A Podcast | Tiffany Rosenbaum

Pete Neubig [00:00:04] Hi. Welcome back everybody. And, uh, as promised, I have Tiffany Rosenbaum here from Rosenbaum Realty Group and all the other companies. She has more companies than I have suits. So, uh, so, Tiff, you're a powerhouse at, uh, in the property management industry. If for those of the for those of the few that do not know who you are, give us a kind of a just a kind of overview of how you got into property management and, uh, how you started your companies.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:00:34] Um, I think it was by accident. Um, just like a lot of people, when it comes to my property management company, um, in 2009, 2010, I moved down to Arizona and my husband and I started a business, but it was not going well, so we ended up on food storage. And it was really rough not knowing how to feed my kids. My kid at that time, and not being able to have an AC or heat on in my home. Um, it was really difficult and I was I was sitting in my living room. My, my dad had flown in to see how we were doing with no food in the fridge. They went to the grocery store and got us food. And he realized that Arizona had a really good market at this time. And he said, I don't care what you do, you got to figure out how to get into real estate. And I was like, I'm going to figure out how to get into real estate when I can't feed my child. I was like, you're crazy. But I didn't say that. I just listened. And one night I was sitting across the table from this, uh, guy that I knew with his wife, and he was talking about real estate.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:01:34] And I was like, um, how do you get into it? And so we discussed and he said, well, you got to find someone that can loan to you. And I was like, uh, okay, I don't have money. So I found an individual that would loan to me and Daniel and I actually started to invest. And when we started to invest, we realized there was a property next to some of ours that were, like, not doing well. So we messaged the owner and say, hey, is there any way we can put a for rent sign up and try to help you out here because it's hurting our, uh, rent ability. And so we realized there was a business here, and we realized we could help people make money because we knew that side of it as the mistakes we've made. And, uh, we knew that side of it. So that's how we started the business and realized this is where we need to transition all the way in to build a brokerage and real estate firm.

Pete Neubig [00:02:24] Wow. So. So start off as an investor and then, uh, found out that, uh, people mismanage their properties if they try to manage themselves and create a management firm.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:02:32] Yes. Because like a lot of people have contractors walk off on them. And that's what happened with our first investor. He had paid a contractor 10,000 and they never came back. And, uh, we decided, hey, just let us help you. And at that time, he had other properties we didn't know about, and all of a sudden we started building because he had a he had a portfolio of over 50 units. And so we brought them all on over time.

Pete Neubig [00:02:56] And if you don't mind asking me, asking how many units do you guys manage on single family right now?

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:03:02] We manage 517 single family on that side of the, uh, business.

Pete Neubig [00:03:07] Okay, so, uh, take me through before we get into how to put your business on autopilot, cause I think it's amazing. Every time I talk to you, you're like, yeah, I don't work in my business. I work on the business. But you. So that was the hub. And you started the property management firm. How many units did you have under management before you created the maintenance company?

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:03:28] Oh, I did that one wrong. I think when I, when I started it, I wanted to start it because of the issues we were having with contractors. Just walk off, just not finish the job, not have the quality. Um, but it was about 150 and we could do it, but it was like we weren't making money at it. It was just a break even. It was like, hey, just to get us by and help us out with the maintenance, just.

Pete Neubig [00:03:49] To have control. Control, huh? Mhm.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:03:51] Just to have control. Because at that point in 2000 it was 2010. Uh, at that point there were a lot of contractors that were walking off jobs. And so we wanted to bring it in-house. And so I partnered with someone, uh, I found someone that would give me the ability to use their license on our, uh, our company and not really have to pay him much.

Pete Neubig: [00:04:12] And you need a GC. You need, like, a GC license.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:04:16] In Arizona You have to be licensed, bonded, and insured. At this point, I am licensed, bonded and insured. But I had to find someone first to be able to do it.

Pete Neubig: [00:04:22] Sure.

Pete Neubig [00:04:24] And so, um, so if somebody was listening to this and they're thinking about creating their own maintenance company, what do you what would you do differently? Like, would you have more doors at that time? Would you, um, would you.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:04:36] I would have looked at my PNL and said, where do I spend the most money? Because what I hired first was like a handyman slash HVAC, uh, lady, she was great, but I think I would have, after looking at my PNL and understanding numbers so much more, I would have hired a plumber first, because that's number one thing we use is a plumber and HVAC is second. But I didn't know my numbers really well back then, and so I was just hiring to try to fill a void.

Pete Neubig [00:05:06] So. All right, so now you also have the, uh, the short term rental company. And when did you start that bad boy?

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:05:13] We started that about a year ago. And it has just taken off. We have a website. Um, we do actually mid-term to short term. So it's amazing because our units stay occupied longer and insurance companies actually pay for the people to stay in there. So a lot of times we do displace insured, and then we open up the calendar for the shorter when we have availability.

Pete Neubig [00:05:36] Now, if your. Management firm wasn't running, um, at like top end, would you be able to create these other these other companies?

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:05:45] No it would you would create chaos. I think, uh, you have to have a team in place that can handle things and handle the day to day, and you have to have a lot of trust in them. Uh, and I think that was probably my biggest downfall when I started business. I didn't trust anybody, to be honest. I was like, oh, no one's going to care about it as much as I do. Um, I'm the business owner. I, you know, I'm here, and so I micromanage. I did everything wrong. I mean, you name it, I probably did it. And so we lost a lot of good talent that we didn't have to because I was learning to be a business owner at the same time.

Pete Neubig [00:06:20] Yeah. You weren't letting go to grow, so to speak. Right?

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:06:23] So I was. Okay. Let me keep hold of that neck. I wanted it.

Pete Neubig [00:06:27] You you were the choke point. You. Everything was through you and your team. You probably, um, you're you're probably, uh, having your team feel like they can't. They can't make any decisions without without you making a decision. Right?

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:06:41] Oh, yeah. And when you micromanage the how you do it is. Hey, was this done today? And they say yes, but then you go verify because you don't trust them. And then all of a sudden it's like, okay, they didn't do it how I wanted them to do it. So now I got to correct them. So I have to tell them they lied to me essentially. And so it it doesn't create any trust or growth or empowerment in a company. And so that's where I struggled as a leader for a while.

Pete Neubig [00:07:08] There's a there's a book. Liz Wiseman is the name of the author, and I'm trying to think of the name. Um, I always call it memoirs, and I know it's not the name of memoirs, it's something else. But she talks about that kind of leadership style and how it's a it's a diminishing style. Right. So you diminish people and then over time they, they leave or they stay, but they don't do anything unless, you know, you, you make basically you manage through them. Right? Just just like we hate our investor clients managing the properties through us. Your team hates that you manage the the business through through them. Right.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:07:42] And what's sad about that? The good people will leave the ones that people

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:07:45] Yeah. Have you read, uh, the golden, the new golden standard? I have not if you haven't read it, it's amazing. It's about Ritz Carlton. It's all about this empowering your team feedback, making sure that the employees feel like they can give feedback. We do monthly feedback now I want to hear how our employees are doing. And we do feedback on our managers. We let the employees, um, give feedback on their managers and how they're doing, and it's empowering.

Pete Neubig [00:08:14] Do you use any tech for that? Is that like a tiny pulse or anything like that?

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:08:17] I don't right now. It's just Google form. Um, uh, my Swat team that we call them our Swat team, uh, handles that. As of right now. It's been cheaper to do it that way. We'll probably implement after we get help scout up 100% and things like that okay.

Pete Neubig [00:08:32] All right. So let's talk about it. So you're an owner now of three businesses or co-founder or owner and uh, you have three businesses. Um, they all tie in. They all dovetail nicely with each other. But, um, you are often you're doing your, your own thing now, right? You're you're creating a, uh, tell tell me a little bit about about where you're going to. And then I want to talk about how you're able to do that. So tell me a little bit about your new podcast and your and your new venture.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:08:58] It's all about unleashing the ultimate life and how every individual can stand in their own two feet and literally have an enjoyment throughout life. I'm telling stories of people that because sometimes when you think you look at a business owner, they're like, oh, it's easy for them. They had they had no struggles. It's like it just comes easy. So that's why I don't do it. But as I've talked to these people and really told their story, it's so interesting that nine times out of ten, someone that has created their ultimate life, they have gone through struggle, they've been grateful for the struggle, and then they come out on the other side. And so I'm speaking a lot right now. I'm going on podcasts right right now, and I'm developing my brand, which is Tiffany Rosenbaum Unleashing the Ultimate Life.

Pete Neubig [00:09:46] Well, I know, I know you've talked to you. I've talked I've talked to you offline, and you've talked to me about the types of people that are on your, on that, that you're interviewing. Some people have been in prison before. Some people were homeless. Uh, so it's it's amazing collection of, of, uh, individuals that have overcome some really some incredible obstacles. So, so uh, we'll, we'll at the end, we'll kind of plug that. So you're, you're basically you are able to do this, you're able to chase your passion and build something and give back to people. So let's talk about how you're able to do that. So you told me you talked about your Swat team. So let's talk about that. Like I'm assuming step one is is go out and building the Swat team. Is that is that kind of step one of this deal?

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:10:32] Yeah. So I look outside of the property management industry because I do feel sometimes we get so in our box and hey, we're property management. I have to hit these numbers. I have to hit this profit margin. But in reality if you go to Walmart Amazon and see how they're running things and their profit margins, if you read simple numbers and things like that, their profit margins are not these 40% because they're putting back into it. So as I read and I researched and I talked to, I mean, $100 million people billionaires, I was like, okay, what are you doing different? Because I don't want to be stuck in the day to day trying to hit these margins that put me into the day to day. I want to build businesses, create relationships with people. And so as I talk to them, I realized I need a team that does the auditing, creates my processes, and makes sure they audits my processes on a daily basis, develops my numbers in a way that I can see it all in one place for all my companies. So at any given time I can see the KPIs on a daily basis.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:11:30] I can see my numbers, anything that I want right there on my phone. I have an app that I can see. So the first thing I did because that sounds like all grand, right? But the first thing I did, I said, 

Pete Neubig [00:11:42] oh, sounds so simple. 

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:11:43] Oh it sounds, yeah, I wish, but I spoke on this at a at a conference, actually, uh, the first person I hired was a process architect because I realized if I sit and I create processes every single day, that's my job. That's what I'm going to do. And I was like, I can't do that. So I talked to LeadSimple. Um, they were like, hey, bring it on. I'm like, hold up, let me hire someone first. No matter what it costs, let me hire someone because it's going to help us get better. So I hired my first and his name is Jonathan and a great guy. And it was interesting because we developed a really good working relationship. So he would give me feedback.

Pete Neubig [00:12:19] Make sure I make sure I get this right. You hired him full time, not as a $10.99 as, hey, I'm going to do this project. That right there is a huge difference between you and and me, even because I hired Aaron. But Aaron was a contractor that worked for us for a year or two, and then he moved on. And guess who became the process guy after that? I did and I gave myself a job. Whereas if I would have hired Jonathan, I never would have gone back to that. So I that's a big aha for me right now as we're talking about this. So okay. So so Jonathan now becomes your would. You call him…

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:12:54] He was my process architect. That's what I hired him to do okay. He came from PlayStation. He had done this for PlayStation. I was like, okay, you know what? If he's on a PlayStation, I can bring him into my company. And so he came in, and then I realized he had a lot of other talents, meaning company, culture, because he came to me one day. He said, Tiff, I said, and when he came to me, I said, okay, this is one of those conversations that I need to just shut my mouth and realize he's going to give me feedback. That's not going to feel too good. And he said, Tiff, we need to work on company culture. And I said, I totally agree. And he said, here's a plan, and this is what I think we should do. And I said, run with it. Just run with it. Have fun with it. Let's get it going. And so he implemented my processes and my culture. But at the same time, I realized really quickly with my personality and the dim if you do culture indexing or uh, um, anything like that, the disc, um, you realize if you're a D, you have no patience. And so I realized I needed to hire another one because I wanted to turn the sailboat, because I think property management, when you have a company, it's a sailboat. And when you turn it, you can't turn it on a dime. It doesn't work that way. And so I realized I needed another process architect that could really hone in on it and get my processes up quickly. And then I realized, um, and so we started off with that the culture.

Pete Neubig [00:14:12] You double Down, you. Had you had two process architects

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:14:16] Because when you develop a process, all of a sudden they're not over it and they can't make sure it's happening on a daily basis. Then all of a sudden I'm putting myself in a job, and if I'm putting myself in a job, I can't look at the numbers and plan and goal and see where we want to go. And I'll prove a point. This year alone, we've grown 120 units in two months, and we're about to grow. We're going to double our company this year, and all because of the people I've put in place. And I've taken myself out of the company.

Pete Neubig [00:14:47] Yeah. And at the end of the day, you put people in place to build systems, because if you if you don't have systems, whether you use LeadSimple or Asana or, you know, any aptly or any of these other ones, um, you have to put good data in, right? It's garbage in, garbage out, and you have to go through process and then and then you can automate some stuff. But if you are, if you're doing everything and you don't and you're still doing paper checklists and you have maybe one piece of your system automated and you're doing all these hand offs, you're never going to get to the point where you can grow that business because the system and it's not sexy at all. Right? Systems are not super sexy. They're pain, they're painstaking. It's slow. You're you're you're kind of just going through the process. But then when it's done now, all you're I'm guessing all your team is doing is kind of reviewing it quarterly or bi annually.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:15:36] Uh, we do daily. So we have um, daily audits. So part of my Swat team or four people, it's my two architects with Jonathan over culture as well. And then I have a daily auditor. Anything that enters the system is audited. So leases you. Have you ever had someone that put in a freaking admin fee to rent? So a fee that should go to the property management company, but they accidentally hit a wrong button and it goes to rent. I hear that all the time that it happens. So every lease, every PMA is always audited by my auditor. And then I also have my data analysis guy. And so that's where we analyze all the data. And so we have daily audits. The KPIs are handed to actually team members on a daily basis. So they can see where they're they're measuring on a daily basis. And kind of it can work on getting their goal easier. Because a lot of times when we do KPIs, we go backwards and say, hey, I'm meeting with you today for last week. Well, you didn't hit it. Well, how are we implementing it to empower them to hit it? And so we actually give them their KPIs on a daily basis for their weekly goals

Pete Neubig [00:16:46] All right. So a lot to unpack there. But let's talk about what I want to know. Like I'm sure people listening to this right now. And she was making a lot of money and uh. She's making a lot of money. How? Can you afford somebody from PlayStation? How can you afford two process folks? Like how were you able to do that? Because you still have to have property managers and you have to have assistants, and you have to have leasing agents. You have to have maintenance coordinators. So how would you able to to invest in people who are really, in theory, not adding to the bottom line? Right? They add into the bottom line different ways.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:17:24] They add to the bottom line in different ways. And that's where the mindset has to change. Like we look at, we're told depending on the companies, we're told you should be at 30 to 40%. I was about 40 something percent, um, 43.5, whatever percent profit margin. Well, I realized when I read simple numbers and I started researching, I was like, hmm, that means I'm not putting money back into the company to really benefit and really grow, because if I'm so honed in on the profit margin, I'm not putting money into the systems to be able to grow the business, and I'm kind of holding it hostage. So after reading it, I said, I'm going to take my profit margin down as much as possible to develop the systems and develop the team so we can actually grow.

Pete Neubig [00:18:10], get back so forward. Yeah. Mhm.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:18:13] And you have to do that because I feel like at about 500 units you get held hostage.

Pete Neubig [00:18:19] Or you're 500.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:18:20] Yeah. Mhm. You have to either go down in profit margin to grow or you have to sit where you want to sit. You can't do both. You're going to either sit and decline a little bit or you're going to put money back into it to develop what you need to, to grow. And like 500 it breaks and then about seven, 50 and a thousand. So each level you got to be willing to break it, put more money into it and develop it. And so right now at 500. I'm really developing the processes and the teams and putting the money back into it. No matter what it takes to get to the next level that I want to get to.

Pete Neubig [00:18:57] How, um. How many units or how much revenue were you bringing in when you hired your first, uh, process, uh, person?

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:19:08] But while I did that wrong, I should have done it before that, but about 1.2. 

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:19:16] Yeah. And if I were. To do it differently, I would have done it from day one. If I were to do it differently, I would have done it from day one and put all the money back in. Because I was already on food storage. I was already poor as a duck. I mean, I couldn't even freaking feed my child.

Pete Neubig [00:19:31] That's how important that Role is, huh?

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:19:34] I think the admiral bringing in making sure marketing and branding and the processes and someone behind it, I do. That has changed my company 100 fold. 100 fold.

Pete Neubig [00:19:49] So BDM to bring the business process guide to make sure the business funnels and everybody does the same thing always. And it can and it can grow.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:19:57] Mhm.

Pete Neubig [00:19:58] Okay. So so all right let's talk a little bit about those those KPIs now. So um you know Walmart is famous for literally doing hourly or, or even by the minute KPIs like they're funneling numbers and looking at this stuff like almost, you know, every minute. So you're looking at daily key performance indicators. Um, and so what are some, what are some of the numbers that you're looking at daily.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:20:22] I can pull it up on my phone, actually. So, um, renewal rate. That's one that I want to know compared to how many tenants are supposed to be moving out or going month to month. What is our percentage of renewals? You know, what is our. Pull up. Off the top of my head.

Pete Neubig [00:20:40] That's okay. So so as a CEO. So okay. So now let me ask you this. This would be a good question here. Um, you had to learn new skills to become the CEO of the business, because one of the challenges that I've seen most business owners is that they're especially property management. They started from the beginning. They built the business, they wore all the hats, and they kind of self-sabotage sometimes because they really don't know what to do next. Like I'm literally having this challenge at VPM like I'm ready, like every, all the all the hats that I wore are now being worn by somebody else. And now I have to take that next level up. I have to level up and become the CEO. And I'm not really exactly sure what they what what what that's supposed to do. So sometimes I go back into work and tickets or build in processes. So how did you how did you like, you know, level up and how did you and what what does what do you do now? What does a CEO for Rosenbaum, you know, uh, realty and, and, uh, and the maintenance company and all that stuff. What what are you doing on on a day to day?

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:21:43] I look at numbers a lot, um, KPIs a lot like down to a day. We do, um, daily reconciliations as well. Because I want to know when there's a problem. Before there's a problem. I don't want the owner getting wind of anything before there's a problem, because we're going to make mistakes. We're not perfect at all. No company is. But as I researched Amazon and Walmart and the big companies, I realized they put a lot of money back in. And that's why they were able to grow, they the way they grew. And I realized as I read, because like this year, my goal is 52 books in  52 weeks. And as I read about, um, oh, uh, Ritz Carlton, the owners, it gives me more of a mindset of a CEO, because I do think, like you said, I got stuck in that for so long, and I'm still trying to what we do as because we do, we call ourselves. If you talk to anybody, we call ourselves property managers. We actually buy the words we use. We tell ourselves we are the property manager. So I have changed that in my own company. And if anybody asked me, I said I own an asset management company. And I have asset managers. And I was talking on the A podcast yesterday and they said, wait, what? You're not a property manager? I said, no, I own an asset management company because what we tell ourselves is what we become.

 

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:23:13] And so if we're not careful, we're already telling ourselves we're a property manager, when in reality that's not why we started the company. But we don't know how to get out of that. We put ourselves in the weed and we stick ourselves there because guess what? It feels comfortable because we can do it. It's an easier checklist. And so until we pull ourselves out and say, okay, I'm going to figure this out and I'm going to figure out what I need to do. I'm going to research. I'm going to find out what other companies do, and taking ourselves out of even the property management game and going, what is this company? What did Amazon do? What did Walmart do? What did you know all these big companies do to grow and develop the systems? Because what you talk about is the systems. And it's interesting how every level they have to change. And um, and like Ritz Carlton, I'm reading that one right now. It's, uh, it's empowering and it's very uncomfortable to become a true CEO. I think anybody would say that if they weren't used to it, because it's very uncomfortable to me. I've never really, truly liked conflict and I've had to get really good at conflict.

Pete Neubig [00:24:16] So yeah. So talk a little bit about what what is a CEO do now. So obviously you're looking at numbers now what happens if a number is red. What. Like it's not green. It's it's going poorly. What's the action on.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:24:28] A daily basis. It's red or green. And in some of mine I put blue or red. Um but I talk, I figure out where is it broken. So I will go to the director and I'll go, okay, what's going on? Where are we at? What's the issue? And then we have to dial it in. Sometimes if it's just red on one day, I might watch it for a little bit to see if it's going to continue that way. But also renewal rates, trend to move outs and things like that. So I watch those numbers really, uh, a lot to make sure that I know where we're moving.

Pete Neubig [00:25:00] So you're, you're uh, so at that point, though, you're directing your team. So are you telling the team what to do or are they coming up with potential solutions?

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:25:08] They come up with solutions.

Pete Neubig [00:25:10] So you're not you're not the solution. You're not the answer. You're not the answer girl anymore. You're not the I'm not the answer.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:25:16] Yeah, we do have a level up meetings that I'm a part of to make sure that I know what's going on. But they have Tuesday meetings I'm not a part of. They have, um, uh, morning huddles. I'll try to jump in every once in a while, because I do like to motivate my team, and they love to see me on, because when I get on, it's it's exciting to tell them how amazing they are and how much work they do. Because really, truly, any company, it's the team behind them. Like no company is successful without their team. Elon Musk would say that, uh, Jeff Bezos would say that the team is what elevates the company. And I truly believe that.

Pete Neubig [00:25:53] All right. So what else? What else do you do? So you read a book, you're reading a book a week and you're looking at numbers. I'm guessing you got a couple more hours. So what else? So are you are you the one that's the culture builder or is is, um, you have somebody that does that now.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:26:05] Jonathan does a culture building. So he puts competitions together. He emails forms for feedback. Like I'm not over culture because because I'm a D and I realize this, I'll put something out there, but I'm not going to I can finish a lot of things that I want.

Pete Neubig [00:26:21] You not to feel. Good type of person. Yeah. 

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:26:25] Like I'm like, let's get done. And so Jonathan is a C. And so even when we're on, uh, when we're talking because we meet, because he's over culture and I want to make sure I do know what's going on, uh, with numbers and everything, because that, that, uh, actually helps our numbers. And so we'll meet and I'm like, okay, you're a C and C, and I'm a Di, so we're opposites. So what do I need to do? And I even say it. What do I need to do to make sure you feel comfortable to open up to me? Because an C is not going to open up to a Di real easy.

Peter Neubig [00:26:52] Yeah.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:26:53] And so we have to be willing. I feel like in business psychology plays a huge role. And I didn't realize how big, how important the disc profile was until I had my entire company do it. And I was like.

Pete Neubig [00:27:08] Wow, that makes a lot of sense when you see when you see like, oh, that makes sense. That makes sense. Yeah. I did a, um, I did a DiSC analysis for, uh, for a property management company, just just as a, as a goof. You know, they asked me if I'd do it for them, and, uh, so I got all their teams DiSC, and I basically on the phone, I'm on a zoom with all of them, and I said, okay, who's this? So and so. Okay, you're this, this, this, this and this. And nine out of ten, everybody's like, spot on. The one person said, there's no way. And then and then the owner called me goes, oh, that person was lying. They were completely like you said. So I was able to basically tell everybody about their personalities without even knowing them, just through their just through their disc. So I think it's amazing as well. I'm a big, big proponent of personality profile, whether you use DiSC or any of the other ones.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:27:53] What's interesting about that? I thought it was a waste of money. At first I was like, I'm not going to pay that, because to do it for a company can cost a lot of money. I was like, ah, that's a waste of money. Come on, I can figure out people. And then it was like, oh, this is actually really important. And it was it's changed things.

Pete Neubig [00:28:10] And then I'm guessing the last part. So the other big part of it is strategy. Or are you the one that's, that's setting the strategy for, uh, for the three businesses?

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:28:18] Yes. So well, my husband does do a lot for sunny days, but I'm over the strategy. And so we'll sit down. And I am a big believer that two brains are better than one, and three brains are better than, uh, one. So what we do, we have a level up meeting. We'll discuss issues, we'll discuss where we want to go, goals. And we sit down every quarter. We talk about rocks and all that to make sure where we're going and what is our goal for the one year? What is our goal for three years, even five years? We want to plan out and go, hey, are we still making stepping stones to get to where we want?

Pete Neubig [00:28:53] So if someone's listening right now and they're like, man, I would love to hire a process person, I guess, uh, what is that cost? What? How much are you paying somebody as to be a process implementer or whatever you call? Would you call them a 

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:29:10] Process architect

Peter Neubig [00:29:10] Architect? I like that better. Yeah, I used to call them. It's a little bit different. Specialist, but process architect is great. I love that I'm gonna steal that one. So no. What kind of, you know, what kind of salary is that? Like a range that, like a.

Pete Neubig [00:29:23] $8,000. What what is that about?

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:29:25] Well, so we on an hourly rate, it's in between 8 and 13 bucks an hour. Um, I started them at eight, but I realized very quickly that I, I, I really valued them. And to me personally, I felt like I was underpaid. So I this.

Pete Neubig [00:29:42] Is obviously. You. You hire remote like, this is not somebody in the us. Yes. This is not somebody.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:29:47] Yes. No. So I would I would recommend them come see you or come look at VPM like hiring remote. You can get some really good talent.

Pete Neubig [00:29:56] I gotta tell you, the. Whole time I'm talking to you about this process architect guy, I never assumed that he was in the States, and here I am. I own a VA company, I own, I own VPM solutions and I never even thought about that. I always thought that it had to be. So you're literally finding process architects. Uh, basically in, uh, you know, overseas

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:30:17] So my entire Swat team is overseas. My, so my process architects, my audit and my data analysis people are 

Pete Neubig [00:30:25] Your Culture guy is overseas too.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:30:27] Overseas as well.

Pete Neubig [00:30:28] Um, so. All right. I got it. So this is, um, unbelievable. So instead of worrying about hiring somebody for 100, $150,000 a year, you literally can hire a VA, a remote team member, the right guy, right? You have to do a DiSC profile on them because they need to be a high C. I would think right to to be process tech.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:30:46] Yeah, he's a high C.

Pete Neubig [00:30:48] But they have to know Property Management.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:30:50] They don't know. They have to know. You can train them on that part. Um now some people I do want them to have some understanding about property management. My data analysis guy, my audit people and my, um, process architects. One of them did. He worked for a property management company for a couple of years, but one of them had no, uh, no information about a property management company beforehand.

Pete Neubig [00:31:16] So if I'm sitting here, I'm listening to this and I'm thinking, man, I need I. That process architect thing just sounds too good to be true. That's why I kept asking you. How much money were you making? How much, you know, profit again, it never even dawned on me. So basically, it basically it's 10 to 12 bucks an hour, let's call it. If you got somebody who literally can just do your own, create the processes. And now, I mean, when you started this, there was probably very little automation, right? LeadSimple was basically just for CRM back then. Right. Zero automation. And so now with LeadSimple and Aptly and Asana and Zapier and all these other ones which were a big fan of, of of LeadSimple. They're, you know, they're great. They're built for property management. So if you're having looked at LeadSimple, we I endorse them. I like them, uh, or aptly, but both of those two check those two out. So, um, so basically you found somebody, they documented your systems and then they were able to build it. Then then you you basically built I'm guessing you built it on checklists first, and now you built it all automated on on LeadSimple.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:32:16] So. So, huh. Yes, I had binders, but it was outdated a little bit. You know how we used to always have binders? It was all documented. But how many people actually look at the stupid binders? Nobody. I mean, I'm sorry. They would come into my office. Go, Tiff, how do you do this? Tiff, how do you do this? I'm like, oh my goodness, I can't get anything done today. Yeah. So I gave them those. But what happened was we came on with LeadSimple after I hired my first and actually I had LeadSimple train them on LeadSimple. And then we have one meeting and I tell them exactly what I want. I just throw up on them. Exactly the process I want. They record the video and then they go build it out and they implement it.

Pete Neubig [00:32:54] You want to hear something cool? We have we have LeadSimple training on the VPM platform. You can actually hire somebody off of VPM. That's LeadSimple certified.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:33:03] Are you serious? Yeah okay. That's a game changer. Yeah. That's pretty cool.

Pete Neubig [00:33:10] It went live in uh, where are we? We're in March. Yeah. It went it went live. So we're recording this in early March and it really went live today. Uh, the training went live today.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:33:20] Congrats.

Pete Neubig [00:33:21] Recording it. Yeah. So thank you for that.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:33:23] So that's amazing. Because if you can bring people in that already know the softwares, it does help on the cost that it takes to train people. And if they're already certified on speed.

Pete Neubig [00:33:37] All right. So we got a couple of minutes here before we hit break. And then we go to Lightning Round. So I want to talk just a little bit more about your new venture. Um, what do you what do you call it again. What's the it's.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:33:49] It's Tiffany Rosenbaum. And then unleashing your ultimate life, unleashing your. The podcast should be coming out in a couple months, but it's, um. It's it's really neat. It's a it's amazing to be a part of these people's journeys and talk to them about it. I mean, I'm interviewing people that are worth so much money and then people that have gone through, you name it, they've gone through high water.

Pete Neubig [00:34:13] Yeah.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:34:13] Oh yeah, I went I actually journeyed Texas. I went from Houston to Austin and Dallas and interviewed a bunch. And it was incredible because really, any successful person really goes through a lot of the wringer. You don't see the brutal, emotional, um, struggle that they go through.

Pete Neubig [00:34:36] Yeah. What's the old saying everybody. It's a it's a overnight. He's an overnight success. 20 years in the making.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:34:41] Yes I wish.

Pete Neubig [00:34:44] Are you seeing that more. Is that more true than ever before the 20 year overnight success. People that grind. 20 years and like, oh look, they just they they just made it. It's like, yeah, I just made it. Yeah. It's been 20 years and I lost my life savings twice. Right. Yeah.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:34:59] But it's they're willing to take risks and they're willing to go through I call it hell go through hell to make sure they get their dreams. And that's the difference. Like they have perseverance that is like no other. Um, and they really take a hone in on their team. Everybody I talked to, the relationships. They talk about, the relationships with their team and how important that is. And I think a lot of people forget that when they start a business. But it's the team that's going to elevate your company. It's not it's not you because you can't do it by yourself. No one can.

Pete Neubig [00:35:36] Yeah, I'd say, uh, as you're listening to this, I think, uh, I think the Tiff has kind of beaten that one down, beaten that horse. Right. Like, if you get one thing out of it is the team. You're only as good as your team. And the team can actually be low cost, high skilled labor that are overseas. Okay. We're going to take a quick commercial break. We're going to come back with the the lightning round. Sound good? All right. We'll be right back. Everybody 

Pete Neubig [00:36:00] All right. Welcome back everybody. We're going to put Tiffany in the lightning round. Our favorite part of the uh of of the podcast. All right Tiff are you ready to be in the lightning round?

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:36:10] I'm ready.

Pete Neubig [00:36:11] All right. What is one of the stupidest things you did when you started your business?

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:36:19] Oh, man. Um, if you want to know the truth, I set up every owner with a separate bank account because we didn't know when someone told me this is how it had to be. So every owner had a separate bank account, and then we allowed tenants to go to directly to the bank to deposit it. But then the bank would like lose the money. And then we it was a mess. It was called chaos.

Pete Neubig [00:36:40] Oh man. You know what? I'm glad somebody did something almost as bad as me. My biggest thing was I didn't co-mingle funds. But, um, what I did is I allowed the resident to pay the owner directly their rent, and then the owner paid me my management fee.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:36:55] I never done that. But that's that's. We both did something. I think we all do something stupid, though. We're learning.

Pete Neubig [00:37:01] What property management software do you use?

Speaker3: [00:37:03] Property where

Pete Neubig [00:37:05] Oh, you wanted a few. The bold. All right. Uh, I'm a big property guy. That's how we actually met through RealPage and property. And I'm a big fan of those guys. Uh, what is your current organizational structure for 500 plus units?

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:37:18] Current organizational structure. I have a director of property management. Actually, to be honest, I am uh, I am changing my BDM and my property manager are changing because I did DiSC profiles on them again and they changed. And so I'm actually, um, in the middle of changing them. But then we're pod structure. We're not. Yeah.

Pete Neubig [00:37:38] Um, uh, do you use virtual assistants? Yeah. Resounding yes, I do, and you have BDMs. All right. What is one piece of advice you'd give someone just starting out in PM? No doors. They're just starting out.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:37:50] Don't call yourself a property manager.

Pete Neubig [00:37:53] Business owner or entrepreneur like it.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:37:56] Really get into that mindset of being a business owner and get out of the weeds and hire a coach if you need to, to make sure that they can help you stay on track.

Pete Neubig [00:38:06] I like that. Nice. Good advice. Does pineapple belong on pizza?

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:38:11] Yes, yes it does.

Pete Neubig [00:38:14] All right, well. We were friends, but

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:38:14], uh, I'm not anymore. 

Pete Neubig [00:38:14] Let that one go by. Uh, what was your first job?

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:38:21] My first job, I worked in a warehouse. Actually, no junior high. I used to go to the junior high and clean toilets. 

Pete Neubig [00:38:30] Really? 

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:38:32] Uh, my dad wanted me to know that no job was too good for myself. Uh, for me. So I used to clean toilets. And when we got into property management, I did it again.

Pete Neubig [00:38:42] All right, so I'm gonna I'm gonna. So normally I ask if you could have dinner with anyone, who would it be? But I'm going to ask you a little bit different one. If you could have anyone on your podcast, who would it be?

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:38:55] You know what? Uh. Oh man, the owner of Ritz-Carlton or Walmart? Either one of those. Walmart actually has a line to my family. My grandfather, my great grandfather and him actually almost started Walmart up together. But my grandfather wanted to start up Russell Newman, which was a manufacturing for lingerie for women instead. And so I would want to interview him.

Pete Neubig [00:39:21] Um, what is one challenge you're currently facing in your business? 

Pete Neubig [00:39:34] I stumped you there.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:39:35] Well, you did, because I think everything's evolving and changing. I'm always looking at, um.

Pete Neubig [00:39:42] I could it be. That's actually the challenge is everything is evolving and changing.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:39:46] I think. Yeah. So. And also making sure my team feels valued. That is my number one goal this year is to make sure my team knows that they're my number one.

Pete Neubig [00:39:57] You prefer dogs or cats?

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:39:59] Dogs. Cats pee and. Stink.

Pete Neubig [00:40:04] All right. Tip if, uh, if somebody wanted to follow you or get in touch with you, or if they even wanted to download your podcast that's coming out soon, how did they get in touch with you? How do they how do they do all that stuff?

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:40:17] Uh, Instagram Tiffany Rosenbaum and then my email is tiffany@rosenbaumrealtygroup.com. And I'm always open. Any questions anybody asked me I always respond to them.

Pete Neubig [00:40:28] Yeah. And Rosenbaum is what an s not a Z.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:40:31] Yes.

Pete Neubig [00:40:32] Okay. And, um, if you, uh, if you're getting ready to hire your, your next, um, architect, go to vpmsolutions.com. We have over 39,000 remote team members looking for work in the property management and real estate industry. And if you're not part of NARPM, why not? You listen to our podcast. Join them NARPM.Org (800) 782-3452 or info at NARPM.org Tiff. You're the best. Thanks for thanks for being on and we'll talk to you soon.

Tiffany Rosenbaum [00:41:03] Thanks for having me.

Pete Neubig [00:41:05] You got it.