. And I said absolutely not. That is not what's happening here. And I said it's just that we have our own unique set of circumstances that we deal with on a daily basis, circumstances that we deal with on a daily basis, and sometimes it's easier when you have others in the room who are more like you that you can talk to. However, I think it's very important that we all are in the room together and talking and that you have a perspective from both male and female in the room. When it comes to solving problems for your company, that's right, but sometimes, when it comes to solving problems for us, we just need a little coffee time with our girlfriend.

Yes, exactly that's right. And you know, what's interesting is that we very intentionally and just yesterday we dove really hard into the schedule at the Women's Summit and we were like you know how do we infuse the most meat into these? Because we want to have the connections, we want to have the friendships and all of that, but we also want everybody to walk away just as empowered and equipped as with any other conference, and it's that same aspect that I was telling you about. You know, whether it's that we're getting leasing people together and maintenance people together and we're all working towards innovation. It's the same concept, with men and women in leadership as a whole, that we can relate on a different level, and that's all it is, you know. It's nothing beyond that. We're all still trying to innovate, we're all still solving for the same problems, and all of these women attend our AI Innovation Summit in December as well. You know so it's not like it's. You know, it's intentionally that way. So you can tell your Uber driver to call.

I thought that was so interesting. Why would you separate yourself? I'm like we're not separating ourselves, we're just all coming together for a little sisterhood.

We get it yeah.

And it's just like I mean at church and the guys all have their men's week or weekend that they get together, so you know.

You're like I see my husband at work at home, I'm going to go for a weekend. Yeah, exactly no, and I think that's really smart and then so you've had some really great experience. How many years have you gone to the Women's Summit now?

Oh gosh, I know that just with Tadwell we've been sponsoring for three years and then probably like six, six years, I guess. Yeah, that I've been, because with Finder came before that executive level which is really awesome that they're representing as well in that way.

So how do you find a good way to balance work-life? That's a common question that women want to know.

Yeah, I don't think we ever really truly balance. We can sit here and say that we do, and that's the big lie that I think that we try to tell to ourselves. I will say that. And routine helps tremendously in my life, especially and it helps me during COVID, which, for the first time, I was off the road and you know, I don't know, 30 years Well, actually probably not 30 years, maybe about 20 years that I had been on the road and on the go and I was at home 100% of the time for a couple of months. And routine helped me. Where everybody else was like, oh my gosh, I'm sitting on my back porch having a glass of wine, and I was like I'm out running or I'm out hiking or I'm out biking, whatever. It was anything that I could keep myself busy. And I was able to write some programs that you know I presented after we well, some of them I presented during COVID. Then we were doing webinars for our clients to kind of connect, and we would do a little lunch and learn, type thing. Then the others were things that I had been thinking about.

But when you're on the road constantly, you don't necessarily think through things as much as you would when you're still for a moment. So try to incorporate the stillness of the day a little bit In the mornings. When I wake up, first thing I do go walk. I don't care if it's raining, I'm out the door, I'm going to walk. Or if it's really bad storming, then I'll go to the gym and walk, which I hate. Then a little bit of me time. That's the quiet time, the meditation, praying, whatever you want to do yes, do that. And then it's like get ready. I know a lot of times when people work from home they will sit in the pajamas all day, which is fine some days I mean some days you have the blazer on the back of your head, the work starts coming and you can't stop. So I understand that that does happen for me some days too. But if I can get up and get those things done and get going, then it's like everything else through the day comes together and you're able to balance it.

Now both of my daughters are in the industry now. They grew up in this industry and, as their mother was going up through the levels of the industry as well and changing over and traveling, and my husband was the you know person who was always there for them, they would probably tell you I don't have much balance at all because mine is go, go, go, go, work, work, work, work, work. But that's what I, you know, I really enjoy it. But when I'm at home and when I'm with my girls, and when I was at home when they were younger now they're both grown and out and I have a grandchild now but it's taking that time and making it quality time, because I could have been sitting at home with my children, with my husband, I could have been there all the time, but not been there. So it's making that choice of being present with whomever you're with. So, whether it's client, your children, your husband, your spouse, you know whoever it may be, but that you're choosing to be present.

And intentional. Yeah, I love that. That's kind of my word of the year, I love I'm like she's being intentional.

Do you pick words for the year?

no-transcript. I read this book about scheduling time for emotions, even, and scheduling time for worry I do. 6 pm worry time or whatever emotion is like is very heavy on my brain and it creates this environment where you're not just trickling through the worry all day and it's just kind of there, in this state of anxiety, you're actually saving it for 6 o'clock to be intentional and say nine times out of 10, the worry goes away by then anyway, right, but if 6 o'clock hits and it's not gone, that is my time to work through that and it gives me a clear mind throughout the day to be able to focus on the other things that actually I'm so do you kind of journal?

it out, or you just talk it out, or you cry it out some days.

All of the above right, but I do keep a journal. I'm a very I'm definitely a journaler, but yeah, it's definitely just setting aside the intentional time to deal with whatever that is, and so intentional is my word of the year. Oh I get it. Yeah, Anyways. But so what's final question, I guess, what is next for Chadwell or for you in your career?

What's the future look like for you? Wow, so you know, I've really been trying and this is a stretch, by the way and at Apartmentalize we had our own release of our MRO show, which is everything about multifamily and maintenance, repair and operations of communities. So we released that there. I got to do a podcast there with one of my great friends, stephanie Puryear-Helling, and we talked a lot about leadership. That was a step out for me.

I am used to being in front of people and speaking and I can do that all day long, but the one-on-one intimacy of a podcast, of talking to your good friend, sometimes you get a little carried away, but that's a great part of it. All, I think, is the rawness and also me stepping out to do that, and this, I think, is a big next step for myself. And then, of course, we are going to be continuing on all of our podcasts. So it will be a lot more podcasting in my future, I'm sure, as well as many of our national account managers that we have, and then we do have people who are professionals as well.

I think you're a professional.

I think you're doing great.

Oh well, thank you, but it's you know, the MRO show is something that we're looking forward to, because I think delivering a message in another way, besides just sending an email, like you said for the connection, or sending a brochure, or even your salesperson walking it out there, you know but actually being able to share new products that are coming out from GEG just did a little episode with us last week that rolled out and they were talking about some of their new washers and dryers that you don't have to move things from one to the other and they're super energy efficient and save water and everything else.

And so it's just people listen to that. I don't know how much attention that they would just pay to oh, you drop enough a flyer on there, but when they hear about all of the bells and whistles of it, I think it makes it a lot more exciting. Because for me, when I was like oh, what's she got new? You know what, what, what, and I just like listen to it because out of curiosity, right, and then I realized I'm like I want one of those, like I want one in my house.

Well, and I'll tell you, our podcast is incredibly successful, and everybody knows who's doing a podcast. It's incredibly successful. And here's the thing it's it's successful If even one person gets something great out of that conversation. Right, it's it's. That is success. It doesn't have to have 5,000 views to be successful. It has to be that one at least, that one person that's like oh wow, I really need that problem solved, or whatever it is you know, and and great if it's one that happens to go viral. But at the end of the day, people don't. You're solving for a problem that people have, and if they don't know what that problem is and they don't identify with that, they're not going to listen, right? The same way of trying to train someone on a software they don't care about, or you know, if you don't have them clued in on what the actual problem is, that they're going through to begin with or have their buy-in on that, then you're not going to be able to get in front of them at all.

And sometimes I think it's just as good just for our employees, for our employees to be able to and our other teammates to be able to hear what's going on.

It's another means of communication besides Teams and all of the other ways that we send information out to them, but it's something that's a little bit more enjoyable for them to hear, and I love to hear from people who are within our company that I didn't even realize that they have this particular expertise.

We have actually Jessica Tierney, who she is over our procurement platform. She handles all I think there's like 20 something of them, with, you know, yardie and Ops and Nexus, probably being some of the larger ones and Entrada now we just did a big, huge thing with them. So she normally that's like her specialty, but she didn't get on and speak about that. She got on and spoke about her years of experience of doing these renovations and about how nothing ever goes as planned with any of them, right. So I thought that that was really neat to hear and I was like I knew she was smart, I knew she was so super intelligent, but to hear this whole other side, it was just a big surprise. So I love that with the podcast, as well as being able to hear some of the things with our other teammates that we might not have known if we hadn't been filming these.

Well, and when you're talking to someone, you're like, oh my goodness, I have heard that exact thing so many times. I can't right. And then they hear it and they're like, wow, I'm going through that same problem. Maybe I should go. Maybe I should go to the Women's Summit and see what this is all about and connect with some of these people who are solving for really high-end, innovative problems, you know.

So I think it's great. You know, a lot of times and I'll say that about the Multifamily Women's Summit is a lot of times people think that just because you work for a multifamily supplier company or service company, that you're just there to sell something, and that's not really true. I mean we, yes, our job is to sell, but a lot of us have a life before we ever stepped into that current role. Just like you, worked in property management at one time. I worked in property management at one time, loved it still, feel like I'm still in it because you know, never know, I might have to walk on site one day and things are going haywire in somebody's office and I have to like jump in and help out and keep them entertained until you know the expert gets there to help show the apartment. But I don't think we ever leave property management, even when we go to the other side of the desk.

It's such a unique business and I told you, I've been on the supplier side, I've been on the management side, I've hopped around, we've all dabbled and it's an industry where the sky's the limit and they really do. You really can find spaces to do what you do best if you're paying attention, and I think that's what everybody loves about this industry. That's why we never leave right.

We just find something different if it's not working for us, and so Where's your seat on the boat, as Marsha Bollingergis shall always say, and Marsha will be on stage this year as well, I know we're so excited.

Yes, so absolutely, take a look, and you know I will share your link to your profile and everything from this episode in the episode notes and on the YouTube video as well. And is there anything else you want to leave our viewers with?

Just keep up with the MRO show wherever you listen to your podcast. If you don't listen to podcasts, you might want to start listening, because there's some great stuff out there, not only just from us, but from you guys and with many others in the multifamily field. But just if you want to know everything that's new and exciting with Chadwell, it'll be on the MRO show. So, and we look so forward to being here with you guys at the Multifamily Women's Summit in September.

We're so excited. I can't wait. It's going to be so fun. Well, thank you so much for being here, thank you for inviting me, absolutely, and thank you so much for tuning in today, and if you have not gotten your Women's Summit tickets, make sure to do that at multifamilywomencom. Thank you so much and we'll see you on the next episode.

Thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed the Multifamily Women podcast. To register for the upcoming Multifamily Women Summit, be a guest on this podcast or join the Women's Leadership Series, visit multifamilywomencom.