54: How An Executive Assistant Keeps Marketing & Operations Moving with Kate Simmons

Ask most people what an Executive Assistant actually does and they'll guess wrong. We're back on Practical Rebels with Kate Simmons from Sunchase Companies, and she's laying out what the job really looks like once you're the one making things happen behind a growing company's clean org chart, marketing coordination, problem solving, and all.

Kate walks us through why she left a big institution for a smaller, faster-moving team, what it's like when onboarding hits full speed by day two, and why this role hands you confidence before you ever feel ready for it. She also produces Sunchase's own podcast start to finish, guest outreach, scheduling, editing, publishing, social promotion, and shares how her marketing responsibilities grew after a rebrand until she became the one trusted point person everything ran through.

Then we get into the practical stuff. How she switches gears all day long, what she does when three "urgent" requests land at once, and how she keeps the plates spinning without dropping the ones that matter. Kate breaks down her decision filter, why a quick check-in with leadership beats guessing, and the tools that actually keep her sane, Google Calendar as her single source of truth, and handwritten notes for the context an AI note taker will always miss.

We also talk imposter syndrome, owning your mistakes out loud, and what she'd tell young professionals trying to break into a hiring landscape run by AI. If you're job hunting, building a career in marketing operations, or just trying to make your transferable skills and your network work harder for you, this one's worth the listen.

Subscribe, send it to a friend just starting their career, and drop a review with the best work advice you've ever gotten.

Transcript

Practical Rebels Returns

SPEAKER_00 0:00

All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Practical Rebels podcast. We have been gone for quite some time, but we're picking it back up, and um we're gonna be coming at you hot with some new guests and some new angles and stuff like that. So we hope you guys tune back in. We hope you enjoy it. And um, yeah, we'll just get started

Meet Kate And Sun Chase

SPEAKER_00 0:20

right away. I am joined here with a guest. Her name is Kate Simmons. She is the executive assistant at Sun Chase Companies. Sun Chase Companies also happens to be a client of Hatchmark Studio. So cool crossover. Shout out to Sun Chase. Yeah, go ahead, introduce yourself, Kate. Say hello to the listeners out there.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Thanks, Logan. Thanks for having me on the podcast. I'm excited to be be your first guest back into this. My name's Kate. I've been working as an executive assistant now for a year and a half solidly, but I've always had some sort of like admin experience under my belt. But I'm a pretty young professional when it comes career-wise. I've only been out of college for a few years now. So definitely still paving my way and finding my footholds in my career.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Yeah, aren't we all? Right. I um I'm 38 and I feel like I'm still trying to figure it out. But yeah, that's awesome. And um, a reason I brought you on here specifically because we do it is a marketing podcast, but also I've noticed like things with just marketing in general and just the way the workforce is going, is that I feel like no one person does one job anymore, right? Like I feel like the the Swiss Army knife approach is kind of the way the world is going, especially with AI and automation. So we will get to that later, but just wanted to kind of just like get some like ground stuff here.

From Big Institution To Growth

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Like, how did you end up at Sun Chase?

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Yeah, so right out of college for about two, two and a half years, I worked for a pretty big institution. And with big institution comes a lot of rules and procedures and processes that you need to follow. And as I was kind of finding what I really enjoyed doing, I wanted somewhere with a little bit more freedom and a little bit more growth. And so I started a job search for maybe a smaller company and just kind of came across Sun Chase through through internet searches and really aligned with their vision and where they were growing. And during the interview, growth and change was a big part of what we talked about. And so it just kind of seemed like the right fit at the time to hop onto something that was really expanding.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Yeah, that expansion is great. You know, you never want to jump into something that seems like it's starting to like wind down, but also being able to align with something that you, you know, you believe in makes a huge, a huge uh difference. I know Kyle, founder of Sun Chase, he talks about passion a lot and finding passion in what you're doing. And I totally agree. I think it makes a huge difference whenever you feel like you can come in from day one and feel like you're you're aligned with the vision everywhere in the company. What was day one like for you onboarding?

Onboarding And Learning Fast

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Because as an executive assistant, I feel like it's one of those jobs, at least for me, I won't speak for everyone, but I think people know what the job is, but I think few people know what it actually entails, at least traditionally. So what was it like for you um coming into the company?

SPEAKER_01 3:14

Yeah, so day one is just like the deluge of password systems, everybody in the company. Here's where we're at. And by day two, it was tasks. You, I think as an EA, you find your footing very quickly, no matter where you're at, because it's just part of the job, it's necessity to just kind of jump in with both feet and figure out what's going on at the company, where can I serve my executive or executives if you are with multiple people? And so day one was probably the last peaceful day I had. And it's just kind of been crazy and busy and wonderful ever since.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Yeah. Well, they always say, you know, like if things get quiet, that's when you get worried, or if people don't need you, that's whenever it's time to start worrying. So sometimes that chaos or that busyness is um it's a blessing in itself, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:03

A hundred percent. If I have a quiet afternoon, I kind of sit there in dread of like, when when is the phone call coming? Like it has to be coming. When is it coming?

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Yeah, there's no way it's not coming, right? Yeah, so I guess, you know, in that we are going to get to the multifaceted nature of your position there.

The EA Job In One Line

SPEAKER_00 4:21

But just in general, when someone asks, like, what is it that you do for a living, do you have like an elevator pitch for your job for other people?

SPEAKER_01 4:29

The simplest way to put it, I think, is that I just make things happen. It is it is my day in and day out job to make things happen, whether that is something really small to just contribute to a task, knock out a quick to-do, or to keep a project running or to get a project off the ground. Just make it happen. If it's something we've never done before, I'm probably gonna be the first one to try to figure it out and then grow from there. But just kind of keep things moving, keep things rolling, and make sure that ideas come to fruition and execution somehow.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Yeah. Yeah, making things happen, um, it's important. I think I uh I had a a similar approach early in my career where I started out and just kind of saying, like, you know, and you you alluded to something that really resonates with me and just, yeah, I'll just figure it out, you know. I feel like whenever I was first a copywriter and then I got into project management, but I felt like every step I took in my career, I didn't know how to do it. But I just had that attitude of, I'll, I'm sure I'll figure it out, and just the willingness to be a little bit uncomfortable sometimes, right? Like just say, like, hey, I'll I don't know how to do this, but I feel like I'm smart enough to figure it out and I'm gonna give it a hundred percent. And things have a way of uh working out for people like that, I think.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Yeah, I think having not cockiness, but having confidence in yourself to know, like, okay, it might not go smoothly a hundred percent the first time, but we're we're gonna get there. We're gonna get there, we're gonna learn. I mean, we are in the age of information. If you don't know something, you can you can figure it out. You can you can search it, you can chat with an AI bot, you can watch a YouTube video. I watch a lot of YouTube videos to figure things out. Um but yeah, just just knowing, okay, take a pause, take a beat, you're gonna get through it, you'll figure it out.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Yeah, I think that I I feel like I date myself whenever I say it now, but I say YouTube university all the time. And um, I feel like that might be like, you know, it's still a real thing. I think that people still love YouTube. It's people still use it, but you're right. Like, I mean, if then that was always my attitude, it's just like I'll just watch a video of someone else doing it and I'll follow along. And it can't be that hard, um, no matter what it is. Yeah. So, and I, you know, in you talked about getting stuff done.

Building A Podcast From Scratch

SPEAKER_00 6:49

You've talked about, you know, just kind of the traditional roles of being an EA, but you know, and and this is just sort of like pulling back the curtain a little bit, Hatchmark Studio. Um, Kate is basically our point of contact with Sunchaste. So that means that you're in a lot of marketing discussions. You also produce a podcast for Kyle at SunChase Company. So when would you say, or what was it like whenever you started kind of picking up these little, I don't want to call them side duties because they're so integrated into your day. But what was that process like for you and how did you approach it early on, just in general, with kind of picking up some of those things that you maybe didn't think that you'd be doing?

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Yeah. So the podcast and marketing kind of happened two different ways. So the podcast was something I did know going in that was going to be on my plate. It was part of the job description, it was part of the interview process. It was a new idea for the company and a new idea for Kyle. And so a lot of our early conversations were here's what I'm thinking, where do we go? Like, I think the first week I was working with third parties to design a logo for the podcast. Like it was, it was ground up, let's get this thing rolling. And now we're over 55 episodes published a year and a half later, which is a huge accomplishment. I'm really proud that we've gotten it that far and we've had 55 different people come join us and do guest appearances and definitely still learning and growing. But I take the podcast from guest acquisition to scheduling, Kyle records, I do all the editing, publishing, social media. So outside of sitting down and physically recording the episode, it's definitely a cool, cool lift of my position. The marketing stuff came a little later. So we kind of made a tradition in Sun Chase to more multifamily acquisition and new development. And with that, decided that this was kind of like the perfect time for a rebrand. And so initially, Kyle kind of spearheaded the vision for what the new logo and presence and vision and language was gonna be. And because I work as his EA, I was kind of brought in just to keep in the loop. Once that kind of got rolled out, the website went live, the logo went live, we kind of had a handle on it. It transitioned to, hey, can you keep this running? And so now the marketing side for me and working with you guys looks like approving social medias, working on a weekly newsletter, doing investor events, webinars. Anything under that marketing umbrella kind of runs through me to either get scheduled or to solve logistical problems and just make sure that that initial vision we had keeps carrying on.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

Yeah, and um, you said something. Oh, by the way, congrats on the 55 episodes for anyone who's listening um who might have been thinking about starting a podcast. Starting is easy, keeping it going is the hard part because I think that the energy that you have out of the out of the gate, it's like I got five people lined up, but like finding person 54, not as easy. So that's a it's a it's a feat all on its own. But also what you said about marketing, that's awesome. Where it's just kind of like it's it's almost like you had this like slow handoff and you get to say, like, hey, like, you know, like I can actually keep this going. Not that Kyle isn't involved, he's very involved, but also being able to trust that uh you can actually, you know, you can talk to the agency and like keep these things, these these balls rolling so that, you know, because you've proven that you could

Rebrand Support And Marketing Operations

SPEAKER_00 10:20

do it. What would you say is if there is like a challenge in switching gears all day, because we've kind of talked about a little bit of what you do day to day and it's very different.

Switching Gears Without Burning Out

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Some people have the luxury and some jobs of just kind of staying in one lane all day. What challenges have you noticed about switching gears? Or maybe there's something that you like about that? Talk about that.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

Yeah, so the like part of it is you never get bored, right? You're always doing something different, so nothing becomes routine or monotonous. It's it's always different, it's always changing. I think some of the challenges with it is it can get a little discouraging after a while when you don't really feel like you're making progress on anything. I switch between tasks a lot and I sometimes jump in and out of projects just to solve little issues or fires. And so there's very few things that I actually see completely start to finish. And so it can get a little discouraging because you feel like the to-do list is never ending, and it is never ending, and you are helping the greater cause, but it's kind of like your little asterisk on the bottom of it instead of the person carrying the baton across the finish line. So just kind of staying motivated and knowing like you are helping, you are getting through things, the work that you're doing is important, and keeping that little note in the back of your head of yes, it's crazy and everything's going all at once, but you are helping, you are contributing, and just keep going.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Yeah, and I feel like that's it's it's an attitude we have here for sure, and it's an attitude that I've seen at Sun Chase as well, is just kind of the, and it's not cliche, I don't think, but um just kind of like the one team, one fight aspect where it's like it, it's everyone contributes in a different way, and it doesn't really matter, you know, who's the last person holding it whenever they get to the finish line because you know that you know you you were a contributing factor in why it got done in the first place. Um you can find value in that for sure. You talked about, you know, like putting

Prioritizing Fires Without Dropping Plates

SPEAKER_00 12:22

out fires. I know that's kind of a um kind of a platitude that a lot of people cling to, but what is it, how do you prioritize in the day whenever let's say three different things feel like they're equally important and you have to start saying, like, okay, like what are your systems? What are you doing to make sure that you're not dropping any balls and um and if one does drop, that it doesn't necessarily, you know, shatter.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Yeah. I think there's kind of like a little two-step check I run everything through, and that's who is it coming from and what is it serving? So obviously, if something comes down from an executive, it already takes like a little bit of a priority status, but it might not necessarily be something that's super urgent. It can be important, but it might not be okay, needs to be done in the next 20 seconds. And so just kind of seeing what the task is and what it's serving. So a good example would be somebody sends me a name to add to our CRM list. On a normal day, probably something I'm gonna push to the end of the day, or maybe it can sit for a little bit. But if we're in the middle of an active capital raise or I know that there's a big marketing push going out later that afternoon, that task does become urgent and important because I really want to make sure that name is in our system to get that email that afternoon. So everything is situational. Unfortunately, there's never like just a clear yes or no or this or then. But just kind of seeing who it comes from and what it's serving. If it's serving a project that's really important to the greater team right now, that's getting put up way on my list versus something that, okay, if it gets done in a couple days, like we'll be okay. The boat's still gonna float.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

Yeah, that's um it takes a little bit of like critical thinking too, right? Or to be able to see like two or three tiers down the road as to like what that thing that I have to do, what the impact could possibly be if it were to get done late, or if it were to get done, and you try to measure like if it's a super low impact, if that thing happens later, then you know, prioritize the other thing, maybe. Yeah. That's something I had to learn early in my career as a project manager, is realizing I took a an account management course actually. And this guy, I never forget it. He said, like any project management or anything in account management role is like juggling. And he said, You're kind of juggling rubber balls, and some of the things you're juggling within the rubber balls are plates. And he says, You are going to drop stuff. He said, But if you drop something, make sure it's a rubber ball and not a plate. So, and that's one thing that I've I've carried with me for a while. It's just like, I know it's gonna drop, but if it does drop, make it so that it's like something that can just bounce right back up and be okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

That's a great visual for it. That's definitely something I'm gonna hold on to. And I think something I've been learning over the past year and a half, especially in this role in this company, is as an EA, like you want to just kind of put it all on your shoulders and just get it done and not complain and not talk about it. Like it's just it's just gonna happen in the background. I'll make it happen. But it is okay every once in a while to go and say, hey, can we just like check in? I had to do it a week, week and a half ago where I just knock, knock, knocked on the office and was like, hey, I feel like there's a lot going on right now. And I just want to make sure that what I feel is a priority is what you feel is a priority, and make sure that I'm kind of putting tasks and assignments and projects on the right list. And I don't think it's bad to ask for that help because you may have it right, but you may have it wrong. And if you have it wrong, getting that course correct will save you and whoever you're working with, whether it's your executive or your team, a lot of headaches and a lot of pain and a lot of problems further on down the line.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

Yeah, not only that, but it can kind of like um, because I've done that, I do that all the time. But it you sometimes it can just soothe a little bit of anxiety, right? Like if you feel like, you know, hey, like stuff's getting kind of weird, like are you not are you mad at me, but like, is like, are are we like, are we good? Like, is everything cool? Like, I mean, is you know, am I working on the right things? Like, whenever you look over at me, do you see me doing what you want me to do? That happens for me where I'm just like, I just need a quick reboot here so that I can feel good about myself and keep moving forward.

Calendar Systems And Analog Notes

SPEAKER_00 16:42

Any tools that you're using? Because I mean, I I feel like a new tool comes out every day, and staying busy, I know early on I kind of joke. Everyone said that AI was going to like give us more free time, and I feel like it hasn't. I feel like it's just made me more efficient at doing more, which I'm not complaining about, but in a way, it's just kind of ironic. But what tools are you using to keep you organized, to keep you on the ball?

SPEAKER_01 17:10

This is like the lamest answer I could probably give to this, but my one thing, like stranded desert island could probably still get things done for work is if I had my Google Calendar. It's really basic, it's probably something that like isn't even considered a tool anymore. But I kind of live and breathe by that, and it has all my appointments, all of my internal, external appointments. I put my tasks in there, my priorities in there, my personal life in there because I realized what was really causing issues was I was using Monday.com for a while, I was using Notion for a while, using my calendar, and I just needed everything in one shot. And the easiest place I've found to do that was my Google Calendar. It's also just something I'm used to. I've been in Google Suite since high school and college, and so there's a familiarity aspect to it a hundred percent. But just being able to see everything in one go, that's the only way I could stay organized. And I do still love pen and paper. So you will walk into my office some days, and my entire second monitor will not be used as a monitor, it'll be used as a sticky note holding zone. But at the end of the day, all of those sticky notes go into my calendar and it goes back into one spot. But definitely, definitely my Google Calendar. Don't, don't overlook a calendar.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Yeah, and don't overlook the uh written notes. I was um, this is probably not news to most people, but writing something down, you retain that information way better than if you type it. And I've actually I moved away from a notepad for a long time. I'm bringing it back in because I feel like everything can't be like I have to like at some point I have to use my brain, you know. And I've noticed one time I went down to write something and I felt like I didn't know how to write, and I was like, this is bad. So I'm trying to get back into the habit of bringing a physical pen and paper to meetings now and jotting down like high-level notes and then using. I have an AI note taker that I use for meetings. It's like, I'll let the note taker catch all the details. I'm gonna use this notepad and knowing that I I got everything, you know what I mean? So I've been using that. But yeah, physical notes definitely help me too.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

I've definitely definitely brought back the spiral. I I think you've seen it probably in some of the meetings you've had.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

I've seen the spiral.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

I think for me to we have these AI note takers, or maybe you have somebody in your meeting who's taking minutes, or maybe an AI is taking minutes. That's great. It's getting the context, but it's not getting your thought process. It's not reading your mind yet. And so, really, what goes into that spiral or whatever piece of paper I have is how I feel about the project. If something comes up, it's like getting seven stars if it needs to be done that day. And so it's kind of getting my feelings and my thoughts out about it. And then if I need to go back for context or like an actual definition of something, then we can we can go to the to the note taker.

SPEAKER_00 20:12

Yeah, that's that's the same way I've been where I feel like my my physical notes that I'm taking are giving me all of the context that the AI definitely missed. So whenever I get to the end of something and I need to start synthesizing, what I've found is that I need both. Like if I had just relied on the note taker, I don't think I would have, I don't think I would have had all the context, and I don't think I would have had like very clear direction on what to do next. So yeah, no, I I totally agree. Like it's it helps. I don't think that we'll ever get away from that, or I hope we don't.

Imposter Syndrome And Earned Trust

SPEAKER_00 20:46

I want to talk about, and this is not, you know, like obviously as a young professional in any industry, being trusted with so much early on can be stressful. It could be stressful for anyone at any point in their career. But I was hoping you could talk a little bit about what it's meant to you to be trusted early on in your career to the level you have been and to be have given so much range, really, across everything. So I would call it so soon. You know, I know you said you have a lot of experience, but I would say like objectively on the timeline of life, it's soon. So yeah, talk about that.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

No, imposter syndrome is a real thing. Like it's not just something people talk about because it's a buzzword. Like it it is real, it sinks in. And even now being here for a while and owning some of these projects for a while, I will sit there and be like, What am I doing? Like, this is somebody else should be looking at this, or like I'm making a decision and I'll breeze right through it and move on. I'm like, somebody probably should have checked that. Like this, this maybe I should not have been the final final on this, but I think that goes back to what we were talking about a little bit earlier, too. Like just having the confidence in yourself of most things are fixable. Like, there are a few things that are really important and those are worth making sure that they get a second set of eyes on them. But I am not the kind of person who is cut out for extremely high stakes. Like all the props to my nursing friends who have quite literal lives in their hands. My anxiety could not do that. I I'm I'm content behind my computer screen. But just kind of taking a pause and realizing you've got this, you've worked through harder challenges before, you've worked through difficult decisions, you've made the right choice, you've made the wrong choice, and you fixed it. Like you are, you are more capable than you think. And odds are the person who's handing you those responsibilities that you feel like you aren't ready for, they're more experienced than you, and they they see something in you that you can't see in yourself. So putting a little trust and a little faith in them, I'm very grateful for the amount of faith that Kyle has put in me because it's really pushed me to grow and pushed me to gain my confidence. Like I said, never would have thought I'd have a 55 plus podcast range under my belt, but it was something we just kind of ran with and did, and you learn and you grow along the way. So just believe in yourself a little bit. It's worth putting a little bit into yourself to know that you got it.

SPEAKER_00 23:13

Yeah, I totally agree. The imposter syndrome is something that's been a footnote in my career over the past decade for sure. Just kind of moving along and finding myself in situations where I feel like I might not belong, or, you know, or I feel like maybe I'm in over my head. And then what I've noticed is you take a look around the table, and it's like some of these people here, you know, maybe they've been doing it longer than me, but a lot of them have the same challenges I'm having right now. Um, you know, like if it's a new project and a lot of them are doing things for the first time as well. So um just ri remembering that, you know, you're it's you're never only you're never the only person in the room thinking what you're thinking and just kind of just having the confidence. Easier said than done sometimes, but it's a it's a great message and a great reminder.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

It's a really, really good day when you realize that the person that you think has it all together maybe doesn't have it all together, they're just better at hiding it than you are. And when you realize that that is most of people, is that you just get better at kind of like presenting good and fixing behind the scenes, you gain a little bit more confidence in you being able to do that.

SPEAKER_00 24:28

Yeah, exactly. And one thing I've noticed too is just like accountability and honesty will take you very far. I think anyone who hands something off to anyone who's in a more junior position knows that there are going to be mistakes made. But just kind of like owning up to it and being part of the solution when those mistakes happen and just being honest. I've like made pretty horrendous mistakes in my career. And, you know, maybe it's a little bit Boy Scout, but the first thing I do is I walk up to the person, I tell the person exactly what happened, and I take ownership. And never once has it ever worked against me. Like it's never been a negative on my career. So just kind of like, you know, doing the doing the stuff you learned as a kid, you know, when you throw the rock through the window, you go to knock on the person's door and say, Hey, I did that. And I'm really sorry, but I'm gonna help you fix it.

unknown 25:19

Yeah.

Transferable Skills Beat Industry Lanes

SPEAKER_00 25:20

Yeah. Has it ever, you know, what about because this is sort of the reason that I wanted to do this in in general, is hopefully that there might be someone who's starting out early in his or her career and kind of looking for that that sage wisdom. Is there any career advice that you maybe wished you had listened to sooner, or maybe something that you're just like, man, if I if I could rewind the clock a little bit, I wish I had known what I knew now.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

Yeah, I think so. Funny enough, probably the best career advice came from my husband. And when I was out of college, I had had experience in working in university systems and working in the legal field. And I felt like I had to find something in that lane. And I worked in that lane for a while post-college. And when I started a job search, I continued to kind of stay in that lane and was looking for positions in at least like law firms, financial firms, areas that I was quote unquote comfortable. And he looked at me one night and he said, Why aren't you applying more places? Like be willing to search outside your industry. He's worked in construction his whole career, and he's like, I think you'd be a really good fit in construction of real estate, broaden your horizons a little bit. And just having somebody kind of like tap me on the shoulder and be like, Hey, your skills are your skills no matter where you're working. You can bring what you know and what you bring to the table to a lot of different industries. And I think that's so important now with the state of the job market. You might not land exactly where you think you're gonna land, but your experiences transfer, your abilities transfer, your problem solving transfers. And so don't be afraid to throw in an application somewhere there. You might not have the topic knowledge, but you know you have the skill set to kind of work through it. You can learn the content along the way, but you can bring your skills and still be a contributing player to a team, even if you're learning the industry as you go.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

Yeah, that's something that I really harp on whenever I'm talking to maybe younger professionals or just people whenever they ask me, because I I mean, I tell people I studied English literature in college. Like I didn't study marketing, but I knew whenever I came out that I know how to write really well and I know how to communicate and I know how to talk to people in a way that is, you know, like people listen whenever I'm speaking. So I was like, I can use this as a basis, but I can do whatever I want, right? Like I can be effective in any room. So I ended up in marketing and now in the agency world branding, but I've never lost that that my foundation was the same, but it didn't determine what I did next, right? So it's great advice to just broaden your horizons if you're listening. You know, if you feel like you're kind of boxed into a lane, you know, there's definitely you can use your your foundational skill set in more rooms than you could ever imagine.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

Yeah, for sure. It's it's a limiting belief that you're only good in one area. My degree was in legal studies, and I was full steam ahead to go to law school. That was the path I was supposed to take. I was supposed to be an attorney. Couldn't be farther than what I'm doing right now, although I do still probably review some contracts and things like that. But just knowing that, you know, it's important, yes, to have a knowledge base in an area, but the more you can hone your skills and work on your skills that are applicable to lots of different things, it's gonna get you a lot farther.

SPEAKER_00 29:02

Yeah, I agree. Do you have

Networking When AI Filters Applicants

SPEAKER_00 29:05

any advice? I guess from you know, that was advice that you received, but what advice do you have for young professionals who are just coming onto the scene, or maybe they're in school and they don't really know, you know, maybe they have a track that they're looking at. But what advice did you have, you know, if they're on the job hunt for being adaptable and being being able to stick out in today's job market? Because it's it's harder now than ever, I feel like.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

Yeah, it's a hundred percent is the way we've hired and the way we hire has changed dramatically, even in just like the past couple of years, like from when I was putting in applications to now. But I think my biggest piece of advice would be like meet people, know people. I think, especially as AI and technology and just advancements kind of change what the workforce looks like and the hiring space looks like, knowing a person is gonna get you a lot farther than like having the perfect resume or the perfect CV. There's a lot of companies now who are running like applications through an AI database, and you're not even being seen by a person in the hiring process unless you can like check the perfect AI bubble boxes that it's running you through. So if you're still in college or you're a young professional, work on your LinkedIn page and make digital connections, go take advantage of opportunities at your college, like career fairs, take on internships, go to your professors. A lot of times, professors are people who have worked in their field in the area of your university and still maintain a lot of contacts and a recommendation and a foot in the door by knowing somebody over just whatever they're seeing on your resume is probably gonna get you a lot farther now than it ever has. And and networking and connections have always been important, but when you're when you're up against an AI model, I think knowing the right people is gonna, is gonna really take you far.

SPEAKER_00 31:06

Yeah, that's that's kind of a a a twofer for me. Like I got, I don't want to say, like, I, but I have a big part of why I was able to get an interview here is because I knew someone here. A big part of why I got the job at the last place I was at is because I knew that someone there. You know, I made like the skills were my own. You know what I mean? Like if I was just like a total burnout, it's not like I would have been hired just because I knew somebody. But that was the that was step one, right? At both jobs I've had, and um, at least in this field, is I knew somebody. So critically important to get out there and put yourself in situations you might not be super comfortable in. Also, once you get there to be, this is another thing that I found. And this was at my old job where it was a more corporate environment. And I kind of had this, I'm a bit of an introvert. I really don't like, I'm not, I don't like loud areas. I kind of like to be on my own a lot. And um, there was like a an employee thing going on in the building next door where everyone was like getting hot dogs and burgers and stuff, and I just kind of stayed at my desk and worked. And someone said, You should go next door. And I was like, I'm good. And they're like, you should really go and socialize with people, you know, like they're like, that's part of this. Like you have like people need to get to know you. They can't just say, like, oh, he's the guy who gets the the work done. It's like they also want to know you. So, and it it it hit me all of a sudden. I was just like, Yeah, that is part of the human experience, right? Is making connections with your workmates, making connections with people in your industry, making connections with people in your community. It makes it probably the thing that's made the biggest difference in my career for sure, is just knowing and meeting people.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

I think you you touched on something good too. Like it goes beyond the hiring process. You have to have to maintain that wherever you're going, somebody is gonna be a lot more willing to help you or stick your their neck out for you. If when you go to ask them for something, you start with, hey, didn't your kid graduate this weekend? How did that go? Like, if you just know a little bit and can be a small talk conversationalist, you don't have to go far. It doesn't have to be huge. But if you can just carry a conversation more than just always and only work tasks, it's gonna make your life a lot easier and you're gonna make a lot more connections that way.

SPEAKER_00 33:27

Yeah, I tell it whenever I meet college students these days, I'm just like work on not saying that they don't have social skills, but I was like, if I were to focus on one thing, get proficient at talking to people in a room. It is so important. And I think people who join clubs and do like fraternities or sororities are I've always noticed that they're very good at that. And um, it's one thing that I've noticed throughout my career is just like people who do those types of clubs and stuff where they're constantly socializing or they have to get up in front of people and speak, um, they usually shine in that. But I guess that's probably a different topic. But just get um practice it, you know, if you're listening and you're feeling like you haven't really jumped made that jump, definitely just practice socializing with people in professional settings because it's it's so important.

What’s Next And Where To Follow

SPEAKER_00 34:19

For sure. So um what's next for you at Sun Chase? Or what's next for the what's next in your career? Any plans?

SPEAKER_01 34:27

That's a great question. So kind of two different answers there. For Sun Chase, the company is really growing and expanding. We're actively hiring, so there's a lot of momentum both for building our team and building our portfolio. So if you I'm gonna do a little shameless plug, if you don't follow us on social media, Hatchmark does a great job at keeping us afloat. Definitely come figure out what we're what we're up to. We're doing a webinar in August. Um, and there's a lot of exciting projects kind of going on there in terms of what's specifically next for me at Sun Chase. That answer goes back to what we were talking about at the beginning with being an EA. I don't know. I never know. And that's kind of the fun of it all. Whatever, whatever idea comes up or project happens or fire gets started, that that'll be what is next for me. So definitely we'll keep that variation. And in my career, I think the next big step for me is I'm currently nine months pregnant, so maternity leave is imminent, and that'll definitely be a new, a new challenge to kind of navigate through career and and being a first-time mom. But I'm up for the challenge. I'm excited to see, to see where the next couple months, next couple years go.

SPEAKER_00 35:33

Yeah, new challenge, I'm sure. I've obviously never been a mother, but I know um I watched my mom and um she was really, really good at it. And um yeah, we're all super happy for you and congratulated. Thank you guys. Congratulations, all the same. But um yeah, that's about it. I think unless you the floor is yours if you wanted to plug anything else.

SPEAKER_01 35:56

I think that's about it. Like I said, we we post most of what's going on at our company and our in our sphere on our social media platforms, as well as a newsletter that Kyle puts out once a week through LinkedIn is probably the easiest way to sign up. So if you're if you're curious about real estate investment or just what's kind of happening in the Pensacola Greater Gulf Coast area, we have a lot of commentary about just kind of the progress that our community is making. Pensacola, if you aren't local, if you are a farther out listener, is booming in all spheres right now and is a great place to kind of look at for for expansion and growth and development. So if you're looking for somewhere to move, come to Pensacola. That's great.

SPEAKER_00 36:39

Yeah, it is the spot right now, and I don't mind saying it. Whenever I was growing up, I don't know if I ever thought that I would move back, but now that I'm here now, I'm like, oh yeah, this is the place to be. It's definitely exciting.

SPEAKER_01 36:51

For sure. And thank you so much for having me on.

SPEAKER_00 36:53

Yeah, thanks for coming on, Kate. We really appreciate it. And if you're listening to this and you know of someone who needs to hear this information, please share it with them. Please send it to a friend of yours or someone you know who's just, you know, kind of bursting onto the scene and who might need to hear some uh some of this information or maybe get hyped up a little bit of uh inspiration um and just let them know what's that you buy it. Yeah, we'll see you on the next episode. Until then,