Multifamily Women® Podcast
The Multifamily Women® Podcast explores insightful discussions on the importance of not only elevating women in leadership but also becoming mentors and helping shape the future of the Multifamily industry. As technology advances at rapid pace, you will hear from top experts on the ever-evolving roles women play in multifamily organizations, how they got started in the industry, roadblocks they’ve faced along the way, and what they’re doing now to build and strengthen their current organizations.
Multifamily Women® Podcast
Building Connections and Embracing Technology in Multifamily with Kim Senn Cross
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What happens when you bring a multifaceted leader like Kim Senn Cross onto our show? You get a treasure trove of insights from her inspiring journey that spans over three decades in the multifamily industry. Kim, who started her career at Lincoln Property Company in 1990, has navigated through significant roles at an internet startup, RealPage, and Prime Group before eventually founding her own boutique consulting firm, The KSC Group.
In this episode, Kim candidly shares the highs and lows of her entrepreneurial journey, shedding light on the diverse services offered by KSC Group, from business applications and managed services to specialized training for property management companies. Kim also opens up about the unique challenges she's faced as a woman entrepreneur and emphasizes the importance of trusted advisors and continuous learning in overcoming these hurdles.
Networking and maintaining relationships are critical in any industry, and Kim provides a masterclass in the art of building connections. We explore the value of events like the Women's Summit in fostering both professional networks and personal friendships. Kim reminisces about reunions with past colleagues and underscores the importance of never burning bridges. This chapter also delves into the excitement around new technologies like nectarflow™ AI and automation, emphasizing how industry advocates play a pivotal role in driving innovation. We also discuss team dynamics and how having a single point of contact for clients can enhance service delivery while ensuring team flexibility and skill development.
Embracing innovation is not without its discomforts, especially with the rapid advancements in AI and cybersecurity. Kim speaks passionately about the necessity for proper education to alleviate these fears and encourages leaders to embrace rather than shy away from these changes. She highlights the importance of industry advocates like KSC Group in helping companies navigate these shifts.
Connect with Multifamily Women®:
Multifamily Women® Summit: https://multifamilywomen.com/
Carrie Antrim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrieantrim/
Be a Guest on the Podcast or at the Summit: https://apps.multifamilywomen.com/speakingrequest
Multifamily Women® Leadership Series: https://apps.multifamilywomen.com/join
Multifamily Consulting Firm's Journey and Challenges
Speaker 1Welcome to another episode of the Multifamily Women's Podcast. We are so happy to have Kim Sencross here today. She's with the KSC Group and she is a member of the Multifamily Innovation Council as well as an attendee of our Women's Summit, and we are so happy to have you here today, Kim. Lauren, thank you for having me. So tell us a little bit about how you got into multifamily and what your journey was.
Speaker 2My journey started in 1990. I was 25 years old and a recruiter sent me to Lincoln Property Company. They were going from manual systems and putting computers out on site. So I was hired to help in that initiative and spent 10 years at Lincoln learning and growing through all the different phases. And here I am.
Speaker 1Then you ended up at was it Entrata Next or?
Speaker 2RealPay, no. So my journey. I was at Lincoln and then I went to work for an internet startup company. We were putting DSL and television set-top boxes and going around and for people to pay rent online None of that through their television set-top box. We were using the hotel model. And after that I started being an independent consultant and doing projects, subcontracting under friends, rolling out various software platforms, got it. Then I went to RealPage and I was a consultant rolling out all the products. Went back on the property management side for Prime Group out of Los Angeles. Okay, spent five years with them Another amazing family. I've been blessed to work at so many amazing companies. And then I went to be VP of Entrada and then, march 1st of 2013, I launched the KSC Group.
Speaker 1That's amazing, and so that's a really cool journey to get so many different angles. We fall into property management and all of us test the waters in every little. I've been on the supplier side for a minute. I've been in the management side, you know. So I think that's a really cool journey and it makes a lot of sense that then you would set yourself up to be able to consult. And so what does the KSC group do for companies?
Speaker 2We are a small boutique consulting firm the team. We have some amazing people that have decades of experience in all aspects conventional, affordable, student. We've all been on the applications side and so it's almost like cloning yourself and we've come together and we are an outsource for business applications for various companies. And our companies range in size from they might have one property they might be taking management in-house small, smaller management companies who don't have an IT team. So we offer, as a core frame, consulting, best practices you know policies and procedures, change management, product implementation and because we have a vast experience, it is most of any of the software platforms that are available as a major PMC, plus any add-on services. Then there is our managed services, which is support. We can do frontline support or backup your support team. So we have a conversation and determine what they need.
Speaker 2Special projects can range anywhere from I need somebody to change all my document management settings or I need somebody to add this one item in monthly schedule billing Data conversions. We call it's now called, I think property onboarding. We're very quick, very agile and we can convert most platforms that are available. We get them done in three days or less. And then the last thing is training which is actually evolving into more coaching, because you're training and you're training with me and I have found that success is breaking it up into two to three hour. You know, targeted questions specifically for that job over a period of time, instead of the two day, three day. You know in person or Zoom, virtual training, and so these mini sessions seem to be so that's what we do, and then our customers come and stay with us and say can you do this, can you do that? And so we'll do one-off projects just for certain people.
Speaker 1I love that and I've seen a lot more people start to work for themselves, start companies, realize this is a niche I can fill or this is something I can help people with, and I think that's really the way of the future a lot of people are thinking about. So, as a woman because you are a sponsor of the Women's Summit as a woman, what have been some challenges you've had in starting your own business, becoming a founder? What did that journey look like and what are some of the hurdles you're facing?
Speaker 2I did not come into the business knowing how to necessarily run a business and the first. I always believe in trusted advisors. I called people in the industry that I know, like and trust and spoke to them and got great advice. And then my older brother ironically told me to read and I forget the author E-Myth Revisited and it is about exactly that journey of you have a skill and now you're turning it into a form of income and that's challenging. The next hurdle was when a client said I thought it was going to be me myself and I.
Speaker 2And then I backend administration of payroll, various states, rules, regulations constantly changing, yeah, um, and growing into trying different things for different revenue streams, and some things worked, some things didn't work.
Speaker 2And then different skill sets mentoring bringing people who were 19 years old and never worked in property management and bringing them into the company and guiding them.
Building Connections and Embracing Innovation
Speaker 2I started hiring people at the two-year mark and most of those people are still with me Wow, so I feel like that's a blessing that these people are with you through the highs and the lows, yeah, while you're trying to figure things out, and I always have to go on a leadership journey so that I can be the right person for them, or self-doubt. You have to find people that you can trust to go talk to about that, and groups of people. That's why I love the Women's Summit. Yeah, because there's so many. I say business, network that you get, but also you form friendships and go to people that you can say. This is what I feel is going on in our industry Agree, disagree, hash it out, whatever, or network and send them business, or you know, and it's like a high school reunion when you get to see once a year those same faces showing up, you know, or you run into them at another conference. Yeah, I always look forward to the women's summit.
Speaker 1Yeah, I mean, it's such a good time to connect with, with like-minded people, and everyone has a story right In this industry. You get in and you just don't leave right In this industry.
Speaker 2You get in and you just don't leave. I tell everybody that I say don't leave on bad terms because the people that I worked with foundationally at Lincoln that left, they went to other management companies and our paths crossed and when I started the company I sent my email out, got my little domain and I got my little email and then I drafted my first email to my network and all of the clients that came to me were people I knew from when I was 25, working at Lincoln, and they knew my work ethic and everything that I brought. And then they tell people. Yes, so I always tell people, and people who leave I say well, we'll see you again soon. Yeah.
Speaker 1They always come back, oh yeah, and even if it's not to come back to that company, it's to come back in a different way. Maybe you joined the supplier side and now you want to have conversations with the people that you just worked with, and it is so intertwined. Every single one of us has that story. Oh yeah, and it's like I'll meet someone. I'll be like wow, and then you realize you know the same people. You've worked for the same company but at a different time, or you know whatever that is. So I think that's very sound advice to never burn a bridge, because no matter what went down or what unfolded in your choice to leave, you're going to wind up in the same room with those people.
Speaker 2Again, you just will, you will. And the very first time we spoke and met it was six degrees of Kevin Bacon, because we already knew three of the same people in our journey, and yet this was the first time we met in person.
Speaker 1Yeah and yeah, just the journeys that you unfold and you start to share and you connect with people and you just it's such a great feeling to have connections on people that are such a different level than just you know online or you know. It's so different in person, so I'm really glad that we met Me too, so okay, so back to business here, though. So how many people are on your team or how many associates do you have?
Speaker 2We have some, of course, more corporate folks. You've got to have the corporate accountant, sales, those kind of positions, and then I would say we probably have 15 people dedicated to the core functionality. The other thing that's different about us is we give our clients a single point of contact, but based on the request. Everybody does everything. I do tickets, I do training, you know I may back somebody up, yeah, and so it's basically who is the right fit or the right talent that can help solve this issue or resolve it? But we also want to make sure the client has a main person and they bring those projects, those tickets, whatever, to that person and then they work to make sure the right person has it or understands. Or, if it's a project where we bring in, you know, they're not 19 anymore, right, they're 26, 27, 28 years old and their knowledge is vast, and so we might put them on a project. Or it's an opportunity, as a senior leader, to teach them a new skill and level them up, right, I love that.
Speaker 1So what's your favorite project or what's your favorite kind of solution that you've had for one of your clients?
Speaker 2That's kind of hard I've gotten. When I first started, I worked for I went through a software selection and then the implementation for a company that was very established Okay. But they were able to continue to in 2013,. They were still able to run a DOS-based product and had it down to a well-oiled machine. But they couldn't gain new business because they weren't on the latest technology. So they were forced to change because they were appeared to be antiquated in our industry and so that was interesting.
Speaker 2And then sometimes it's a challenge that says I'm taking over management and I have to be live in two weeks and I go okay, challenge accepted, right. What I love right now is what's going on with Nectar Flow yeah, because it's exciting, and I always love puzzles and problems and processes, puzzles and problems and processes and thinking about how can I do something more efficient or give it a new shiny, brightness to it that sets that company apart Right. And so what's going on with Nectar Flow AI and automation is very exciting to me, yeah, and to a couple of other folks on the team. So we're behind the scenes, we've built integrations and workflows for clients and now we're able to go okay, if we were to build a snail on the Nectar Flow platform. What does that look like, and does it give us also, then, the opportunity to do more for that company? Absolutely, so that's what's exciting to me right now.
Speaker 1I think it's really exciting. And here's the thing is that there's going to need to be a group of people in our industry who really advocate for change but also help companies of all sizes navigate through how that change is going to be implemented. And so you know it's going to come to a point where innovation has to happen. You know we're already seeing it. We're at a point where something's got to give right, and so there are people like you who are so seasoned in software implementation, in tech, in how to bring new tech to our industry. You're the perfect person to bring something like this in front of the right people.
Speaker 2That's exactly what I have been. So I guess Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book and it wasn't Tipping Point, it was the one. He wrote Outliers, and I loved it because he said sometimes you end up at the perfect spot, that you can ride the waves through your career. Yeah, because it happened. It didn't happen right before you, but it happened when I came to Lincoln. We were putting computers and then I was a subject matter expert to help enhance software products, and then we came to the Windows world and then we went to the Internet and then, you know, so I've been able, and that's always exciting when something new comes Right.
Speaker 2And yet we still have old challenges. Everybody wants some form of a business intelligence tool, everybody wants their Monday morning report. Everybody, you know they're looking to dig into data. Or how do I train in this environment and how do I now work in a hybrid world? We've had a project where a company came to us and said help us, we want to implement a four-day work week for our company. Only have people work 32 hours. How do we accomplish that? And it wasn't, it was looking at all the different aspects. So I said we get these unique, fun projects like oh well, after they did it, I implemented it. We did a four-day work week or we did flex time. I love it and I have to tell you the employees came back to us and said that it's helped me so much with my stress level, my anxiety. I get those three days but yet the work is still covered because I have a buddy. Yeah, they take off Monday, I take off Friday.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Yeah, so it's basically. Sometimes the benefit is through efficiency and being an I'm investigating AI. Yeah, all of the different amazing software that's out there has a component of AI, but how does this AI work with this AI? That works with this AI? Yeah, and how do you? And you're not replacing people, you're just making people more efficient because they become reviewers of data instead of key punch people.
Speaker 1Absolutely. You're just taking the things that they don't want to do in their jobs and you're automating it.
Speaker 2I call it re-imagining or just re-imagining, and that's the phase we're in and that's what I love. And some people are really opening to open to that idea and some people go no, I want that company to do it differently, and then I'll see how it works for them and then I'll adopt it. Okay.
Speaker 1Great. We'll show you how it's done.
Speaker 2And I don't mind getting. I'm putting that test in my own company.
Embracing Innovation and Overcoming Fear
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, and you know. Here's the thing. What's interesting is, we did do a poll, so we did a webinar this morning with. We helped Nectar Flow do a webinar this morning, and what they ended up we polled the audience and we asked are you scared, are you excited about AI? You know, most people were excited, so that could be a bias that we have in and of itself, thinking that people are scared. Of course, change comes with discomfort always, but I think more people are realizing that that discomfort is where the magic's at. That's usually, instead of pulling back and saying, hey, I'm uncomfortable, it's time to pull back, people are now saying I think that means I'm onto something right. That discomfort You're like let's push forward, let's push through that, because I think that's when you're on the brink of innovation.
Speaker 2I was at an AA and I had the chance to run into Bob Pinniger and I asked him what he felt about AI in our industry felt about AI in our industry and I did tell him that I felt like educating our industry needed to be at the forefront, because I don't know that people really knew which component of AI and how it worked, and also cybersecurity some of the things that we haven't done before that we need to have in place, and alleviating fear of it.
Speaker 2You know, oh, it's going to put me out of a job and things like that, but that education was core, because that's what people ask how do I gain the knowledge and what security measures, what safety nets do I have to have in place so that I don't add another liability? Yeah, and that's what we're working on at the KSC group is because we are trusted advisors and we want to help our industry. The whole basis of starting the company was there was so much knowledge in my head and then in my team that we want to be available to give that knowledge to companies that would like to have that, absolutely. And now we're in this new world and we want them not to be afraid, and so we follow influencers right, or we test it out in certain ways, and so you know, I think that's a big talking point.
Speaker 1I think it's huge. And here's what's interesting is that not making a choice is still making a choice, and so these companies that think they can just stay out of that world don't introduce AI, don't even talk about it. Your people have tools that they're using, that are AI, whether it's you're using chat, gpt or they're using these things. And so I worked for a company and what they did? They got us in a room. They were like what tools? We are mandated to ask you what tools you are using that incorporate AI so that we can control this. And instead of the company being the one that's innovating and saying, look, these tools exist, let's leverage this. Let's talk about. Here's a workflow you do. What parts of this can you automate? What parts of this can you add AI to, instead of the company taking those reins, they approached it in a more of a fearful aspect, and for me, it's like you innovate right, otherwise, no choice is still a choice. Your people are going to do it, with or without you.
Speaker 2I always I love to having tenure in the industry. It's a wave, right. Everybody was doing. They were fearful because we had PCs and we had servers and the software was installed within our walls. And now we're going to the cloud and everybody well, I won't say everybody, right, people didn't want that. But now that's the standard. We introduce renter's insurance, mandatory renter's insurance, and if they don't have it, then we start charging. Oh no, we can't do mandatory. And then all of a sudden, a building burns down and oh, we're doing mandatory, right, and so you get a pushback.
Speaker 2So what we experienced pre-COVID is what were the technologies? Self-guided tours people were showing, being able to communicate with your residents, text, all different forms, right. Even saw a demo where they had programmed Alexa to pay your, to pay your rent, and things like that. Or the smart home technology. And then offices shut down and we all work from home. That's the other perk. So we weren't impacted, but our clients came to us like help. We don't know how to work remotely. We don't know how to teach our offices to work remotely. We need to text our residents and we said your software already has it. Here's how you can do remote work, here's you know, so we guided them. Or in the affordable world, they weren't ever allowed to do electronic signatures and and now they were, and so we created gaps.
Speaker 2The software providers were in the process of developing prospect tools, different things, but we kind of helped fill that gap. So repayment agreements and things like that. We had online forms, different ways to help them navigate this world and tell them. You know, they already had some self-guided tours or tours. A lot of people went ahead and did you know, went ahead and adopted. So the whole point is AI, like you said, we call embracing, make it a positive experience, and that we're going to put it in a bubble and test it and vet it out and we're going to roll it out in small increments and see how it goes and then catch a vision from there about, okay, how far can we take this and not come at it fear-based. But you will have people who are afraid or want to wait and see how the industry, you know, embraces it.
Speaker 1Yeah, and that's their choice, right it's. You know, it's totally up to everybody how they want to embrace this, but I think you know, in my opinion, the more we just accept that it's here, accept that our people are already using it, and think of it that way that now, how can I rein this back in? I need to be the first one to understand all of the capabilities and now I can work with my people to say which parts of your job do we want this in? So, as with anything else, I think it's up to the individual, but our leaders need to be leaders right now, truly in every initiative and every innovation.
Speaker 2And part of it too, is a leader sometimes makes a decision and is removed from then the implementation, the adoption and all that, and they're, I guess, what you call kind of sponsors of it. But they're removed and they really need to be involved and understand that technology Because, at the end of the day, whatever they're doing is going to funnel into the data that they're reviewing to make decisions. Yep, and so I think, by the one of my first boss in the industry when we started doing email. He didn't do computers, and so I basically printed out every email and sat it in his chair until the big boss drove in and we saw his car sitting out front and told him she can't print your emails for you anymore. Yeah, and I was like sorry, yeah, you know you have to now embrace email, Absolutely, you know. So it's just so funny. Just, I've seen and two years from now we're going to be talking about it in a different way- oh yeah.
Speaker 2Nobody wanted to do online payments and now there's companies out there that we send it to them and let them do our payments. Now I wish people would pay their vendors not in a check form. That's my next goal is hey, you want your rent check pretty quick. I kind of want to get paid pretty quick electronically. Can we work on that? Oh yeah, no, but some people are like we're never going to get away from our check printing.
Speaker 1I mean, I've seen it in action. You know, on the management side it's wild, it's literally. Hey, did that payment get processed? Well, it was mailed four days ago, I can tell, I can check with and I'm like what Exactly?
Speaker 2How are we so behind the times in the way that we're processing payments? It's so easy to do these days. And I even talked to Avid Exchange. I saw them at NAA. I said, hey, we'll just build a platform for my AR and stuff and kind of help me. I know you're helping on some other ways on this side, but can you help? Can you help a brother out on my side or sister out on my side? They're like, hey, that's a great idea. I was like, yeah, go do that for me.
Speaker 1Every supplier in this industry is like I hear you, I'm here for this. I get this. Yeah, it's pretty wild and I get that there's some complications in moving property funds and then the management funds and who's actually paying who, and there's some complication there. But it shouldn't be this.
Speaker 2Here's my favorite story. It's like this is the. My husband and I actually laugh at this because I understand that each property has its own bank account and needs to pay its own bills, right, and when you send a corporate invoice and then they allocate it out. And I went to the mailbox and had a really thick envelope and I thought, wow, I got a bunch of checks in and I opened it up $2.08, $2.10, $4.50. And I was like one thing was 43 cents. I was like the postage cost you more the paper, right? If you'd have paid this electronically. What is that? Like a 35 cent transaction fee. And yet now all my excitement is gone and I have to hand sign in the back and endorse each one of these Because it's all different properties.
Speaker 1Because it's all different portions. A portion of yes, yes, you know, and.
Speaker 2I understand that requirement, but there has to be. There has to be a better way, there has to be a better way.
Speaker 1These are just the things that you're like how are we still doing so?
Speaker 2I felt like, instead of, I'm just going to wait until you owe like a lot more money before I send you an invoice, because why do I want to rent the bank for $2.08? Yeah.
Speaker 1I'll bill you every six months, yeah.
Speaker 2It's called a day. You'll get one annual fee. Wow.
Speaker 1That is just yes. There are a lot of innovations that still and there have to be other companies that have that kind of bank.
Speaker 1I guarantee you I can't be alone. Yeah, no, I guarantee you I can't be alone. Yeah, no, everybody's feeling it. I mean, I've been on the management side, I've seen it. I've been on the supplier side, I've seen it. And there's currently. There are things that you think about innovation and we're like, wow, but we are behind. We're behind, and so we need people like you, we need groups like you, we need groups like Nectarfield To help guide leaders through these processes that are very outdated.
Speaker 2Well, you know, be their trusted advisor, say you know what? We're going to walk through this and we're going to have changes, and it's going to be uncomfortable, but everybody's going to survive at the end of the day and we're all going to make it through, no man left behind or a woman, or you know. And then you're going to see the power of the tool that you've just been given and then you're going to reimagine all the other things it can do Absolutely. And that's what I'm waiting for, is that's what's exciting for me. I think that's brilliant, because that means more fun projects.
Empowering Women in Real Estate
Speaker 1Well, and how I just I'm so excited about everything in the future with you. I think it's incredible. We could probably just go back and forth for hours and hours about all the possibilities of the future. We've had so many amazing conversations. One of the things I do want to say the KSC group is sponsoring the Women's Summit, which is very exciting. We're so excited to have you there. You've been an attendee now for how many years, Beginning.
Speaker 2I first attended the Innovation Summit in 2019. I first attended the Innovation Summit in 2019. The Women's Summit didn't exist and I had a connection with Carrie and Patrick and we happened to have a phone call and I said, when I came into this industry, there weren't many women that were on the IT side, there aren't a lot of women consulting companies. And I said, what about a women's conference? And you know, something that's that we can go to and learn from? And Carrie was like, actually, we've been thinking about that.
Speaker 2Yeah, so I have been a huge advocate of this and and I love because the very first summit had a lot of male speakers because it's not anti, you know, male, because I had a male. I have had the best experience with mentorship and people supporting me in my journey male, female, whatever. They gave me their knowledge, they gave me their trust. They said, Kim, we want you to be the subject matter expert, to build a market survey platform or go to this site and find out how much paper they have and what's redundant. And they trusted me to come back with solutions, and so I love now that you can walk into the C-suite and see a diverse group Absolutely All the way. Yeah, you know, so it's exciting.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, and we talk about like that a lot. You know, we always say we're building buildings for everybody, we're. You know, that's who our renter is, that's who our client is at the end of the day. And so if we don't have representation on the boards of these different companies that are that diverse, how are we supposed to create products for diverse groups of people? It just makes sense to have everybody in the room, and so we always talk about the Women's Summit as just another group of people that are all working together to innovate, that have a unique set, a unique background, unique set of circumstances, but all working together for the same same exact point of innovation, right?
Speaker 2Well, and the other thing the KC group did and what I love about the Women's Summit is I'm in my exit mode. A lot of people are retiring. Everybody that mentored me is retired, and so I love the Women's Summit because I'm seeing the next generation, and so we did a masterclass for internal clients to teach people how to be system admins. It had nothing to do with what PMC software you had. It had to be what tools are available to help you, and we had accountants, the owners, the IT team attend because we were talking about all the various tools. And so when I go there, I have the next generation coming to me for mentorship and I love that.
Speaker 2And it's even more personal because I was a single mom raising three kids and I was blessed to be able to work out of my house and, of course, I wore yoga pants and a ponytail like I do today, not on the podcast and they didn't know what I did. They just thought I talked on the phone all day and then I made them be leasing agents and I loved it when my son came in I have two daughters and a son and when my son came in and said I know what you do, I just produce blue moon leases. And when my son came in and said, I know what you do, I just produce blue moon leases. And I said, yeah, we can have a conversation. And they grew up doing data conversions, having to tick and tie source data to other old school in order to earn gas money. Now they all work for the company.
Speaker 2So that is the next generation in various forms. So it's not just who I meet and greet at conferences, it's also within my own family. There's a path for them. They're all different, they have different paths, but it's the one thing that you can come into with a high school diploma and the sky's the limit. You want to be in accounting. You want to work on site. One of my daughter's friends didn't really like college. I introduced her to some folks at Lincoln and she is one of their top leasing agents, winning awards left and right for a long time now.
Speaker 1Amazing Because.
Speaker 2I knew her personality, I thought she'd be a great fit. Yeah, so it's. I love the give back phase. I'm in them. That probably is. I love the technology, I love the innovation, but I also love people. Yeah, so I love to be able to answer questions. Help you, I'm here for you. What do you need?
Speaker 1Yeah, and you do such a good job with connection. I just every, every person. When I mentioned your name, they just light up. Oh, I appreciate that. I do love people. Yeah, and you're so good at it. And so many, a lot of women have come to me since I've started this role that are in your phase of this where they're starting. You know they didn't really have the social media to really put out there what they're doing. They had to work and they had to roll up their sleeves and make connections and call people and show up at their leasing offices and you had to work hard. And a lot of women have come to me and said I just feel like I don't want to prepare for retirement without having told my story, without giving back, without mentoring. I'm not ready to just exit.
Speaker 2I'm right there with them. My kids tease me like are you really ever going to exit? You know, I don't ever see me not doing something. Yeah, because I don't have any hobbies and I'm a terrible cook so I like to work, right? Yeah, it's what I love. But I do want to tell a story. There are stories to tell, but I do want to tell a story. There are stories to tell. There are, you know, the women in my company that are doing this. They're like the younger generation we bought in. They didn't have to go through the rough times. I was a 24-7 person, right. I remember walking in with a one-year-old getting the phone call because the budget program didn't work and it was Saturday and he got up and punched the alarm Next thing. I know the alarm's going off. I didn't even know I had an alarm that worked, right.
Speaker 2But I'm answering a budget question and it's not like that today you know, because people said we don't want that, we want something else, and so I do want to mentor people, but it's also other female entrepreneurs. I'm part of a member of other groups where I teach and speak and lead female entrepreneurs in in they. You know where I started and, of course, it's usually about the technology you need. So it's like this is what I needed to start and this was the middle, and here's where I am now. You know, and and things like that. But, like you said, it's more about walking along beside somebody, and I have mentors. There are people that I can pick up the phone today, even if they're retired, I'll still call them, and people in this industry love to help somebody else out. Yes, they love to share their experience and they want you to call them. They won't. They won't turn away from you. You know, as long as the first phone call isn't bye, I can generate more leads and get you more sales. And you know, and that LinkedIn spam you get.
Speaker 1That's very right Because of how genuine and embedded we are all of us, I do think that and even suppliers are doing so much better at understanding. It's so much better just to be in the room with those people having the same conversations than these co-call. I don't really know you right, that's not where the magic is going to happen at all.
Speaker 2I love the in-person, yeah, I love. You're at the conference and I always want to know where everybody's hanging out afterwards, because that's where you get to talk. But you're also you. You start off as a business alliance, chatting about the industry, and then all of a sudden it's hey, how's your kids, how's your, how's your dad, how? All of a sudden it's hey, how's your kids, how's your, how's your dad, how's your mom? You know how's your it's. Then you become friends and and you really care about and people shift and move.
Speaker 2Like you said, they're on the supplier side and now they're not there anymore and they're over at this company and they call you and they say oh, I made this change. Well, you want to help them? Yeah, or I know a few people that have worked for other software companies that have now stepped out on their own and I'll go tell me about your product. Yeah, there are some firms that if you select this software, they're going to get not only the consulting dollars but they're going to get a percentage of the sale, yep. And that's not our model.
Connecting With Multifamily Consulting Firm
Speaker 2Our model is if I like that software, then I'm going to recommend it, yeah. And so when somebody comes to me about an idea. I was like well, show me, tell me about it, and then I'll give them an honest answer and I'll say, okay, now I might have a couple of people this I could, you know, send your way. Send me an email that describes your service, with something that's that I can forward and and that's what I do and I always love. So we have this whole division that really just works with suppliers, and sometimes they're new to the industry and they need to be taught all the acronyms and how.
Speaker 1Oh, the acronyms.
Speaker 2Oh, the acronyms, and they've never worked on site so they're like this data looks weird. And I said, oh yeah, the leasing agent like did this and then they undid it, and then they did it again, and so you have to normalize your data, right, because I know what the front end looks like, so it, but it's, it's great. And then you see those companies grow and then you see who they hire as leadership and you know, oh, the baby's launched. You know it's amazing.
Speaker 1I think it's incredible and I think a lot of people can resonate with that. You know, I think it's incredible and I think a lot of people can resonate with that. We're trying to educate, we're trying to bring an industry up to speed. At the end of the day, we're all working towards the same goal and it's amazing, yeah, so how can someone find the KSC group and get in touch with you? What's the best?
Speaker 2way and automation right. So if you go in and fill out the form, it is going to send in into our CRM and we're going to reach out to you. We just want to know what problem can we solve. And then we bring people to the table, have a discussion and then take it from there and see if we're a good fit. And if we're not a fit for somebody, I guarantee you, I know and can recommend you, and I will even recommend you to people who think like, oh, this company is your competitor. They're really not, because we're so boutique in what we do and I've said I'm not a good fit for you, but I'm going to recommend you to this other company.
Speaker 2And I know people being in this industry. I've worked with them, I know what they bring to the table, so I know, when I pass them on, that they're going to be in great hands Right, and I even love to see them at the conferences and give them hugs and see how they're doing Right. So, anyway, that's how you, how you can start with us, and nothing is too small. We have one owner that owns 18 units and we have top NMHC 50 clients, so everybody is treated as important and valuable and how can we help? I love that.
Speaker 1So now you know how to reach Kim and again, get your tickets for the summit on multifamilywomencom and we will see Kim there and we hope to see you there too.