Franchise Friday Podcast episode 218 with Debra Cohen of Real Property Management

About episode 218 Mellisa Pang interviews Debra Cohen, Franchise Development Team Lead, Real Property Management
 
Debra's Bio:
Before I joined Real Property Management, I was what people call a "mompreneur". After the birth of my first daughter, I left a successful career as VP of a global aviation magazine for a less glamorous pursuit - motherhood.  Over the next six months, I developed a business plan and launched Home Remedies® a Homeowner Referral Network (HRN) that pre-screened and referred local home improvement contractors.  My business capitalized on my passion for home improvements and real estate and afforded me the opportunity to stay at home and raise my family while having a successful career.    After my first year in business, other entrepreneurs took notice of my success and were interested in starting a business like mine.  I decided to document all of the  "how-to's" in a  comprehensive business manual and marketed it along with Business Packages worldwide to other prospective entrepreneurs looking for a viable home-based business.  Before I sold my business in 2010, I helped launch more than 1000  businesses globally and my company grossed more than $4M in sales I graduated cum laude in 1989 from Union College in Schenectady, NY with a BS in Psychology and Spanish. My husband, Charles and I live in NY on Long Island and have two daughters, Emily (28) and Sophie (25).

Melissa noted: What fascinates me is that you went from entrepreneur to franchisor, essentially entering the franchising space. And a lot of times when we’re talking to candidates or talking to clients, they’re looking at options. And one of the options is a startup. One of the options is franchising.  What you said was you know what you were good at, you know what you liked to do. And you outsourced and found other people and experts to take on the other parts of the business you weren’t good at. And then you love helping people. And I think that all translates beautifully into the franchising model. However, this is a whole new world. Many candidates are being introduced to franchising for the first time and putting up a lot to invest. They’re investing time, energy and resources, including money. There’s some risk involved. We don’t want to forget about the fear they may feel.  From your perspective, from solopreneur to franchisor, what is what attracted you to franchising?

According to Debra: Eventually, I decided to sell my home improvement company and potentially retire. But I got bored very quickly and found Neighborly.  And they encapsulated everything I had loved about my career … working with entrepreneurs, helping them launch businesses, home improvements, and real estate, and it’s just putting it all together. But the bow on the package was that I wasn’t doing everything alone. In franchising, you’ve got teams of people who handle marketing, technology, and coaching and in my own company, I was doing all of that alone. So now I’m part of a team who supports me in doing what I love. And I’ve been with Real Property Management for three years recently promoted to team lead. I run the Franchise Development Division and absolutely love what I do.

Franchise Friday, where you can watch or listen as we explore franchising, entrepreneurship, and small business ownership, speaking with the franchise industry thought leaders and subject matter experts that shape the Future Of Franchising. #FranchiseFriday – For more about our podcast, visit our website: https://futureoffranchising.com/ Produced by Franchise Source Brands International and The Entrepreneur’s Source.

Transcript

Unknown: 0:13

Hey everyone, shout out to all of our listeners. Thank you for tuning into the franchise Friday podcast. My name is Melissa Pang. I am the member relationship strategist here at the entrepreneur source. And today I'm joined by the lovely Deborah Cohen, Deborah Cohen of real property management, which is a neighborly company. So let me just give a little bit of background on the on their brand. And then Deborah, I'd love to just hear a little bit more about your background. But neighborly is a local network of Home Service brands. And that they'll connect their customers to very specific vetted local experts. Real Property Management is a residential property management franchise organization. In North America, they manage 10s of 1000s of properties for individuals, investors and institutions across the country with 350 Plus locations across the US and still growing. So Deborah, welcome to the franchise Friday podcast. Thank you so much, Melissa, very happy to be here. I am very excited to talk with you and have a great conversation about all things franchise development and your background. But before we get into some of my questions, I would love to hear a little bit more about your background and some of the milestones that have led up to this moment in time today where you are at Real Property Management. So thank you for the introduction. And I've had a very interesting career prior to joining neighbourly. I started my own home improvement contractor referral business way back when when my 28 year old daughter was six months old. And I started that company from my basement by myself. I would basically my passion has always been real estate, home improvements, helping entrepreneurs. So I initially started this business because I realized there was a lot of home service providers that needed help promoting themselves and on the network or by nature. So slowly grew the business. I had a painter plumber, I'd refer them they'd give me a commission. Ironically, now I work for neighborly, who knew, but I started this business from my basement, a company was home remedies. And as it grew, other entrepreneurs look to me and they said I'd love to start a business like yours. Flash forward 20 years I helped launch over 1000 home improvement contractor for all businesses across the country. started the business from my basement, literally I went into labor with my second daughter in the basement. This is true entrepreneurship, everyone. Eventually my children grew. And I realized that it didn't need to be home anymore. Because that was really the impetus. I wanted that work life balance. I wanted to be home for my family. And I decided I was going to sell that company and potentially retire. But I got bored very quickly and found neighbourly subsequently. And they really, really encapsulated everything I had loved about my own career I love again, working with the entrepreneurs, helping them launch businesses, home improvements, real estate, and it's just put it all together. But the the bow on the package was that I wasn't doing everything by myself. In franchising, you've got teams of people who handle marketing, technology, coaching, I was doing all of that. So now I'm part of a team who supports me in doing what I love. And I've been with Real Property Management, three years recently promoted to team lead. So I run the franchise Development Division, and absolutely love what I do. And we absolutely love working with you and your team. And we've seen great success together, which we're going to talk about in a little bit. But before we get into all that, I first of all love that you went from entrepreneurs starting up your own business, a young mom with that baby, and you decided to just start building this business. Um, let's start there. What How did you do that? Like? Was it just something that organically started happening? Or how do you put those pieces together? That's an interesting question. I bootstrapped it. And I did it all on my own. And I really, you know, anybody who's in business knows you cannot be an expert in everything. And I learned that early on. So initially, I started doing what I love and focused on the aspects of my business. I knew I was good at I love networking with contractors promoting marketing, sales, and then I hired a team. So I outsourced I had an attorney, I had an accountant, I hired a webmaster. I hired a software developer and built a team based on the skill sets that I didn't have and they drove that aspect of the business so I could focus on the most important part, which is really what franchising is all about, right? Yup. Well, that's what I was gonna say you were franchising without even really knowing it. I Um, and again, building that really like replicatable model that you could then kind of put like together in a package and pass on to these other ones. So and was that ever a franchise that business that you started, it wasn't, and it's so interesting. So what happened was I had started the business and had tremendous success and other entrepreneurs all over the country started to hear about it, I had some PR opportunities. And I decided, I was a mom with a six month old at home. And I had left a full time career, and I didn't want a full time career anymore. But I wanted to help other people start. So I wrote a business manual, similar to a franchise manual, I had spoken to a franchise consultant, but realize that the investment time wise and money wise, was more than I could handle. And I just basically modeled it as a business in a box, and coached other franchise owners, other business owners all over the country. But they were independent, there was no residuals, they operated under their own name. But I did Coach over 1000 people nationwide. And what's fascinating to me is you went from entrepreneur to franchisor, essentially, to enter the franchising space. And a lot of times when we're talking to candidates or talking to clients, they're looking at, kind of those are options. And one of the options is a startup. One of the options is franchising what you said a few things where you knew what you were good at, you know what you liked to do. And you kind of outsourced and found other people to other experts to take on the other parts of the business you weren't good at. And then you love helping people. And I think that all translates beautifully into the franchising model. But from your perspective, going from entrepreneur, you're in the business, you're doing it, you're getting it done into the franchisor. Like, what is what attracted you, I can guess but what attracts you to the franchising? And like what do you see from your perspective going from entrepreneur? solopreneur to franchisor? I love that question. Because I think that's what drives me every single day, I have a very unique perspective, I think that I, I'm passionate about what I do, because I've walked in their shoes. And I know what it's like to do it on your own. And I know what it's like to do with support. And I can speak to both. And I would say that there are people I talk to you who are diehard entrepreneurs who aren't willing to follow a franchise system. And and sometimes some of our best franchise owners, they don't want as quickly as we'd like, because they have that feeling of I've been an entrepreneur, I know what I'm supposed to do. And I'm going to do things my way. And then they pivot in they're like, Okay, well, I hit a wall. And now I need to start following systems and rely on other people. So I think that my experience prior to joining me really, really gave me a unique perspective. And it also gave me a tremendous amount of empathy. Because I know the stress of starting a new business, and putting you know, your your savings on the line and investing in yourself. And, you know, maybe taking a step away from a career a steady paycheck, I know what that takes. So I think that kind of empathy, bringing that to the table gives me a very unique perspective with my candidates. Absolutely. And this is a beautiful segue into what I want to talk about, which is your ability to collaborate and work with the entrepreneurs or as coaches and their clients in such a fantastic way. And I'll say we don't see that across the board with every single franchise or member. And so what I really want to bring out is how you do that, I think the reason you talked about empathy is a big deal. And having been in their shoes and walked in those candidates footsteps, so to speak, you know, you've kind of been down that path. That's a big piece of it. But for someone who may be a new franchisor, who's starting to look for candidates, or maybe someone in the franchise development in a franchise development role. How do you create that experience? How do you create that collaboration, and weave that into your everyday because you do it so beautifully. And I hear it from clients and coaches in our community? Yeah, thank you. Well, first of all, say hats off to T Yes, because your coaches are phenomenal. And it's a partnership. It is a partnership and authenticity is key. And I think that when you enter into a relationship with a candidate with a coach with a consultant, you need to be aligned on what's best for the candidate and their future and their family. You know, it's a marriage, and both people have to come into the marriage, the franchisor and the new franchisee committed to success. And I think if you lose focus of that, that's where, you know, the experience goes awry. I always the greatest gratification that I have in what I do every day is helping people achieve their dreams and goals of financial independence creating a legacy, just getting out of a job that they don't like creating something jobs in their community giving back to their community. That's the soul of what we do in franchising, and I think that the TDS coaches that I work with If that is what they truly believe in, they walk the walk, and they are truly committed to what's best for the candidate. And I truly, I also feel that way. So the partnership works. I love it. And it's funny because it can almost seem so simple in a way. Because I think a lot of times if, especially as a franchise brand, if you're looking to grow, you know, you're looking at big numbers, and you're looking at your goals, and you're looking at almost like the macro view. And really, it comes down to the person in front of you, like, in those micro conversations, that's how you're going to build the brand. And I think and this for myself, also, I don't work with candidates, but I work with individuals. I have a big picture, I have goals, but I'm also working with individuals. And so how do you speak to that person right in front of you, and connect with them, that's how you're going to grow your brand, your reputation, and your your system, one, one person or one you know group at a time to listen to, and you want people who have the same culture that they're going to fit into your your franchise brand your culture. Look, we're in the property management space. However, what we do on a day to day basis is really interacting with people being good communicators. And that can translate into a lot of different industries. So it's not just Yes, I love real estate, I want to invest in real estate, I see a need for property management in my community. It's about who am I going to be building this business with? And are they aligned with my goals and my and the culture of the type of company I want to build. And I personally am extremely passionate about my team and real property management. So when I'm talking to a candidate, I always equate this to dating Melissa, I mean, I don't know if you've heard this analogy before. That first phone call is the first day. And then you decide if you want to have the second day you get into a webinar and you share a little bit more information about yourself. And then okay, let's just say to the FTD Review, I'm going to get a little bit more personal and show you a little bit behind the curtain that ultimately culminates in, I'm going to bring you home to my family and meet the team date and RPM. We're a family and our team as a family. And we all have to agree that we're getting married together, as I said earlier, so it for me it's a dating process. Yep. This is No, that's literally the perfect way to put it. And it's funny because we talk about it sometimes from like, what not to do. So you know, you're gonna have that first day and everyone's like, okay, like this could go somewhere, and then you're gonna throw the FTD in there. Oh, a prenup, I didn't wanting to do a second day, I don't even know. So it's funny that you put it that way. But it's really true. Like it's a great analogy to depict, how that how the relationship works. 100%. And it's also a great way to put candidates at ease. Yeah, sometimes you're on with the candidate. They're like, well, I don't know what I want to do yet. And I always say, you don't have to make a decision here. This is a mutual evaluation process. This is going to be a series of stages we're dating, we're not getting married. And I do you worry. It puts people at ease a little bit that they feel so much pressure, sometimes they get on the phone, and they feel like it's an interview. But it's not an interview. It's a conversation. I, anyone who's listening, I would highly recommend you just write that down. I think it's so easy to get caught up in your own agenda. Especially when you have numbers and goals to hit. I'm trying to win the franchise, the franchisor side. But this can apply in a lot of different situations. But it's really easy to get into your own agenda, and you want to check off boxes, and you want to get to the next step. And letting people have a conversation putting people at ease. And really kind of what you said there, you know, it's not don't make a decision. It's yeah, a mutual evaluation. We call it discovery for a reason. We're discovering each other. And if we're the right fit, we were We're big on mutual evaluation. I like to use that term. Because both of us have to decide we want to move forward together. Again, we're not selling you a franchise. we're awarding you a franchise we're bringing you into a family. Amen. And I think too, we sometimes forget, especially being in franchising and you see how great it can be and all the benefits. You forget how much fear there can be around around this for candidates because they oftentimes are new to franchising. This is a whole new world. They're being introduced for the first time and they're putting a lot of invest. They're investing time energy resources, that includes money. Some there's some risk involved. And so I think we sometimes forget about the fear on the other side, and we just think why are they not getting it? By definitely. earlier? Exactly. I walked in those shoes. Yeah. I wish I had somebody to guide me through the process. When I decided I wanted to start a business. I had to take a loan against our retirement savings. We had a house we had a baby. I was terrified. I didn't have a roadmap. So I think that giving them that comfort is It's a, you know, it's a big step to gaining credibility, trust and calming those fears. And those fears come up at different stages in the process. And the beginning, at the end in the middle, they talk to other people. So you have to constantly, you know, be there to comfort guide, and pivot whenever necessary. Let the candidate absolutely Amen to all of that. And I want to go into from this kind of talking generally about how you really work with and build relationships with the client into specifically a story of TTS collaboration that ended in a placement. And so for our listeners out there at the entrepreneur resource, we have a program. It's part of our genetic makeup here at the entrepreneurs, but it's called coach client collaboration. And so that really is all about creating a stellar client experience, and then forming outstanding coach and franchisor relationships and collaboration between our coaches and our franchisor members. And we know that when those two pieces are taken care of, we see really great success on multiple levels. The clients are happy coaches are happy franchisors are happy but also placements are being made franchises, franchises are being awarded, as you said, awarded, not sold. So Deborah was the recipient of our three C's Achievement Award at our March virtual event, the March mingle. And that goes to a franchisor member who really demonstrated superb collaboration and client experience. And so Deborah was nominated by one of our coaches, Liam, shout out to Liam, whom we love, and really wanted to let you share that story behind that nomination and the award. And again, I know you weave three C's and all these things into your everyday but specifically, what, what went on with Liam and his client, and you to get it to that point where the client move forward, like, give us some of the details, the good and the bad? Well, first of all, I think anybody listening who knows Liam knows he's a class act and a true pleasure to work with. So our candidate was a veteran. And it was a long term process. I initiated conversations with him, I guess it took place over the course of almost a year, maybe nine months. He was exiting the military, his wife got pregnant during the process. He was transitioning out of a job, they're moving into a new house, the funding wasn't there because of the money. And it was just, it was just one one barrier after the next. But the candidate and his lovely his name was Joseph, I don't want to disclose his full name. was sincerely interested in real property management does anybody knows in this process, time kills deals, that's what people say all the time. And if time doesn't kill deals, a baby and a new house and exiting the military all at the same time certainly are several hurdles to overcome. But Liam, patient and calm, we had check ins with him regularly checking in on his best interest on his family on his wife, and developing a friendship along the way, because he's so much fun, whether he was here on Long Island near me or at his house skiing. And surprisingly, the process continued. It was a very long, drawn out process. And ultimately, we stuck with Joseph. And when the timing was right for him, we all reconvened, we collaborated a lot of freaking frack with all of the T H. CO t as coaches. And as I mentioned before, Liam is stellar. But I've had the pleasure of working with 10 coaches, and awarding franchises to 10 to ES coach candidates. So truly, everybody I've worked with has that collaborative field. But ultimately, we brought Joseph into our family and his new baby and his wife, and we're thrilled, absolutely thrilled. But it was really a large part because Liam and also I'm going to mention this about Bob Terrell, wonderful guy. And we had a very similar experience. We were patient with this candidate, because we knew that it was his timeline. He was moving from another state transitioning out of a job getting two kids off to college. Bob, phenomenal communicator. I could say the same thing about Sidney Bloomquist and a variety of other coaches that I've worked with over the years. But I think it's just that collaboration and again, putting the candidates interest and timeline first. That thank you for sharing. Because, like you said, we hear that a lot. Time kills deals. I never say the word deals so even saying it I'm like, oh gosh, I'm sorry, but no, no, it's nice, but it but you hear that all the time, but I love that with you brought in fantastic franchisees Who didn't fit that mold of the specific timeline that maybe is typical, or that you would like to see or whatever it is. And it is being patient and working with them. And what I want to ask is just more specifically on how do you keep someone engaged for so long? Because how do you keep them excited about the brand? did it all happen in the beginning? And then it was just working through that? Or were there dips where you had to say, You know what, no, no, you do still love Real Property Management? Like, how did you keep it going for a year? That's a great question. Well, I always adhere to, I don't like to hang up with a candidate without having a touch point in place, whether that's a month, two months, and I let them determine what that is. Because we all get very busy and my calendar is packed, to be honest, in the travel schedule for everybody. It's just best to have a touch point whether that has to move or not. And then there's always things going on with our brand. We just won an award. Yeah, entrepreneurs 2020 23, one of the fastest growing brands. So those touch points, I always try to share, we have validation videos from our owners, we have panel over the pros events, we have validators who sometimes will reach back out to a prospective candidate to see if they've questions. So finding out how somebody's wife is doing if they're pregnant, if they're moving somebody's birthday, just being human, I guess, be the answer. Right. And again, so simple, but something that we lose sight of when we're looking at the grand scheme of things. So, again, I think there's a lot of different pieces here that others in the franchise development space can take from, even if it's just one or two things that you can incorporate into your own franchise development process. And here, we like to call it an experience because you do want to create it for the individual, what does that experience look like? So, as we go and look, look forward to you know, the rest of this year and beyond. I do want to ask what your thoughts are on the future of franchising, which is very, very broad. But the future of franchising, whether it pertains to real property management, or in general, like what you see with the industry going forward are? Absolutely, well, what I find most fascinating about franchising is, every day I hear about a different industry, a different brand, a different niche. So there are so many opportunities for people who want to get into business ownership, don't want to reinvent things from scratch, and have a passion for something to choose a business that resonates with what they love, and an industry they love to maximize their skill sets. And as I said before, create a business that's going to fulfill their legacy, their legacy for their family and for themselves on a daily basis. So I'm just constantly amazed, I have always been fascinated by business. And I love hearing about all these new emerging brands and how they're serving just, you know, entrepreneurs and also the communities at large. So to me that is truly fascinating. And knowing again, that there's support out there to help people achieve their entrepreneurial dreams, I just see that franchising is going to grow and grow. And you know, it's the American dream for many people and help them achieve that. And so far as real property management is, is concerned, our future is quite bright. We launched our 400 franchise in October, we are already up to 413 locations since October of last year. And we're expecting we're going to be approaching 500 sometime soon within the next year to two to three years. I don't want to set any expectations. But what's going on in the real estate world is fascinating because right now we're renters nation, 35% of the US population is renting. And in our industry, everybody always needs a place to live so that that means that the future is bright for us. And we don't expect housing. Right now about 64% of Americans own a home and we're expecting that to stay flat or continue to decrease. homeownership, sadly, is out of touch out of reach for a lot of Americans. Millennials are delaying homeownership, up to 13 years, boomers are downsizing and renting. And what we've seen in the eye is really what's causing the a lot of our growth is investors coming in where they're going to be parking money into the stock market and mutual funds and bonds and whatnot. Traditional investment vehicles, they're now parking it in real estate. And they're building portfolios and the niche that we fill in real property management and this is really our differentiator. We're positioning ourselves not just as a property management company, but as a property management company with wealth management expertise, who is aligned with investors on maximizing the ROI on their properties. So knowing how real estate is becoming so in demand and so attractive to many investors, we're appealing to that group, and I only see tremendous growth and opportunity in the years had? Well, that is wildly exciting on many, many fronts. So I'm glad we have a future together for many years. And, and also to your point on franchising as a whole, where there's so much opportunity brands in so many different industries. I love that we can educate people about what franchising is. And again, it's not going to be for everyone, like you said in the beginning. But I think I just love that we can tell more and more people. I think there's a lot of myths around franchising. And so the more you can, we can help educate people on the benefits and the, I mean, there's so many pros and how it can work for you. And again, in your community. As a small business owner, you don't have to be, you know, this massive multi unit operator you can achieve it. Just absolutely family, you know, life and new baby. Yeah. be in business for yourself, not by yourself. That's franchising. That's franchising right there. Okay, I want to wrap this up with just a few questions. So I couldn't choose just one. So we're just going to do edit, you don't have to answer like in great detail, just quick is fine. But looking back, what is one thing that you would do? What is one thing that you would do differently when it comes to franchise development? Looking back if you knew it now, what would you different do differently? And my past three years that name? We're nothing. Well, I've had a very wonderful year, right? So far, I never say I landed with a phenomenal brand and phenomenal company. Maybe I would have found them sooner. You know what? That's, that's a good answer to have. So anyone listening, just do what Deborah has been doing, and you're gonna be just fine. All right, two other things. What motivates you? My passion for helping others without a shadow of a doubt. I will be awarding a franchise to two incredible women next week, and I was on the phone with them today. I get teary eyed, I'm so happy to see people build their futures. That's the most gratifying part of my job. I love that I just got chills. And seriously this is this is why you and your team works a lot with the entrepreneurs. I talked to coaches and they're like Melissa, I just awarded I just one of my clients was placed and we were on a zoom together. Like with tea, like we were crying together because we were just so excited about it like this is that to me is franchising. That, to me is our community. So I love that. And then last one just kind of fun. But is there a book or a podcast that you would recommend doesn't have to be in business doesn't have to be just something that you either love or that you give out as a gift or you always recommend? Is there anything there is and it's from a way back? When and I probably should reread it for the third time the E Myth? Oh, because, yes, that was the book that I read that changed my life. I was in business, that He gives an analogy about a baker who's baking the cupcakes, baking the cupcakes. And all he is is a baker because he's always busy baking the cupcakes until he realizes I can teach other people how to build a big the cupcakes and own a bakery business. And I always use this analogy with owners for new franchise owners. You're not a property manager, you will be the CEO of a property management company. We give you the tools to step away. And I think that book really changed my perspective on business and franchising specifically. I mean, I'm gonna go read it. I'm gonna go read it again. I'd like to read bits and pieces but never the full thing which is shocking. So I'm going to read it listeners, you're gonna go read it. And thank you so much for joining me on franchise Friday. It's been an absolute joy speaking with you. My pleasure. Thank you so much. Have a great day.