A Podcast | Peter Hernandez

Pete Neubig: Welcome back, everybody to a special episode of the NARPM podcast, because I have my good friend Peter Hernandez. And many of you may know that Peter used to work with VPM as our chief growth officer. And then he went on to bigger and better things. And I love it when people that work with me go on to bigger and better things. So, Peter, you started PMA. So thank you so much for being here. First of all, appreciate you being here. And let's talk about PMA. So what made what was the driving force to leave a great job at VPM to start a new business that, you know, may or may not make it right. It's a new business.

Peter Hernandez: I appreciate the confidence there, but. But no, you're absolutely right. You know, we I think we we've talked about it in the past how some businesses what first three years, you know, if you're going to make it or not. Right. But first of all, thank you for having me. I appreciate the opportunity.   yes. I enjoyed working at VPM, learning from you and from the rest of the team. And you know, it was another another stepping stone for for me. I've been in the industry for for some time now and been able to be a part of some great organizations and, and learn from some great people like yourself. So it's been it's been a great experience. So thank you for that. And thank you for having me today.

Pete Neubig: , we we met over over ten years ago now,   when you were with Ricky and you were running, you were running that operation in Austin and Houston. Then you took on the role at CHS and became CEO of CHS for a little bit. And they do over $10 million a year. So nothing to,   to to, sneeze out there and then, moved over to, to VPM as a startup because you, you like,   evidently you like,     the hard things because startups are.

Peter Hernandez: I'm a glutton for punishment, is what they say.

Pete Neubig: Glutton for punishment. And,   you know what? I think the latest statistics, and you can't quote me on this, but, you know, I mean, you hear, like, what is, like, 80% of companies fail in the first five years, and then 80% of those companies fail in the next five. So if you have a business for over ten years and you're still in business, kudos to you guys out there.

Peter Hernandez: Yeah, yeah for sure. You know, and yeah, there's there's definitely a lot of history with with not just the industry. Yeah. The industry that that I'm in. Right. And like I said like you said knowing each other for, for at least ten years.   yeah. Ricky was a really cool experience, you know, came in as their business development manager for, for the Austin area. And we quickly expanded into other cities in, in in,   Texas, you know, around around. Austin.

Pete Neubig: You guys singlehandedly rebuilt the. Chapter of Houston. It was really on the on the back of Mr. Ricky that did that.

Peter Hernandez: So we did we you know, we we're we're, at the time, the organization was a very firm believer of of and what it does. I've, I've honestly, I've personally embraced that as well. I can see how the great relationships and, and the organization is great for the industry. So yeah, we my mission was, you know, to build these the city, the, the market that I was assigned. And, you know, I'll fast forward very quickly.   you know, we we then expanded into 32, 32 markets, 32 states. And so,   that was very exciting.   the growth,   and everything that I was a part of there was, was definitely something that I learned a lot from a lot of. And as you.

Pete Neubig: Said, a lot of work and a lot of chaos while you're while you're in that kind of growth mode.

Peter Hernandez: Absolutely, Absolutely. And so then I went over to chess and,   same thing. You know, they had a very solid footprint in some of the major Texas markets, you know, like Dallas and Houston and San Antonio.   but they they had a vision for the company. And I was very excited to be a part of that. And.

Pete Neubig:  that was another high growth. Right. What were you doing? Like 2 million when you,   when you first started with them and now.

Peter Hernandez: So I hope I don't get in trouble for sharing these nbers, but yeah, they were,   I remember when I got there in July of, of that year, it was we closed out the year I got there in July, we closed out the year at about for $450,000, 450, 475. Okay. so that was in July of that year. We closed out the following year at 4.2 million. So that was,   that was some exciting growth.

Pete Neubig: Yeah. So yeah. High growth guy. You love that stuff.

Peter Hernandez: So I love that stuff.

Pete Neubig: Before we get into PNH though, like, you know,   a lot of folks that are listening, you know, they were working. I mean, I was I used to work 20 plus years as an employee before I jped into creating my own business. So you had some pretty good jobs, and and you were, you know, you had some high profile gigs with some companies that were growing. So what was the law or the draw that you said? Man, I really am ready. And I really want to, you know, start my own, my own thing.

Peter Hernandez: So that's a great question. And I have a very, very specific and memorable answer to that, but I don't want to skip to that without also mentioning the great opportunity that I had at VPM.   so talked about Mr. Reekie talked about. But VPM,   a startup, right? Like like you mentioned earlier, it's I didn't I didn't really ever notice it until someone. It may have been. You,   mentioned how I have a thing for, for these type of businesses, these type of companies. And so it was a great opportunity. You know, things were starting up at VPM.   I thought it was a great opportunity to really take,   the brand or create a very specific identity for the brand and take it to a national level. So that was exciting. And again, I thank you for that opportunity. But yes, high profile jobs, great opportunities. And with that comes great money, right? So why, you know, why go off and do your own thing. Well,   I remember I was reading a book. I was either reading or listening to a book one day. One morning. and I always, I always thought that I wanted to do something, build my own thing.

Peter Hernandez: Do my own thing. but, you know, being around, you know, friends like yourself, there is always great opportunities around and say, hey, when, when and if you're ready or when are you looking for something else? Got an opportunity for you over here. And again, the the helping structure and maybe create processes and whatnot. for a startup was was exciting. So I would put my own plans in the back burner, if you will, and, and I would go in and work for, you know, for the PMS or whoever. And, and one day I was reading it one morning I was reading a book or listening to a book, and I remember this quote very specifically. It said, if you don't go out and build your own dreams, someone will hire you to build theirs. And so I had I did have my own dreams. I've had my own dreams. And I didn't mind being hired to build someone else's dreams because I was a part of that. There was a certain level of pride and accomplishment in that, and I loved it. But it got to it got to, you know, let's be let's be real right where no one's getting any younger.

Peter Hernandez: And I thought, well, if I don't do this now, it might just not ever happen. Because, you know, if I'm at VPM or wherever for another 3 or 4 years and what's next? So another opportunity is going to come along. I'm going to jp on that opportunity. But I'm not building. You know, I did have a dream and I wasn't building that. And so that's how it that's literally how it happened. I remember having a conversation with you about it. I was ready to start working on my own dreams. And with that came a very specific, very specific area of, of helping businesses, which is very people focused. you know, you know, I have talked about,   how in not just our industry, I'm sure other industries, processes, systems, you know, procedures, software, you know, profitability, like all these things are very like their, their hot topics. Right. And sure, there is some conversation being had around,   you know, right person, right seat, how to hire, how to train.   but I think that that takes place in the early, in the early part of, of maybe of the, of bringing someone onto a team. That's.

Pete Neubig: Yeah, that literally is bringing somebody on to the team. But once they get there. Yeah.

Peter Hernandez: Then what happens once they're there? It's, you know, I love baseball,   as you know. Right. And so I.

Pete Neubig: You're a big Astros fan.

Peter Hernandez: Go, Sox.   so,   the the you know, the metaphor I use there is, you get someone through through the, you know, through your, your system, right? Whether it be triple A or whatever. Right. And you get them to the big leagues, you've got to you've got to continue to do something. You've got to create continue to create opportunities and impact the folks once they've reached that trip, once they've reached the big leagues, once you've hired them, it doesn't end there. And I felt like in, in I kept seeing it over and over. People were getting hired and sure, people were using culture index disc, you name it, and they said, hey, I've got the right person, right seat. But here's what I kept noticing. Unless you, you have a, a great program, a a great, you know,   plan for, for your team, an ongoing plan for your team. you could have the right person in the right seat there eventually going to leave you if the systems and processes and procedures are broken within your organization. So, I thought, you know, it was important for, for, you know, some of these businesses to have have a plan for post hire. Okay. What happens after you bring them on? What happens after you train them? What happens after you do some some level of development. Right. So I think there's there's been a lot of focus on the initial part, the onboarding, the hiring. But then it's like, okay, you're in and that's it. And so I really I really thought there was an opportunity there for for helping business owners understand that there's it's definitely a lot that goes into success when you think of your software, your systems and your processes. But it's a people business. It's a people business at the end of the day. Right. And so you can have the best software in the best system.   if you have a team that doesn't believe in that system or the software or believe in your vision, then you really haven't accomplished much.

Pete Neubig: You know, it's funny, you hit on it, you say, well, some people run disk and they have job descriptions and all this other stuff, right? But I'll tell you, Peter, Even that piece of it. I'll be in a room with 100 property managers, and I'll speak and I'll say, okay, raise your hand if you have a system for. Move in, move out. At least you know 100 hands go up. So raise your hand if you have a hiring system. 1 or 2 hands will go up. So even that is very, you know, is very few and far between. Right. So, so but if even if you get the right person now what's the system that you have to train them. What's the system. You have to manage them. And then what's the system that you have to keep them.   as a, as a engaged,   team member, is that is that right?

Peter Hernandez: You're absolutely right.   and the first part to your comment. So we just came back from broker owner a couple of months ago, right? Month, month and a half ago, something like that had an opportunity to survey, I believe it was came down to about last count, I think was like at 92,   property management companies that that took our survey or assessment. . It's interesting. The the, assessment, the data came back and and showed that,   what was it? 90% of the people that took the assessment had no KPIs in, in as part of their, their system or part of their process. so goes back to, okay, you've hired these folks. You want them to be successful, but, you know, have you lined up the tools? Right? That's that's the processes or the systems should be there to support the people, to support your team. But if you don't have a way to measure,   results, if you don't even know what results you're expecting.   if the person that you hired has not, doesn't have a very clear understanding of what the expectations are. Then again, all of that is just a recipe for for a disaster.

Pete Neubig: Oh man, I can't I couldn't agree more, man. Like when I ran Empire, everybody in my organization had a KPI, right? The KPI basically tells me, which tells everybody which way to row, right? Because if you got somebody rolling backwards, somebody's going sideways, somebody going forward. The boat just kind of goes in a circle and you really don't get anywhere. The one thing I just, I, you know, it's funny, I've been in business a long time and, and I still learn something new every day. And I was talking to Matthew Whitaker about two weeks ago, and he was, you know, he was telling me about his vision. His vision was, I think, sorry, Matthew, if I get this wrong, but I think it was $25,000 by 2025. And that.

Peter Hernandez: Sounds about.

Pete Neubig: After after his,   merger with Poplar, they got the $23,000. So he didn't hit quite 25,000. But man, he got darn close. And that's a lot of doors. And then he said, yeah, the new one now is 50,000 by 2030 or something like that. And I forget. And I thought, you know man my vision was like, you know, pull people out of poverty in second and third world countries. And it was all like this, This really like. I mean, it was great, but. But I'm like, man, a nber is so much easier. So we changed our vision. We are now looking at 5000,   Phil jobs through the platform by 20,   by 2029. So I took a page out, but but now I tell everybody,   the team. That's the vision, right? That's that's the p hag, if you will, the big hairy audacious goal. And now everybody at least knows. And then. And then all the KPIs and all the things that we do all the way we create our bonus structure,   is based on them hitting their KPIs. So what? This way we're both in alignment.

Peter Hernandez: Is you kind of have you got to have you got to have, something that you're aiming for. You just have to have that. Right. And so, and the reason for that is,   otherwise you're going to just throw a bunch of stuff on the wall and hope that something sticks. Yeah.   or, you know, in boxing terms, you're going to you're going to you're going to just throw blows at everything and not hit anything, right? So you want to make sure that you aim your blows at, you know, that you're doing a good job of knowing, okay, what am I aiming for? What am I hitting at? What am I, you know, what is my goal? What is what do I want to do? What do I want to accomplish? docenting that stuff is super important. having it in front of you and your team,   whether it's on a weekly or quarterly meeting, is super important. And so those are some of the things that, again, some of the opportunities that I kept seeing. And now the data is proving that right, as I'm, as I'm some of the,   the,   in this industry, some of the property managers that are taking the assessment,   the data is proving that there is,   there is a disconnect between, you know, the systems and the opportunities or the way that that, you know, the people are managed. so talk a little.

Pete Neubig: Bit more about the assessment. What what is what's the goal? What is the assessment. Tell you what's the overall goal of the assessment.

Peter Hernandez: So think about it as, you know, disc or culture index or some of these other ones.   but for your, for your business. So it's a, it's call it a a this, call it a health check.

Pete Neubig: Sound like, oh I like that a health check for your business.

Peter Hernandez: A business health health check. Yep a business health check.   it really comes down to 25 questions. . That just give us a high level overview of how the business is doing and how it compares to others. once we once we get the data from those 25 questions, then we can we can work with the organization, you know, to create other assessments that will take us deeper into the into the opportunities. But the 25 questions alone gives us they give us a really good high level view of what's going on in the business. Some of those questions are specific to to sales, to marketing, to the administration,   to, you know,   meetings.

Pete Neubig:  culture as well.

Peter Hernandez: As culture,   the vision, the mission,   etc.. you know, and processes like there's a section for processes. Do you have KPIs, you know, how often do you meet with your team, etc.? and they all connect. So let's just talk about that one real quick. If say someone says I do have KPIs. Okay. Next question could be do you have weekly, daily, monthly or quarterly meetings or none at all.   and, you know, depending on the answer, it's like, well, if the answer is we meet quarterly, okay, great. You have KPIs and you meet quarterly or here's what's going to happen. And you know this, you're going to show up to the quarterly meeting. And it's not until then you're going to realize, yeah, these people aren't meeting their numbers.

Pete Neubig: Right. So now I'm for yeah.

Peter Hernandez: You know, it's like you, you, you set on this, you you could have you could have been proactive and, and looked at this information before that, that quarterly meeting and made adjustments. Right. And so now you get to the quarterly meeting and, and you see, you know, if you, if you meet before, if you're keeping track of this data and you're meeting before with your team, you're making adjustments along the way so that the results aren't a surprise at that quarterly meeting. Right. And so, yeah. So that's the assessment. It was a great group out of out of Switzerland. They have a great behavioral science program that, that I worked with to put this assessment together. And   so far it's given us some really it's starting to give us some really, really good data that that I think is going to be interesting to share with the, with the, with the industry.

Pete Neubig: So if I take this as a, as a company, what's the next step? So now, I get this and then you're going to go over the results with me. Right. And then take me through the next steps after that.

Peter Hernandez: So great. Yeah. So,   you know, you take the assessment,   again, it's 25 questions, gives us high level information about your, your organization. It'll it'll give you a score. So as soon as we get the, the data, we get the, we get the,   the answers and and all the information back.   I'll reach out to you and say, hey, your your your business has scored a, you know, whatever could be a 84 or 70 4 or 54, whatever the score is. and it'll tell it'll the, the, the assessment will let us know what areas you scored really low in,   what areas you scored really high in and how that compares to other, you know, as we're getting more data, it's allowing us to compare, you know, how your business compares with others. And so we get you get the we get you your information, I give you I let you know what your score is. And I tell you the, the areas of opportunity. You're doing some really great things in this area. now let's talk about, you know, what is what is your goal or what is your biggest struggle.

Peter Hernandez: And it's funny because we'll jp on a call, ask you to jp on a call so we can go over your score and review the opportunities. And the question is I'm always going to ask, you know, what is your biggest challenge currently? And I'll ask that before I even let them know. I'll give them the score. I'll give you the score. We'll talk about the details. little. Little after, but I'll ask. Okay, so let's just say you score to 54.   what is your biggest challenge currently? And when you get when you let me know what your biggest challenge. It's funny because it'll always match up with where you scored. You know, the, you know, really low. Yeah. So there's a huge it's like this is my challenge and this is proving it. And here's why. Right. And so we'll walk you through the through the results. We'll highlight again the opportunities. And I'll put together a program that'll, that'll allow us to come in and help work with, with you or your team and, and,   addressing those areas of opportunity.

Pete Neubig: So I take the test. Now, do does the business owner take the test or the team the team members take the test.

Peter Hernandez: So a phase one is the owner takes the test owner.

Pete Neubig: Owner company is the is the test property management. Or is it just business agnostic?

Peter Hernandez: So I wanted to I wanted to, . And we can talk. We can or don't have to talk about this later, but,   there's a really, really big opportunity outside of, you know, in any in any industry really, I think. But small business.

Pete Neubig: Owner is a small business thing.

Peter Hernandez: Small business. Small medi business. Absolutely. So,   the the owner takes a test and and the assessment is business 101. That's really what it comes down to.   okay. Great. You do property management. That's great. You do plbing or roofing or that's great. It's still business 101. Right. And so the the assessment is going to be is going to be specific to what any organization needs to function literally, you know, whether it's, you know, do you have a, a a finance budget. Do you have a marketing budget. Do you have, you know, meetings? Do you have a, you know, KPIs, everything that any business would need to to function and be successful. That's what the assessment identifies in phase one.

Pete Neubig: Right. So now it also identifies what the opportunities are where you're not great. Right. And what you're finding is that most business owners know what they're not great at already. But obviously they have this challenge. They know about it, but they haven't been able to solve it yet. Whether it's I just haven't at the time, there's been other solutions that we just solved or I just don't know how to do it. Do you guys go in then and then using your expertise and building three companies, help them solve those challenges? And what does that look like?

Peter Hernandez: Absolutely. So,   once once we identify where the opportunities are, then,   put together a, you know, put together a program to come in and help every, every,   organization is going to be a little different. They may they may already be taking some steps in trying to fix, you know, some of these things, they they may not have done anything at all. Right. So depending on, on where they're at with, with that, with their efforts. You know, I'll put together a design, a program specific for that, for that organization and come in and work, whether it be a 30, 60 or 90 day program, to to work with them.   sometimes this means working with their team. So that's another part. So PM right. So people mindset and habits,   they the systems are there, the procedures are there.   the processes are there. Great. However, maybe in some cases it's it's it's a people issue. Right. And we can talk a lot about that. Right. And so   again, PMA is, you know, people mindset habits and and that's where really those are the three areas that that we feel are against speaking as business 101. Those are the three areas, fundamental areas of any business. So when I talk about people, it's your team, your staff, your employees. When I talk about mindset now, it's a collaboration. Now it's what is not only the team's mindset, but the owner's mindset. Sense and then finally habits.

Pete Neubig: That comes down is that kind of core values culture. Like is that exactly what that is? At that point the mindset.

Peter Hernandez: Absolutely right. The vision. The mission. Right. So,   mindset specifically, think about it this way.   the owner and and so so phase two is now now if we're going to work with, with the team or the staff. Phase two could now mean that they take a separate assessment. Now the team the employees take a different assessment. So mindset, the owner and we find this a lot owner says yes, we have a mission. Yes we have a vision. Okay. What is it? Well, we we take that information. You ask the employees.

Pete Neubig: Completely different or they.

Peter Hernandez: Have different.

Pete Neubig: Whatever.

Peter Hernandez: Exactly. They have no idea where it is now. And there are scenarios where the, the,   the, the owner,   says that they, they, they, they have a vision, but it's a very vague it's a very general, very, you know, just it's all over the place. And so if you as an owner can pinpoint what your, what your vision is, then you can't communicate that to your.

Pete Neubig: You can't get there either though.

Peter Hernandez: Right. Exactly.

Pete Neubig: How do you build how do you build the framework or the or the quarterly plans to get somewhere where you have no idea.

Peter Hernandez: Yeah. You know, and and some you know, it's funny, you're always going to get one of one of, you know, two or maybe three answers is okay, what is what is your vision? Well, I want to grow. Well, that's that's very broad. Very broad. I want to drive more revenue. Okay. What does that mean. Right. So again we go back to making sure that you identify, you know what you're trying to target right. What what you're trying to hit. Right. And so that means like you said about KPIs, that means setting nbers right. Setting goals for yourself okay. What does growth represent to you? What is driving more revenue. What does that what does that dollar amount look like when you know what that is and you're very clear about it. Now you can. Now you know where you're headed. And now you can communicate that to your team.

Pete Neubig: It's also very important if you have a partnership. So do you have both partners or if there's three partners, whatever. They're all in the business. Do all the partners take the test or is it just the one that's kind of the CEO?

Peter Hernandez: So we want to I want to if if there's partners, I want all the partners to take to take the assessment. if there is because here's, here's, here's, here's the reason for that is there might be out of the three partners, you might only be one that's actually in the day to day and driving the business or the company. But them as a team, these these people, they got to be on the same page too right?

Pete Neubig: Yeah I agree. Yeah.

Peter Hernandez: One of them says, hey, we're going to go left. And the other two says, well, I thought we were going right, right.

Pete Neubig: So if the guys running the business says, we want to get to 300 units at, you know, let's call it $1 million a year. And the two other partners are like, wait, we thought we were going to do the To 3000 units or in, you know, three markets. Right. So like that's completely it's it's a different business. You run completely different business.

Peter Hernandez: Absolutely. So yeah. So the assessment if there are partners we, we we prefer that they all take it because again, as leaders in their organization, whether they're involved in a day to day or not, they've got to be on the same page. Yeah. Right. Because it all trickles down from there. Right. And so.

Pete Neubig: Where do you stand on the leadership team? So like at Empire, we had a leadership team and then we had team members underneath that. Would you recommend the leadership team take it all as a pre. And then then the team takes like do you do the owners first then the leadership team second, then then the team.

Peter Hernandez: Absolutely. And again it depends on the size of the organization. Right. So there's there's some that do have leaders in place. And then you have, you know, your team or your employees. Absolutely. Again because it should all be a puzzle. Everything should connect perfectly. Right. And so when there's a vision, when there's a mission, when there's a goal, when everyone knows where where that boat, that ship is headed.   leader, your leadership team should, should, should know exactly what the roadmap to get there looks like. And then they can convey that to your to your employees. So yeah. Absolutely. If there is, if they have a second layer or a leadership team, then we want them to take a different assessment. And and then   again, depending on, you know, depending on what that initial, what the initial   assessment tells us is, this is, are the areas of opportunity related to to the team? Are the areas of opportunity related to the lack of processes and procedures?   is it lack of structure? Is it you know, depending on what that first assessment tells us is how we determine, you know, how we or who takes, you know, the next, next,   assessments, habits.

Peter Hernandez: Let me talk about habits real quick. That's that is another again in the PMA,   theory that,   habits are a very important part of what. What we also analyze. And when I, when I, when I say habits comes down to what we were talking about earlier,   meetings, for example, you know, how often do you do you have meetings. And here's, here's one thing that that I've the data is telling us a lot to. So you ask, hey, do you conduct, you know, your daily,   weekly, monthly. You know, what kind of meeting how often do you hold your meetings? Do you hold them? Yes we do. We hold them every week. Do you hold them every month? Whatever the answer is. who do you hold them with? You know, are these structured? So think of all these are all habits, right? Are you holding them? Who are you holding them with? Are they structured every meeting?

Pete Neubig: Start on time.

Peter Hernandez: Does every meeting.

Pete Neubig: Start end on time?

Peter Hernandez: You know, you're you're you're hitting on on everything that we touch on because again the owner may say, or the manager may say, oh yeah, absolutely we do. And we have them weekly and on the same day. And they're structured and we walk away, you know, accomplishing something. Okay, great. Then you assess the team and they're saying, well these kids switched around all the time. You know, we should we supposed to have them on on Monday or Tuesday mornings, but they usually get rescheduled and we don't have them until the end of the day. Or we get notified an hour before when they've been rescheduled. So habits. Right. Think of those things,   the meetings, you know, how often, habits.

Pete Neubig: I got a funny meeting story for you.

Peter Hernandez: Okay, go for it.

Pete Neubig: When I work for mind. We had so many meetings, 5 to 6, seven hours a day in meetings. And then, of course, I had to, like, do my job. So I,   and the meetings were just like people just pontificating. No, no real structure. So I bought Patrick Johnson's book, Death by Meeting, and I and I, and I mailed it to my boss.

Peter Hernandez: That's, . That's funny. And it happens all the time. people go from one from one end of the spectr to the other. Okay, you know what? I've got to be I've got to do a better job of meeting with my team. And now all of a sudden. Okay, great. What does that look like? Does that look like a daily meeting? If it does, that's okay. But are these meetings structured? Do they.

Pete Neubig: Do they happen the same day? Same time. Right. Like, I think I think.

Peter Hernandez: They serve a purpose. Do they serve a purpose? Because you could be meeting every day.   and that's okay. But they should meet a purpose. They should. There should be a reason why you're meeting every day, right?

Pete Neubig: It's funny, man. It sounds so simple, but it gets. It gets pushed aside all the time. As a matter of fact. On the VPM Academy last month, I actually created a course on how to schedule meetings. Like, how do you go? Yeah. so yeah, if you want to go out there to the BPM Academy to check that out. But yeah, people don't even they, they just don't even realize it. And look, look, when I, my my business partner Steve Rosenberg and I, when we were building an empire, we would get into the biggest fights when we weren't meeting.   because we would be traveling or whatever. And if we didn't meet for a few weeks, we'd start getting into, like into a, into a, you know, it'd be the challenges and we'd get into a fight. But but if we stayed on a structured meeting every week, structured meeting with an agenda, then the business ran much more efficiently. Yeah. Hitting on something big there?

Peter Hernandez: Absolutely. So here is, you know, people ask or people, you know, when they hear,   the opportunity, let's just take the meetings, for example, habits.   when people hear that the opportunity within their business To to reach success is is around meetings. They just think, oh well that's simple. Then I'll just look at the calendar. See what day and what time I want to meet with my team. And there you go. It's a schedule. It's on there. Well, it's not that easy. And it's. This is. It sounds easy. If it were that easy, it'd be happening all the time and everywhere, right? Yep.   you can put it on your calendar. I think the biggest challenge that people have the business owners have is, is creating an agenda for that meeting again, so that that meeting has a purpose.   I was talking to a client not long ago. She says they meet with their team every week. And so I asked, what does that agenda look like? And his answer was literally, well, we kind of go around the table and just kind of ask the guys to tell us, you know, what what what they're kind of struggling with out in the field. Okay, great. That's a great point to have on the agenda.   what is the rest of the agenda look like? He said. No, that's pretty much it. That's pretty much it. Okay, so if they're telling you what they're struggling with or what's what's what's next, how do you, you know, how do you come up with solutions for whatever their struggles are? Are these struggles being docented?

Pete Neubig: And that's where you and your team come in.

Peter Hernandez: Absolutely.

Pete Neubig: And and you identify the challenges. You let them know. You let them know there's a disconnect. Hey, the team is saying this, you're saying this. And then we're going to go ahead and give you tools, resources and coaching to solve.

Peter Hernandez: Those.

Pete Neubig: Problems. Yeah. Now what's the goal? The goal is to just have the company run much more efficiently. So kind of talk a little bit about like what the end result would look like.

Peter Hernandez: Yeah. So the goal is   here's what I've, I've, I keep hearing   most business owners associate results and it's there is a lot of truth behind it, You know, money revenues will keep the doors open, right? And so, at the end of the day, everyone is looking to, to make sure that we, that they drive more revenue or increase profitability. So the goal is to prove through this system, through this program how tweaking or or attacking the areas of opportunity within their staff, their people,   maybe the mindset across the organization or the habits across the organization, how how really focusing on those things that are going to impact their revenue and their profitability, because it really does. And so we do take note of what does that look like now?   what is that? What's that going to look like after, you know, after 30, 60 or 90 days? and how how you measure that is,   depending on, on the, the, the business that we're working with. You can prove that you've increased revenue, increased profitability by simply understanding, for example, what a what someone does specifically every day and how that,   you know, have they, has their performance gone up or down. Right. And so again, you need you need systems to kind of measure those things too, right. And so we we help build those systems so that they can they can have more than just a gut feeling. I don't think my maintenance department or my maintenance person is really doing that well. Well, let's create some metrics to measure that.

Pete Neubig: Feel like he's,   you know, I feel like he's not working well. And it's like, I don't know, mathematically, I can tell you if he's not working well because.

Peter Hernandez: Exactly.

Pete Neubig: It. Yeah. Here's the routine of reporting.

Peter Hernandez: Yeah. So the the end goal is to to show how either a department or a specific individual or the organization as a whole has increased,   impact on their revenue and their profitability by, by just, you know, just adjusting things, you know, here and there throughout the organization.

Pete Neubig: And if you reduce churn, employee churn, that's going to save you a lot of money because,   absolutely. I think Eric Witherington from pure, he told me that every time somebody leaves, they they've left two weeks before they actually left because like two months or two months. So right there, you lost two months of kind of real work. And then you get ready to write a check for about three grand, he told me. Yeah. So it's very, very,   and then, of course, you have to then rehire that person.   and that costs time and effort and all the, all the hours of productivity lost. And,   it could add up really quick. So if you can get people in alignment, and people want to be managed. Right. People. Do you see that? as like I see that I'd rather I'd rather not instead of my boss. Like, obviously I don't want to be micromanaged, but I don't want to be. I don't want to just like, hey, or just throw me out to the wolves. People really want to be managed. They want to be held accountable, and they want to have a scorecard to hit, so to speak.

Peter Hernandez: So yes, and and manage is probably the word that we use or hear more often. But here's what I think.   I think we could substitute that word with people. Just want structure. People want structure, right? And so when when you manage someone, it's a matter of them understanding the expectations and understanding how they're going to meet those and knowing that they have the tools to accomplish the job. That's really what management comes down to. Right. And so when they have that structure, people people want that. There are some people who really enjoy chaos, you know, but most people most people want structure.   going back to the churn thing goes back to.

Pete Neubig: The culture, right. If you have a culture of structure.

Peter Hernandez: Absolutely.

Pete Neubig: You want chaos are going to. And do you find that as you do this, that there are just some people who are bad fits and they have to replace them?

Peter Hernandez: Yes. there are, and the reason there are some. But but I see more people, who would perform at a very high level if given the right direction and the right tools. I see that more often than I see. Well, so-and-so is just an. They could be in the wrong seat, but it doesn't doesn't necessarily mean that they're that they're not good for the organization.

Pete Neubig: So there's more diamonds in the rough that are actually.

Peter Hernandez: Absolutely.

Pete Neubig: Smothered, that they can really explode versus people who are wrong wrong fit.

Peter Hernandez: Got it. And to find that out, it goes back to another thing that we do with with the habits part of our program is, you know, do you conduct evaluations and how often do you do these, you know, do you do you conduct, do you have do you set time aside to speak to maybe an entire department and see how things are doing? What kind of you know, how things are going? What kind of challenges are they? Are they facing? and then do you go down even further and maybe even talk one on one with the people within that department and, you know, have them, you know, take an evaluation or take a survey, you know, how are things, you know. Was it here's another part of like the post hire is, okay, you've been with us 90 days. Great. And maybe you've scheduled to sit down with that person. Great. Well, how about you put together a survey that says, how do you feel the training went? Did did you feel that you were given the tools to perform or to carry out? You know what was expected? What would you change as part of the part of the training process? Right. So some of these things are are going is what's going to, as you said, are going to prevent the churn that some of the folks are seeing. Because I was reading an article a couple of days, a couple of weeks ago, said 70% of the people that leave an organization, don't tell anyone why they're leaving until the exit interview. Okay.

Pete Neubig: That means there's quarterly or bi annual reviews happening.

Peter Hernandez: Exactly.

Pete Neubig: Yeah.

Peter Hernandez: And and that's it for even hold an exit interview. Some people leave it, and you never even know why they left.

Pete Neubig: I don't know why they left.

Peter Hernandez: Yeah, right. So had you been conducting evaluations, reviews, you could have caught some of these things early on. Because here's the thing people don't want to leave. People won't. Won't leave. And okay, I'll take that back. There are people who will leave for more money. There's always going to be folks that do that. But for the most part, especially in this economy, if you've been with someone for a year or two years, whatever that is, and someone says, hey, I've got an opportunity for you and it pays you an extra five bucks an hour or whatever, people are going to think immediately. That means I'm going to have to start all over again. That means there's probably going to be a 90 day probation period. If it's not what I think it is, I may regret going there. You know what? I'm making a little bit less money, but at least I know that this around me is working. It's functional, you know. Yeah, exactly. All right.

Pete Neubig: Where can people take this, . This assessment. Where can I go? So.

Peter Hernandez: Yeah, go to our go to our website, my, my.com. And you'll find that you'll find a tab throughout the throughout the website it says, take the free,   business health check and   and just click on that. It'll take you straight to our, to our assessment. And we'll be happy to contact you after you some after you take it and we'll hit you up with the results and let you know what the, what the opportunities. And we'll also let you know, congratulate you on what you're doing really well because it's it's an assessment that also lets you know where you're performing really well.

Pete Neubig: And I heard that right. It's free. The assessment is free. Assessment is free.

Peter Hernandez: It is absolutely free.

Pete Neubig: All right. We'll be right back after these commercial break. And then we'll going to put Pete on the hot seat the lightning round. All right welcome back everybody. All right Peter are you ready to be on the lightning round.

Peter Hernandez: I am you know. And I haven't heard this I haven't heard it in a little while. So I hope I'm ready.

Pete Neubig: All right. Well, let's let's let's start off with,   with an easy one. what is one piece of advice you would give someone just starting out in business since you're just doing it again? So, like, what's a piece of advice you give somebody out? Just starting out in business doesn't have to be in business. Just in business in general.

Peter Hernandez: Just in business in general. So, my biggest piece of advice I would say is if you have an idea, which is where it all starts,   think about, ask yourself this. How much is it going to require? How much, how many, how much resources? How much time is it going to take for me to educate people on what I think my solution gives them? Because here's the thing. I you know, they say create a solution when there's a problem. And sometimes we create what we think are solutions, but there isn't a problem. And we think, all I've got to do is if I can get people to, to see it this way. Well, if it's, if it's going to require a lot of time and a lot of resources to educate who you think could use your service, I would, I would, I would say reevaluate your idea.

Pete Neubig: I just I that's very, very wise. What is your ideal vacation?

Peter Hernandez: Oh, I think you and I have talked about this before, but my ideal vacation is,   another another trip to to Europe, Italy specific. And be there for, for an entire month like I've done before.

Pete Neubig: I would have been surprised if you didn't say Italy. I really would have been surprised. All right, let's go to the food portion of our questions. Does pineapple belong on pizza?

Peter Hernandez: You know, I'm offended that that is still one of the questions because it does not. Not at all.

Pete Neubig: You and I, that's why we're buddies.

Peter Hernandez: All right.

Pete Neubig: Favorite fast food restaurant? If you. I know you don't need it, but if you had a had a go to. What's your go to.

Peter Hernandez: Favorite fast food? Well, I don't know if I don't know if it's fast food. It probably is fast food compared to like a sit down restaurant. But I do hit up Chipotle at least once a week.

Pete Neubig: I know you're going to say that. I'll . I'll allow it. Judge. Judge. Peter Judge Newberg.

Speaker4: Says it's allowed. All right.

Pete Neubig: All right. And then I'm going to throw this one your way, because this is the question that you said I should always have on there. I never actually get it. What condiment do you put on your hamburger?

Peter Hernandez: Yeah. So there's you know, people either say mayo, ketchup or mustard, right. So I'm a firm.

Pete Neubig: That does like 6000 Island, but you know, there's this.

Peter Hernandez: Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.   and so there's and by the way, there's a local place here in town that when you order your burger, they ask you if you want red, white or yeller yellow with an ER at the end.   so I love, I love mustard on hot dogs, but I don't think it necessarily,   I don't think it necessarily always. I know ketchup doesn't go on, on on hotdogs on burgers. Sorry. No, no ketchup on burgers. Definitely a mayo or mustard guy.

Pete Neubig: Wow. Okay, so I guess we can eat pizza together because ketchup always goes on burgers. Mustard always goes on hot dogs. There is no other answer and Mayo goes on nothing as far as I see. What is what is something that most people don't know about you?

Peter Hernandez: Oh, well,   I think most people don't. Well, either. Here's, here's it's connected. Most people don't know that. I went that I was vegetarian for three years, and then I stopped being vegetarian a week before I went to to Europe because I said, there's no way I'm going to Italy as a vegetarian.   and then connected to that is a lot of people who knew I did that thinking I'm still vegetarian and I'm not. So there. There you go. That was an easy one

Pete Neubig: All right, all right, all right. Last one. Dogs are cats. Dogs 100% figured as much. All right, Peter. So let's do let's do that website again. If somebody wants to get in touch with you,   or take that free,   assessment. Where, where do they go, How to get in touch with you?

Peter Hernandez: Yeah. And thanks again.   so it's my PMA, and if you want to reach out to me directly, you can by,   emailing me at,   Peter at my PMA.

Pete Neubig: And then also, let's throw a shout out to the PMA Facebook group, which is not the same as PMA or my PMA. it starts. Let me see if I think remember, it's,   mental health, property management, mental health or something like that.

Peter Hernandez: It should be mental health. Yeah.   you know, it's funny. So it's it's it's it's PMA to the right, the PM health group. And I think it was,   originally people thought it's, you know, it's got to be property management health. Right. And so I thought, that sounds really smart. So I'm not gonna I'm not gonna, you know, argue with anyone on that, but it's actually physical and mental health.

 

Pete Neubig: So physical.

Peter Hernandez: It just happens to be. Yeah. Specific to property management. So hit us up on the   Facebook group PPM, PPM health group.

Pete Neubig: Ppm health Group. Yeah. I'm a member. And, it is a pretty, . It's pretty uplifting seeing all the people doing all these all these wonderful things, whether they're just, they're out of shape, getting into shape or they're like Trent Ratliff and they're running Ironman. It's really, really inspiring. And, so, Pete, thanks so much for being here. If you are not a member of NARPM, then why the heck are you listening to this without being a member? Join naarpm.org. Or call them at (800) 782-3452. And then when you do your session with Peter and you find out that you need, new people use remote team members VPMsolutions.com. Or you can email me directly Pete@VPM solutions.com. Pete, thanks so much for being here, buddy.

Peter Hernandez: Pete, thank you so much. Enjoyed it.