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Hello apartments friends it’s me Leslie Mathis. So excited to be back here with Melanie Whitlock for her 90 day check in on the road from RPM to Asset Manager. Buck-up this one is a roller coaster ride I take us on with lots of twists and turns.

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Hello apartment friends it's me Leslie Mathis with the Multifamily Streamlined Podcast. At the last minute I have decided to share the Daily Alignment from 68 Ventures that came out today. Take a listen at what they have to say along with Steve Keating on Human Speed Bumps. It's a great reminder of authentic leadership and the role we play in the bumps in the road for our team. I believe this also sets the stage for next week when we dive into the concession battle. As leaders when we buy into the strategy even the craziest strategies; our teams will follow if we have the right leadership approach.

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Hello Apartment Friends it’s me Leslie Mathis with the Multifamily Streamlined Podcast. Well I missed last week because I was traveling on a Monday and basically wasn’t prepared for life and now today I’m pretty sure I am not firing on all cylinders. Crazy I tested positive for Covid last Thursday - still positive but feel basically fine… but it robbed me of attending my Rise Up Girls event, now it cancelled my Charlotte trip where I had a photoshoot for my website scheduled and a small dinner party with my closest friends. And now y’all it’s trying to steal the joy of my birthday on Thursday. GEEZ okay okay I know it could be worse. My observation from Covid is the harm it does from the isolation. I’ve been at my home since 12:36 pm on Thursday the 19th and have not hugged anyone since Wednesday evening at approximately 9:30 pm the 18th. I don’t think any of us are meant to go that long without a hug. The stray cat hates hugs but I give them anyways and my Goldendoodle Henry is ALWAYS up for a hug thankfully but even after the last several days he might be tired of my hugs. I just keep thinking what I would I do if I didn’t have Henry. That was probably my biggest disappointment of me missing my event - there were 47 girls there I didn’t get to hug! Maybe the most ironic part of getting Covid is probably I hugged 47 people the day before I tested positive for Covid. Thankfully none of them have gotten it or shown symptoms. 

So anyways I did have a true topic for you today and of course it has been on my mind for a while. You all know I have been showing up more on social and so I started recording videos for social too - it all started one day because I had a great blowout - thought dang I can do this when my hair looks good. Then I got on a roll and did several that day and then a few more the following and so forth. Y’all I would even change my shirt so things would look different. Started calling it my perch since I did them all right in the same spot. My thing is my hair - if it looks good I can conquer the world - most times when my hair is good I don’t even care about make-up but then I realized. That was truly because of my glasses. I started finding myself hiding behind my glasses. Hiding my puffy eyes, darks circles, wrinkles - you know the things you don’t like that rob you of your confidence. THOSE THINGS!  I have TONS of glasses and now can’t read without them. I like having all the cute ones too in fun colors. But on calls - virtual meetings - and now videos I found myself hiding behind them. And I realized so many of us are hiding behind something and it’s just might be the very thing holding you back.

I sat on this thought a while and the first thought I had was how so many people say they are bad at math and then in our industry the next thing that leads to is a fear of financials. You don’t have to be able to do calculus to have a good understanding of our financials. And guess what there’s this thing called a calculator - you can punch in $1500-$437 to get the answer. My guess is when we have a fear or a lack of confidence we create the excuse that holds us back. But how do we fix that - for me that is spending more time doing the thing that scares me. 

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Hello Apartment Friends it’s me Leslie Mathis with the Multifamily Streamlined podcast. As the new year kicks off and we focus on our goals, dreams, and words for the year we are also really focused on getting back to the basics. At both Streamline and Woodfield we feel certain that this year will be all about being good operators and honing our skills especially the basics. As you will probably figure out, I am behind getting this episode done and really had a different plan for the podcast but my Monday derailed - you know the pain of coming back from a few days off. To sum it up it was just a Monday that seemed to be exacerbated by not feeling heard. As I reflected on the day and my response to a few things it hit me that during all those pain points throughout the day I truly believe they could have been avoided if I just felt heard. You know… Yes, Leslie I understand your disappointed, I am disappointed too but I will have an action plan to you by X. Throughout the day I was interrupted several times and didn’t even get to finish my thought before someone jumped to conclusions which just resulted in calls taking longer. It truly was like a non-listening perfect storm of a Monday. I notice even at home my biggest frustration with my family of 7 is NO one - I mean NO one listens. I find myself saying the same thing at least 6 times even when the first time we were all together. We say it in marketing - people see us an average of 3 places before they ever call. As I prepare for the first Rise Up Girls event I know I have to get it to people in at least 3 different ways before they ever notice. And as much as I feel like I have plastered it everywhere I know someone will say - Geez I didn’t even know about the event. We are just a society that does not pay attention or listen. 

I am convinced more than ever as we transition into 2023 listening is going to be an important art form. Or maybe better stated a lost skill that we need to quickly find. 

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Hello apartment friends it’s me Leslie Mathis with the Multifamily Streamlined podcast. I hope you all had the merriest Christmas and the Happiest New Year. Cheers to 2023 and all that it may hold for each of us. While I am not naive enough to think we all ended 2022 with a bang and are ready to kick off the new year I am here to encourage you to hit the reset button especially if it’s been a tough one and prepare for the new one. There is something encouraging about a new day, a new month, and even a new year. Sometimes though we put too much hype around the new and then it becomes overwhelming or we put too much pressure on ourselves to conquer the world in the first day or the first week. 

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Hello apartment friends, it’s me LESLIE MATHIS with the Multifamily Streamlined podcast. As 2022 comes to an end it only seems appropriate to take a moment to reflect on the year and prepare for the new year ahead. It’s funny I half wrote last weeks podcast and never finished it due to poor planning, travel, and prep for the holidays. Okay fine the last part is not exactly true. If you know me I don’t prep a lot of the holiday. I gave that up more than 20 years ago because I hate the commercial hustle and bustle. Trust me I love Christmas and the true meaning of the holiday and I don’t miss an opportunity to gather with friends and family around the table. See that’s what is so special for me not to mention this year Christmas fell on a Sunday which is my all time favorite! I do love the excitement of how my kids prepare for the holiday and how they get my mom and dad to give them money to shop at the dollar store for gifts for everyone. This year my little was the only one that did that but again I love it and I love that no one felt guilty they didn’t get the other a gift. In my heart I believe everyone knew with school only getting out 2 days before the holiday time just snuck up on everyone. I loved that no one complained about going to church two days in a row and I love that honestly I think everyone got along. I love that my oldest wanted Chinese food for Christmas Eve dinner and lasagna for Christmas dinner and everyone was thrilled with the idea. I love that we had the opportunity to have our annual Christmas party on Friday night vs. the Sunday before like we normally do. Honestly the whole experience just filled my heart and cup in a way I don’t recall in the past. I feel it was the true meaning of filling your cup where it overflows to others vs. filling your cup and then pouring into others which as Kristina Watts shared just leaves you with an empty cup. You all that is so draining and that is what leaves us exhausted and burned out. You see we have to flip the script and learn to pour into ourselves daily so we can share that blessing with others. We have to learn that things are not going to look the way we plan - I mean almost never. During my 7 years of being the owner of Streamline Multifamily Group that might be the biggest lesson I have ever had and when I go back through life and connect the dots I can see the same thing. As I sit here and write this podcast I can’t even think of one thing that has turned out just as I planned. I mean big thing!  I am sure that there are little things but again in this moment I can’t think of a big thing. For me this week is a lot of prep for 2023 and finishing out 2022 with a clean to do list. I find the weeks when most are off are my most productive. I have high hopes for those projects that have lingered on the list because they need 30 to 45 minutes of uninterrupted attention. As I prepped for today and the podcast and as the thoughts of things often look different than the plan I thought of even my marriage. Our anniversary is New Years Eve and wow how we thought that was going to be so special to always celebrate on New Years Eve it definitely looks different. We have found ourselves going out on the 30th to avoid crowds not to mention how tough it is to get a reservation on the 31st. Many of those years I spent New Years Eve with just the kids because my husband worked at night when the economy crashed in 2008 and no one was building apartments. Those aren’t complaints but just the reality and proof things just often do not go as planned. We tend to glorify the event, the plan, the whatever but we just can’t predict all of the future and we need to learn to adapt and embrace the experience. Just another reason we talk about pivoting here so much. So if your 2022 sucked don’t let it get you down or to a place you aren’t closing out strong or preparin

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Hello Apartments friends it’s me Leslie Mathis with the Multifamily Streamlined Podcast. I put some pretty big words out in the universe last week at the closing of the podcast that I will follow up with a great one. Even as I said it I was a little worried that I might not be able to deliver but I put that thought out of my mind. See I recently just listened to the High Five Habits by Mel Robins and it really goes into the science of how powerful your brain is. In transparency I still haven’t high fived myself in the mirror but I am going to. LOL But one thing she talks about is self doubt and the confidence steeler our thoughts that we allow to enter into our brain really are. It’s so hard to silence the self critic within our brain especially for us people pleasers and overachievers. But with those thoughts apparently we train our brain to look for the things to confirm the negative talk. One of the tools she talks about is when those thoughts come in our mind we need to say “I’m not thinking about that right now”. Since listening to the book I have really embraced this approach and I think there might be some truth to it. So as I made that promise to you all and then the negative thought popped in my head I just said “not thinking about that right now”. So anyways listen to the book it’s worth it… I love that Mel Robins reads it herself too. So where do we head from here? You all know I like to tie things together and I like to circle back often times since I am a processor - as I get older I feel more comfortable and don’t have as much shame in my game for not being quick witted - there is a space for all of us in this glorious world. Two episodes ago Kristina Watts mentioned the drift - this is something her and I have talked about multiple times and even early on in our coaching. You see as she explained the other day and to me a few months ago the drift is the river you are flowing down and just going with the flow. Taking things as they come - self numbing with social media - online shopping - the thing you are allowing to prevent you from getting busy with whatever that goal or dream is. BIG and small.

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Hello apartment friends it’s me Leslie Mathis with Multifamily Streamlined podcast. I am so excited to be back with Melanie Whitlock to do a 30 day check-in after transitioning from RPM to asset manager. We unpack the highs, lows, good, bad, and sneak in a few struggles and highlights. You won’t want to miss her excitement over Christmas parades and tractors with a side of Mary in the Church Christmas pageant. Man I love this girl…

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Hello apartments friends it’s me Leslie Mathis with the Multifamily Streamlined podcast. Wow do I have a surprise for you all today. I am so excited to share my interview with Kristina Watts. Her gift is confidence and teaching that to others. She’s an amazingly gifted person and my mentor.

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Hello apartments friends it’s me Leslie Mathis with the Multifamily Streamlined podcast. I had an amazing interview ready to share with you all but for a few reasons that will be postponed until next week. During the pivot process, I’ve had on my mind this week a few thoughts I want to share. I’m calling this the Thanksgiving Buffet because you are going to get a little of this and a little of that today… And a whole lot about what I am THANKFUL for. Don’t believe me - just checking out my Instagram feed. It has all the things. 

Before we get started let’s have a little appetizer… it seems worthy to discuss the pivot real quick. If you aren’t embracing it I encourage you to. It’s a big thing in our day to day lives. Things don’t go as planned and we have two choices. Embrace it make, a new plan know as the pivot, or shut down. If we shut down or lean into all the things that are wrong we are just going to spin our tires and waste precious time. We deal with people’s homes, so things just aren’t going to go right - we have to pivot. Pivoting takes practice but the biggest thing is just get started. Don’t get hung up with what is wrong but find the things that are right and keep them moving forward. If nothing is right - then start over. My pivot this week was little with the podcast. It was real easy when things weren’t lining up with editing etc. having the thankful series rolling on Instagram it only seemed right to pivot on the podcast. And why not have fun and take a moment to be cheesy all at the same time. If we conclude the podcast with being thankful and sharing a little of me why not release it on Thursday for Thanksgiving too. It’s fine and all survived.