April 29, 2025 • 30 mins
Have you ever discovered that someone you've known for years has been walking a parallel professional path without either of you realizing it? That's exactly what happened when I sat down with my longtime friend Katie Elsass for this eye-opening conversation about affordable housing, compassionate property management, and finding purpose in unexpected places.
Katie reveals her journey from aspiring social worker to Quality Improvement Director at Community Housing Network, where she brings structure and compassion to the challenging world of affordable housing. Unlike conventional property management, CHN follows a housing-first philosophy, providing homes to people with disabilities and histories of homelessness without demanding sobriety or income. "We'll house you how you are," Katie explains, creating stability first so other services can follow.
We dive deep into the stark contrast between Columbus's affordable housing shortage and the conventional market's struggle to fill units at higher price points. Katie's career evolution mirrors the growth challenges many non-profits face - from chaotic, unstructured environments to developing comprehensive policies that support both staff and residents. Her candid sharing about workplace stress and finding her professional sweet spot offers valuable insights for anyone trying to align their values with their career.
The conversation takes honest turns as we discuss the unique dangers property managers face working where others live, sharing stories of risky situations and learning how to prioritize safety while maintaining compassion. Katie's life philosophy becomes the perfect takeaway: "Don't worry until you have to" - a reminder to save our energy for challenges that actually materialize rather than burning out on anticipatory anxiety.
Whether you work in housing, social services, or are simply curious about how compassion can transform systems, this conversation illuminates how unexpected professional allies might be hiding in your own social circle. Listen now and discover how two friends found connection through their parallel missions of creating homes and hope.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Welcome back to the SheSweet Society.
You know those moments when yourealize the universe has been
quietly connecting dots youdidn't even know existed.
That's exactly what happenedwith today's guest and me.
Dots you didn't even knowexisted.
That's exactly what happenedwith today's guest and me.
Katie Elsass and I have beenfriends for years, swapping
stories about our kids, debatingthe merits of true crime
podcasts and sharing more than afew glasses of wine, but
somehow we never realized wewere both warriors in the wild
(00:36):
world of property management.
While I've been over here doingmy thing, katie has been
transforming lives throughaffordable housing, bringing her
social work heart to anindustry that desperately needs
it.
When most people see problemsto solve, katie sees people who
need homes and hope Fromnavigating the absolute circus
that property management can be.
(00:56):
Trust me, folks, we've seeneverything to juggling, being
present for our kids, whilebuilding careers where the line
between professional andpersonal gets blurry every
single day.
Katie brings compassion whereothers might bring judgment.
So grab your coffee, wine orwhatever gets you through the
day, because we're about to diveinto a conversation about
(01:16):
housing the unhoused, turningsocial work passion into
tangible change and whysometimes the best professional
connections are hiding in yourown friend circle all along.
Please welcome my dear friend,the housing hero with the
biggest heart, katie Elsass.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Katie's nice to have you on the podcast.
Tell me I was trying to stalkyou a little to find out what
your actual title is, Do you?
I don't think I got very far.
I got director of operations ofsome sort.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
So the official, the official title is um quality
improvement director, qualityimprovement director.
Yeah, I'm sort of like uh, not,not, I'm not.
I don't have an online presence.
I don't do much on LinkedIn.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
You don't.
I can't find anything, no.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
You know it's funny because, like I, I don't.
I just never thought of this asa career and I just kind of
fell into it.
So it's just like I've not.
I don't try to like network, Idon't like.
That's actually just not mypersonality anyway.
So that's why you can't find me,but I'm a director of quality
improvement and basically whatthat entails besides normal
(02:28):
quality improvement.
My team handles all of ourcompliance.
So I'm in affordable housing,so my team handles all of our
compliance regulations, policiesand procedures.
And then you know qualityprojects kind of things, some
project management stuff as well.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
How long have you been doing it?
Speaker 3 (02:49):
So I've been in this role for four years I have been.
I work for Community HousingNetwork and I've worked there
for 15 years and pretty kind ofdone it all at CHN.
And now this is where I've kindof just fell into.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
That's where you fell into.
How did you?
How did how?
Did you always want to do this?
How did you end up over here?
Or is it like the rest of us?
You?
Speaker 3 (03:14):
just somehow ended up there.
You know, property managementmost people do not set out like
property management.
Most people just fall into it.
I, so I social work has kind ofbeen my.
I don't, I don't have a degreein social work, but that's been
kind of my interest, so to speak.
(03:37):
I, when I, greg and I, moved toColumbus 15 years ago, because
this is the job that I got then,or the place I started working.
And when we did that I hadpreviously I worked in Indiana
for a township trustees officeand in Indiana they did like uh,
assistance, so people wouldcome to the office and I would
help like pay their bills right,like if they can't make rent or
(03:59):
they can't pay forprescriptions or basic needs,
and so we would do like anassessment and then we had some
fun.
So so like social work I wassort of like dabbling in that.
I didn't realize I wanted to bea social worker until like
halfway through college.
So I never like finished andgot the degree of like a general
education degree.
So you know, you just fall intothese careers and I and I
always said someday I would goback and like get my LSW and
(04:22):
like go do the traditional route, but it just never like worked
out.
Cause, first off, you don'tmake crap in social work and why
go?
And I got to the point where Iwas like, why am I going to go
and pay for schooling forsomething that's not going to
like ultimately boost my incomepotential or earnings potential?
So never did that.
And then, when we moved toColumbus, I was looking for
(04:45):
something where I had moreimpact with clients.
So like in the township, Iwould see them in crisis, like I
can't pay my bill, my rent, wewould do the assessment thing
and they would leave and I wouldnever see them again until they
were in crisis and I we wouldsee clients in the morning and
then I'd have my like afternoon.
We would do like investigations, like you vet their income and
(05:08):
whatnot.
And my boss was like, so sheknew what my interest was.
And she was like, oh, you canlike do stuff.
So I like I held these like, uh, financial literacy classes in
the afternoons and like nobodywould come Cause it wasn't like
a requirement, like nobody wouldcome, I nobody.
I was like I want people to notbe in crisis, I want to teach
them how to manage their moneyand you know, and all these
(05:29):
hopes and dreams.
so when I moved to Columbus Iwas looking for a job that I
wasn't just like touch and go,like I wanted to like invest in
people and um the position thatCHN had at the time.
We are a very different, prettydifferent than we were 15 years
ago.
It was a supportive housingcoordinator was the title and
(05:51):
essentially it essentially was aproperty manager, but it wasn't
called that and I didn't haveall the traditional duties at
that time.
So, I was almost like a propertymanager who was like a social
worker, an onsite social worker,so to speak.
But the title was just funky.
But I didn't collect rent, Ididn't serve like eviction
notices.
And then at that time we didlike annual recertifications for
(06:13):
people in their housing.
I didn't even do that, we hadsomebody at the main office that
did it.
I look back on those days.
I'm like what did I do with mytime?
Like there was lots of drama,obviously with.
But you know, I'm like, how didI do so?
I so I fell into that and I whatI loved about that was like you
know you're, I'm in your home.
You know, not in their homes,but like I'm in the building,
you see them like you know whenthey live, where they work,
(06:37):
where you work where they live.
Exactly so, um, and then it'sjust kind of went on from there
and then, after I did that for awhile, I opened up one of our
new buildings at CHN new buildsthat we had and worked that for
a while and then moved to themain office and did like
regional management job, becausewe like sort of supportive
(06:57):
housing coordinator was the nameback then and then they morphed
into we did like a strategicplanning thing where we changed
and basically everybody thenbecame property managers, right,
or you were a servicecoordinator, so you were like
the you know engagementspecialist, so to speak, and so
I kind of fell into the propertymanagement track.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Was that like as the as the organization grew?
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Yes, yeah, yeah.
So CHN has been around, startedout smaller, started out much
smaller.
It's been around now for like35 years, but like it just grew
and grew and about 10 to 12,more than that probably.
Like 12 years ago they did astrategic plan where they're
like you know, we can't be doingthis grassroots stuff anymore.
We need better structure, weneed actual property managers,
(07:40):
and we've gone the gamut of likehire, like how, how do you hire
for this position?
Because you got to have thelike property management skills,
but you also have to have thesoft people skills, cause we, we
house people who, um, you know,the requirements to live in our
housing is you have to havesome kind of a disability.
You and some of our units, um,you have to have a history of
(08:01):
homelessness.
So we've got people that cometo us with trauma and with you
know, some baggage, so to speak,and they're not exactly always
the best residents.
But we ascribe to housing first, so we'll house you how you are
, which means you don't have tobe clean and sober.
Sober, and most, a lot ofpeople, particularly ones who
(08:28):
are homeless, they treat theirmental illness with substances
because they're homeless, sothey're not linked with
healthcare necessarily, and soour thought process is you house
them where they are and thenwith the hopes that we can
connect them with the servicesthat they need.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
So are they homeless and jobless?
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yeah, there's no income requirement.
Most all of our units come witha subsidy, so people, even with
no income, are able to affordthe housing because it's, you
know, subsidized.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Covered.
Do you find that you're in ashortage?
Speaker 3 (08:57):
of housing.
Oh, a hundred percent, yeah,yeah, there's.
There's not enough affordablehousing to go around, especially
in Columbus.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
I mean, I feel like that argument can be made for a
lot of cities.
It's just when we talk abouthousing in Columbus those of us
that are on the for-profit sidewe're like we've got units and
our biggest issue is, you know,we're building and we can't fill
them.
We can't fill them as fast asour pro forma dictates.
(09:30):
And it's because I thinkthere's a disconnect between
what is needed that isaffordable and what is that
price point.
There's a huge disconnect.
So, they just keep building andrenovating and doing all this
stuff.
People are moving here, butit's just, it's a very different
, it's a very different way ofwork, which is crazy.
(09:52):
Like I hear what you, whatyou're doing, and I've I've
dabbled a bit in the affordableside, just in terms of knowledge
, like I've never workedaffordable, to be very clear.
I've never had to.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Oh, did you lose me?
No, there it goes, it came back, I don't know.
Anyway, yeah, you dabbled, butyou never actually I've only
learned.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
I've never actually worked it and of course you know
they've changed some laws herein Columbus and Franklin County
where it requires all of us toaccept vouchers for rent.
That is a thing that we have toaccept now, and so we had to
learn real quick how to do that.
(10:31):
So it opened our eyes a littlebit.
But we, when you talk about howdo you qualify for an apartment
, we have hoops that you have tojump through to qualify.
You have to definitely can'thave ever been homeless or have,
which is stupid, right.
(10:51):
When you think about it, you'relike you're trying to find a
home.
I don't know it's crazy, butyou're right.
A lot of us just ended up here.
We didn't think about it, wejust ended up here.
I just needed a job and I endedup working in property
management because I happened tolive somewhere that had a job
opening.
(11:12):
Had that not happened, whoknows where I'd be working right
now.
That sounds a little bit likewhat you did.
You were looking for social work, but you ended up.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Yeah.
I mean it's still social workfor sure, but I gravitate
towards structure and socialworkers.
And you like the affordablehousing side Social workers
aren't necessarily known forfollowing rules and being able
to be structured.
So I have the heart of a socialworker, but the brain of a
(11:45):
property manager, maybe maybethat's you know, like I like
these are the, this is theprocess, this is the policy,
like this is what we have to do.
I love writing policy, I lovewriting procedures Cause that's
one of the reasons like I fellinto this particular role is I
was a regional manager and CHNwas a little chaotic because as
(12:07):
we grew and we we shifted ourstrategic plan, we had no
policies, no procedures, like itliterally was like the wild
effing West, like everybody justkind of did whatever they did
and it drove me nuts.
And then, like I had all thestaff that didn't know what they
were doing, like they used tobe some other position in the
company and we just dubbed them.
(12:27):
You are now a property manager.
Go, katie, here's your staff.
Go, and I barely had anytraining as like a real property
manager, and so it was justlike I had to learn the job
while teaching people the job.
I mean it was incrediblystressful.
I mean incredibly stressful andI am not, um, an anxious,
stressed out kind of person, butthat's how.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
I never struck me no.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
I, I, I go with the flow, it's fine, but, like it,
it was clearly I was havingissues because I was stressed
out.
I like I had a panic attack inthe office.
I would always be the first onein the office Um, I'm an early
bird and you know it'sparticularly stressful time and
I like went to my mailboxes backwhen you used to get a lot of
mail and I like got my mailbox,sat down in my office and like
(13:14):
everything that I was likelooking at.
I was like action item, actionitem, oh shit, oh yeah.
And I just like I started tolike breathe heavy and I like
got up and I shut my door and Iwas just like I don't know
what's happening.
I called my husband and he waslike I think you're having a
panic attack.
And he, I got home I calmedmyself down, like I was able to
get out of it.
And I got home that night andhe was like this is I'm done
(13:37):
with this.
Like you come home, you're,you're not nice, you're stressed
out, this is, it's not worth it.
So like that night I got on thecomputer and like found the
first applied for the first job.
That like I was like I could dothat.
And it was like a compliancespecialist for some other small,
itty bitty, tiny affordableplace.
It was like probably a 10 grandpay cut.
(14:00):
I was like I could do that.
So I applied and just applying,I like just felt I felt okay.
Got a call the next day and Ijust was like for the next week
I was out of body and I justwent through the motions like
yeah, sure I'll go in for aninterview.
You know, sure I did theinterview.
They hired me and I was like Iguess I'm taking the job.
So I went and told CHN like I'mdone, I can't, I can't live
(14:28):
with this stress anymore.
Like I don't have staff thatknow what they're doing.
I was really in hindsight, like,cause we had no processes, I
had nothing to point to, I hadnothing to help my team out with
.
So I leave and I go to thistiny company and it was
affordable, but it was seniorhousing, oh, and I was only
there for two months.
I, as I was there, I justthought to myself and this is
(14:48):
going to sound weird, but like,these people don't need me
because, like all of theseseniors, they had assets right,
like the clients at CHN theyhave.
If they have a bank account,they have two cents in it.
Like there's no, they've gottennothing.
And so, even though theseseniors needed affordable
housing and it was seniorhousing, I was just like y'all
(15:09):
don't need me, this is dumb.
And at the same time, I'mhaving those feelings like what
is it I do?
Like this is not my passion,like I, this is not what I'm not
, like you know, doing good orwhatever.
My old boss at CHN texted me'slike hey, I have an idea.
Um, we need somebody to writeprocess and to train.
(15:30):
Like can we like createsomething?
And so I went back in twomonths I went back and like they
built this positionspecifically for me and I like
wrote all of our procedures.
I did like project managementand training work for like three
years and then the qualityimprovement director.
It was just kind of a naturalshift into where I'm at now.
So yeah, how awesome.
(15:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
How awesome of them to recognize that that was a
business need and that that alsowas your specialty.
And you already know thecompany.
You already understand how itall works.
What a seamless transition.
Good for them for recognizing.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Yeah, and I still like.
I am good for you forrecognizing that you needed to
get out of a situation I meanseriously when they realized
that if you had stayed the wholetime, no, and I and I don't
know like really honestly, itwas like very serendipitous,
right, because it like, thankGod, I left my quality, even
that it was a summertime.
So for two months in the summerI just had the easiest job ever
(16:30):
, like I went into work and camehome, didn't even think about
the job, um, and it just was arelaxing couple of months and
then I was ready to get back towork and like challenge myself
again and we, our CEO is she'sactually leaving, which is
really sad.
We get a new CEO next week,which is gonna be crazy, but it
(16:52):
was her.
Well, she's been on her way outfor a while, so they've been
doing a search, but Sam, our CEOshe was the one that first
floated it to my old boss waslike what's Katie doing, like
she needs to do, and I've saidthis to her before too.
(17:14):
Because of that role, I not onlylike really gained a better
learning for property managementbut for finance, for compliance
at that point, for ourmaintenance department.
I wrote all of those procedures.
I learned how everybody dideverything, and so I have this
like 30,000 foot view of theagency now and I keep telling
her that I was like it's allbecause of you and I still, to
this day, feel fulfilled in thisrole because I always see
(17:35):
there's so many opportunitiesyou know what I mean Like
there's so much stuff that wecan do better here and I have a
unique perspective because Iknow all of the lines of
business now, because I was inthat role.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Very good point, and it's a very good point.
And as things keep changing,like tools come available, like
you're switching everything overto Rent Cafe, which is a beast
all on its own, but thepossibilities are super endless
at this point, you'll never bebored.
It's not like you ever reallyare, which it's just.
(18:09):
What's crazy to me is howpassionate both of us are about
housing and property management.
Yet, like I said, we've knowneach other for a while and never
once have we talked about this.
Isn't that crazy?
Up until what, like a week ortwo ago, like we never talked
about this.
(18:30):
I find that to be one of themost fascinating things, because
most people talk about whatthey do for a living, off the
bat, off the get go.
Like, whenever you meetsomebody, the first question's
always like so what do you do?
That wasn't our questions.
Like we just didn't talk aboutthat, which is so funny.
(18:51):
We talked about.
I didn't know what we talkedabout Like um, were you?
Were you running?
Are you a runner?
Speaker 3 (18:58):
I think we talked about running Politics.
Yeah, your guys' neighborhooddrama.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Okay, listen, we had a lot of neighborhood drama, I
think it's still pretty bad, butit's not as bad as
Fencemageddon was.
That was the worst.
That was by far the worst.
And then, with the HOA comingthrough, and then you guys, you
came over to the school and soyou switched schools and I know
my daughter was there at thesame time your daughter's was
coming in and soccer didn't,didn't your yes.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Liz did soccer hold on?
We talked about, likeeverything else, all these
different peers we crossed, butnever, never the work career
like but I'm excited about that.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
I'm excited about that.
I just think it's um, I thinkit's really really unique and
really cool that people can havethat type of an interaction and
never once talk about work.
I think work is great Don't getme wrong but it doesn't define
who you are.
It just defines what you do toearn money, unless you're
(20:04):
following your passion, which tome sounds like you did both.
You earned money and you stillfollowed your passion and you
still, like, intrigued yourselfmentally by being able to
progress within your own company.
Yeah, yeah, how did that?
How did how?
So I know, for me, being aproperty manager and being in
(20:28):
this industry definitely had itstoll and impact on my kids and
what they see as well.
You know, we see some heinousthings, we see some really dark
sides of life because, again,when you work where other people
live, you see how they live.
I don't want to make that belike that's the real, the real,
(20:48):
real, but it is a different side.
Going to make that be likethat's the real, the real, real,
but it is a different side.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
How does that impact you?
How does it impact you?
I mean, you know, I, you, I'msure you've said this to all
property management does.
I could write a book, you know,of like crazy stories of things
that tenants have done, um,things we've seen, um, you know
I'll come home and talk aboutstories, cause it's a good, it's
cathartic or whatever, and youknow it's funny cause I don't
even know.
(21:20):
I think they do now, but for along time I don't think my kids
knew what I did.
I don't think they understoodwhat I did, um, but more and
more I think they understand now.
Like they used to just say Iworked, uh in at an apartment,
like she works in an apartment,um, but now I think, like I've,
we've taught, we talk more, likeour kids are older now.
So we'll talk a lot about, likeyou know, getting a good job so
(21:42):
that you can pay your bills,you can get a nice house, you
can, like you know, supportyourself and I will, I will
share with them.
Like you know, the people Ihouse, they can't afford these
things and they, they, you know,have to get assistance.
It's not easy to get you, youguys, you know it's, it's, it's
not.
That's not how you guys want tolive, right?
(22:03):
So like you need to, likeyou're lucky to have supports,
because a lot of my residentsthey did not have the support
that you know my kids are.
You know they're getting,they're getting less they're.
They're learning crap fromtheir parents where a lot of our
residents they didn't even haveparents to teach them, you know
.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Right, right.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
So yeah, I don't know .
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Like I, Would you let your kids go into this industry
.
So you see this.
You see either parents notletting their kids get into this
industry or you just seenepotism galore.
A whole family owns and managesapartment communities.
What's your take on that?
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Well, I don't know, like I think the whole piece of
like the permanent supportivehousing thing, like I wouldn't
care, I wouldn't mind if my kidslike pursued that.
Just from a standpoint of, it'sreally hard to find people who
want to do this work and want todo it long-term, because people
get burnt out.
It is like social work right,you get burnt out um pretty
(23:04):
quickly.
So if they would be interested,definitely neither one of them
I don't think either one of themhave a uh tilt towards social
work at all in their, in their,in their bones.
So, um, I don't think I don'tforesee that happening, but, um,
I don't know, like I also in,like I don't know, fearless is
(23:24):
the right word.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Maybe it's stupid, um , maybe that's what I'm in the
same boat, right like.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
I I would I have put myself in positions um that were
probably not smart and not safe, like I had a tenant years ago.
This is my first, my first uhgig at CHN.
I'm really close with mytenants and I think that we are
like friendly, like we're close,like I respect you, I treat
(23:53):
them with respect and I like hadhe was um dealing in my
building um and I thought itwould be a good idea to serve
him his eviction notice in myoffice in person by myself and
my office was like, oh my god,the the door was on this side of
the desk and he comes and likewhatever, it was fine, it went
(24:17):
fine.
We had a great conversation.
He was really angry and youknow whatever he leaves, and I
was just like that was reallystupid, like what did I do?
Like he could have reallygotten hurt Really.
So I've done dumb things likethat before, but I think I,
after I do it, I'm like okay,lesson learned, that was not
(24:39):
smart.
Um, and I've been in so much,so many situations.
I actually, for a time periodwhen I was doing the project
management training gig, I gotum CPI certified crisis, um
manager or crisis de-escalation.
What does CPI stand for?
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
God, what did that stand for?
I had that certification foryears.
Anywho, I trained our staff onlike crisis stuff and I would
tell like, don't do what Katiedoes, don't do what I do, don't
do dumb things like me.
Yeah, oh, that's too bad.
I could see my kids not notbeing um, you know, know,
cognizant of their surroundingsbecause they're so sheltered,
(25:15):
and I think that's probably why,earlier in my career, I did
things like that, because I wasso sheltered to not recognize
that, like, okay, some of ourresidents.
They come to us with pretty bigtrauma and their normal
response to something is notwhat others' normal response
would be, you know.
So, thankfully, knock on wood,I didn't learn that like the
(25:37):
hard way, so to speak.
I haven't gotten myself in anytrouble, but I've put myself in
some risky situations being inthis industry.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
it's not hard to be put into those types of
situations.
Even when you plan, even whenyou prepare, you truly just
don't know you're dealing withthe public and in some cases,
you're dealing with them attheir worst, yeah, at some, at
some, in some cases, uh, I cannever forget that story.
Uh, I think it was in Floridawhere the property manager put
(26:09):
out like small balance noticesof like water and the old old
guy old guy, like veryunassuming guy came into the
leasing office with a gun andthreatened them.
He let the assistant leave andhe shot the manager.
It went pretty, it went prettyviral.
Manager lived, but still, thisis a normal thing.
And like, even I was out at oneof our properties and there was
(26:32):
a resident threatening us withan AK 47.
Just for what?
Literally for what?
And it's just it's.
It's, it's a.
It can be a scary world, butcan also be really rewarding
when you know you're helpingpeople and you know you're still
doing right, regardless ofwhich side you're on.
Uh, like affordable or forprofit.
I didn't mean conventional, Iwas like what the hell is my
(26:55):
cycle?
Um, if you could give anybodylistening to the G suite society
advice, just life advice.
Honestly like more life adviceI mean it can be work advice but
prefer about life.
What would you?
What would you say, is the is apiece of advice you would give
them that they could sort ofpocket in their brain when
(27:18):
they're maneuvering through life.
What's something you live, arule you live by, not the don't
do Katie's way.
What's a rule you would live bythat you could pass along?
Speaker 3 (27:35):
So I've actually been using this mantra a lot at work
but it applies in life too is Idon't worry until I have to?
And I've been saying this atwork a lot because you know
everybody's freaking out.
We're getting a new CEO, what'sgoing to happen?
Oh, is she going to changeeverything?
And I'm like, why am I wastingenergy, worrying until I have to
, if and when they come in andthey do the thing and they
(27:58):
change something?
And then in that moment, maybe,if I have to worry, I'll worry.
But like, why waste your timein anything in life?
Like why stress out over what,the unknowns, what could happen,
what?
Just wait until it happens andthen take it when it comes, Like
I don't have time.
You know what I mean?
I don't like that feeling.
I hate the feeling of beingworried and anxious, and so I
(28:20):
just choose a good feeling and Iknow it's really easier said
than done, but I just choose.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
I just choose not to yeah, you don't have to worry
about it.
Plus, I think a lot of the timewhen people worry about stuff,
you're assuming the worst.
It could also just be the best.
What's the harm in assuming thebest?
I don't know.
I really like that piece ofadvice.
See, that's good.
See, works for both work andpersonal.
Don't worry, unless you have to.
I love that.
(28:47):
Well, thank you for joining metoday and spending this time.
We could talk forever about ourstories with property
management, and maybe we'll getthe chance to here soon
(29:11):
aspirations to housing hero, allwhile navigating the beautiful
chaos of motherhood and propertymanagement.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
I think we can all take Katie's advice to heart
Don't worry until you have to.
In an industry where we quiteliterally work, where people
live, where every day brings newchallenges and unexpected
situations, those words hitdifferently.
They remind us that, whilepreparation is key, we don't
need to carry tomorrow'stroubles today, whether you're
managing properties, managing ahousehold or managing to keep
(29:34):
your dreams alive.
Through it all, save your worryfor when it's actually needed
Just might be the self-care weall deserve.
Katie, thank you for sharingyour wisdom, your heart and for
being my friend all these years,even when we were clueless that
our professional paths wererunning parallel.
Until next time she's SweetSociety remember to take care of
your spaces, take care of eachother and, most importantly,
(29:55):
take care of yourself.
Welcome back to the SheSweet Society.
You know those moments when yourealize the universe has been
quietly connecting dots youdidn't even know existed.
That's exactly what happenedwith today's guest and me.
Dots you didn't even knowexisted.
That's exactly what happenedwith today's guest and me.
Katie Elsass and I have beenfriends for years, swapping
stories about our kids, debatingthe merits of true crime
podcasts and sharing more than afew glasses of wine, but
somehow we never realized wewere both warriors in the wild
(00:36):
world of property management.
While I've been over here doingmy thing, katie has been
transforming lives throughaffordable housing, bringing her
social work heart to anindustry that desperately needs
it.
When most people see problemsto solve, katie sees people who
need homes and hope Fromnavigating the absolute circus
that property management can be.
(00:56):
Trust me, folks, we've seeneverything to juggling, being
present for our kids, whilebuilding careers where the line
between professional andpersonal gets blurry every
single day.
Katie brings compassion whereothers might bring judgment.
So grab your coffee, wine orwhatever gets you through the
day, because we're about to diveinto a conversation about
(01:16):
housing the unhoused, turningsocial work passion into
tangible change and whysometimes the best professional
connections are hiding in yourown friend circle all along.
Please welcome my dear friend,the housing hero with the
biggest heart, katie Elsass.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Katie's nice to have you on the podcast.
Tell me I was trying to stalkyou a little to find out what
your actual title is, Do you?
I don't think I got very far.
I got director of operations ofsome sort.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
So the official, the official title is um quality
improvement director, qualityimprovement director.
Yeah, I'm sort of like uh, not,not, I'm not.
I don't have an online presence.
I don't do much on LinkedIn.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
You don't.
I can't find anything, no.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
You know it's funny because, like I, I don't.
I just never thought of this asa career and I just kind of
fell into it.
So it's just like I've not.
I don't try to like network, Idon't like.
That's actually just not mypersonality anyway.
So that's why you can't find me,but I'm a director of quality
improvement and basically whatthat entails besides normal
(02:28):
quality improvement.
My team handles all of ourcompliance.
So I'm in affordable housing,so my team handles all of our
compliance regulations, policiesand procedures.
And then you know qualityprojects kind of things, some
project management stuff as well.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
How long have you been doing it?
Speaker 3 (02:49):
So I've been in this role for four years I have been.
I work for Community HousingNetwork and I've worked there
for 15 years and pretty kind ofdone it all at CHN.
And now this is where I've kindof just fell into.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
That's where you fell into.
How did you?
How did how?
Did you always want to do this?
How did you end up over here?
Or is it like the rest of us?
You?
Speaker 3 (03:14):
just somehow ended up there.
You know, property managementmost people do not set out like
property management.
Most people just fall into it.
I, so I social work has kind ofbeen my.
I don't, I don't have a degreein social work, but that's been
kind of my interest, so to speak.
(03:37):
I, when I, greg and I, moved toColumbus 15 years ago, because
this is the job that I got then,or the place I started working.
And when we did that I hadpreviously I worked in Indiana
for a township trustees officeand in Indiana they did like uh,
assistance, so people wouldcome to the office and I would
help like pay their bills right,like if they can't make rent or
(03:59):
they can't pay forprescriptions or basic needs,
and so we would do like anassessment and then we had some
fun.
So so like social work I wassort of like dabbling in that.
I didn't realize I wanted to bea social worker until like
halfway through college.
So I never like finished andgot the degree of like a general
education degree.
So you know, you just fall intothese careers and I and I
always said someday I would goback and like get my LSW and
(04:22):
like go do the traditional route, but it just never like worked
out.
Cause, first off, you don'tmake crap in social work and why
go?
And I got to the point where Iwas like, why am I going to go
and pay for schooling forsomething that's not going to
like ultimately boost my incomepotential or earnings potential?
So never did that.
And then, when we moved toColumbus, I was looking for
(04:45):
something where I had moreimpact with clients.
So like in the township, Iwould see them in crisis, like I
can't pay my bill, my rent, wewould do the assessment thing
and they would leave and I wouldnever see them again until they
were in crisis and I we wouldsee clients in the morning and
then I'd have my like afternoon.
We would do like investigations, like you vet their income and
(05:08):
whatnot.
And my boss was like, so sheknew what my interest was.
And she was like, oh, you canlike do stuff.
So I like I held these like, uh, financial literacy classes in
the afternoons and like nobodywould come Cause it wasn't like
a requirement, like nobody wouldcome, I nobody.
I was like I want people to notbe in crisis, I want to teach
them how to manage their moneyand you know, and all these
(05:29):
hopes and dreams.
so when I moved to Columbus Iwas looking for a job that I
wasn't just like touch and go,like I wanted to like invest in
people and um the position thatCHN had at the time.
We are a very different, prettydifferent than we were 15 years
ago.
It was a supportive housingcoordinator was the title and
(05:51):
essentially it essentially was aproperty manager, but it wasn't
called that and I didn't haveall the traditional duties at
that time.
So, I was almost like a propertymanager who was like a social
worker, an onsite social worker,so to speak.
But the title was just funky.
But I didn't collect rent, Ididn't serve like eviction
notices.
And then at that time we didlike annual recertifications for
(06:13):
people in their housing.
I didn't even do that, we hadsomebody at the main office that
did it.
I look back on those days.
I'm like what did I do with mytime?
Like there was lots of drama,obviously with.
But you know, I'm like, how didI do so?
I so I fell into that and I whatI loved about that was like you
know you're, I'm in your home.
You know, not in their homes,but like I'm in the building,
you see them like you know whenthey live, where they work,
(06:37):
where you work where they live.
Exactly so, um, and then it'sjust kind of went on from there
and then, after I did that for awhile, I opened up one of our
new buildings at CHN new buildsthat we had and worked that for
a while and then moved to themain office and did like
regional management job, becausewe like sort of supportive
(06:57):
housing coordinator was the nameback then and then they morphed
into we did like a strategicplanning thing where we changed
and basically everybody thenbecame property managers, right,
or you were a servicecoordinator, so you were like
the you know engagementspecialist, so to speak, and so
I kind of fell into the propertymanagement track.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Was that like as the as the organization grew?
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Yes, yeah, yeah.
So CHN has been around, startedout smaller, started out much
smaller.
It's been around now for like35 years, but like it just grew
and grew and about 10 to 12,more than that probably.
Like 12 years ago they did astrategic plan where they're
like you know, we can't be doingthis grassroots stuff anymore.
We need better structure, weneed actual property managers,
(07:40):
and we've gone the gamut of likehire, like how, how do you hire
for this position?
Because you got to have thelike property management skills,
but you also have to have thesoft people skills, cause we, we
house people who, um, you know,the requirements to live in our
housing is you have to havesome kind of a disability.
You and some of our units, um,you have to have a history of
(08:01):
homelessness.
So we've got people that cometo us with trauma and with you
know, some baggage, so to speak,and they're not exactly always
the best residents.
But we ascribe to housing first, so we'll house you how you are
, which means you don't have tobe clean and sober.
Sober, and most, a lot ofpeople, particularly ones who
(08:28):
are homeless, they treat theirmental illness with substances
because they're homeless, sothey're not linked with
healthcare necessarily, and soour thought process is you house
them where they are and thenwith the hopes that we can
connect them with the servicesthat they need.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
So are they homeless and jobless?
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yeah, there's no income requirement.
Most all of our units come witha subsidy, so people, even with
no income, are able to affordthe housing because it's, you
know, subsidized.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Covered.
Do you find that you're in ashortage?
Speaker 3 (08:57):
of housing.
Oh, a hundred percent, yeah,yeah, there's.
There's not enough affordablehousing to go around, especially
in Columbus.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
I mean, I feel like that argument can be made for a
lot of cities.
It's just when we talk abouthousing in Columbus those of us
that are on the for-profit sidewe're like we've got units and
our biggest issue is, you know,we're building and we can't fill
them.
We can't fill them as fast asour pro forma dictates.
(09:30):
And it's because I thinkthere's a disconnect between
what is needed that isaffordable and what is that
price point.
There's a huge disconnect.
So, they just keep building andrenovating and doing all this
stuff.
People are moving here, butit's just, it's a very different
, it's a very different way ofwork, which is crazy.
(09:52):
Like I hear what you, whatyou're doing, and I've I've
dabbled a bit in the affordableside, just in terms of knowledge
, like I've never workedaffordable, to be very clear.
I've never had to.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Oh, did you lose me?
No, there it goes, it came back, I don't know.
Anyway, yeah, you dabbled, butyou never actually I've only
learned.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
I've never actually worked it and of course you know
they've changed some laws herein Columbus and Franklin County
where it requires all of us toaccept vouchers for rent.
That is a thing that we have toaccept now, and so we had to
learn real quick how to do that.
(10:31):
So it opened our eyes a littlebit.
But we, when you talk about howdo you qualify for an apartment
, we have hoops that you have tojump through to qualify.
You have to definitely can'thave ever been homeless or have,
which is stupid, right.
(10:51):
When you think about it, you'relike you're trying to find a
home.
I don't know it's crazy, butyou're right.
A lot of us just ended up here.
We didn't think about it, wejust ended up here.
I just needed a job and I endedup working in property
management because I happened tolive somewhere that had a job
opening.
(11:12):
Had that not happened, whoknows where I'd be working right
now.
That sounds a little bit likewhat you did.
You were looking for social work, but you ended up.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Yeah.
I mean it's still social workfor sure, but I gravitate
towards structure and socialworkers.
And you like the affordablehousing side Social workers
aren't necessarily known forfollowing rules and being able
to be structured.
So I have the heart of a socialworker, but the brain of a
(11:45):
property manager, maybe maybethat's you know, like I like
these are the, this is theprocess, this is the policy,
like this is what we have to do.
I love writing policy, I lovewriting procedures Cause that's
one of the reasons like I fellinto this particular role is I
was a regional manager and CHNwas a little chaotic because as
(12:07):
we grew and we we shifted ourstrategic plan, we had no
policies, no procedures, like itliterally was like the wild
effing West, like everybody justkind of did whatever they did
and it drove me nuts.
And then, like I had all thestaff that didn't know what they
were doing, like they used tobe some other position in the
company and we just dubbed them.
(12:27):
You are now a property manager.
Go, katie, here's your staff.
Go, and I barely had anytraining as like a real property
manager, and so it was justlike I had to learn the job
while teaching people the job.
I mean it was incrediblystressful.
I mean incredibly stressful andI am not, um, an anxious,
stressed out kind of person, butthat's how.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
I never struck me no.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
I, I, I go with the flow, it's fine, but, like it,
it was clearly I was havingissues because I was stressed
out.
I like I had a panic attack inthe office.
I would always be the first onein the office Um, I'm an early
bird and you know it'sparticularly stressful time and
I like went to my mailboxes backwhen you used to get a lot of
mail and I like got my mailbox,sat down in my office and like
(13:14):
everything that I was likelooking at.
I was like action item, actionitem, oh shit, oh yeah.
And I just like I started tolike breathe heavy and I like
got up and I shut my door and Iwas just like I don't know
what's happening.
I called my husband and he waslike I think you're having a
panic attack.
And he, I got home I calmedmyself down, like I was able to
get out of it.
And I got home that night andhe was like this is I'm done
(13:37):
with this.
Like you come home, you're,you're not nice, you're stressed
out, this is, it's not worth it.
So like that night I got on thecomputer and like found the
first applied for the first job.
That like I was like I could dothat.
And it was like a compliancespecialist for some other small,
itty bitty, tiny affordableplace.
It was like probably a 10 grandpay cut.
(14:00):
I was like I could do that.
So I applied and just applying,I like just felt I felt okay.
Got a call the next day and Ijust was like for the next week
I was out of body and I justwent through the motions like
yeah, sure I'll go in for aninterview.
You know, sure I did theinterview.
They hired me and I was like Iguess I'm taking the job.
So I went and told CHN like I'mdone, I can't, I can't live
(14:28):
with this stress anymore.
Like I don't have staff thatknow what they're doing.
I was really in hindsight, like,cause we had no processes, I
had nothing to point to, I hadnothing to help my team out with
.
So I leave and I go to thistiny company and it was
affordable, but it was seniorhousing, oh, and I was only
there for two months.
I, as I was there, I justthought to myself and this is
(14:48):
going to sound weird, but like,these people don't need me
because, like all of theseseniors, they had assets right,
like the clients at CHN theyhave.
If they have a bank account,they have two cents in it.
Like there's no, they've gottennothing.
And so, even though theseseniors needed affordable
housing and it was seniorhousing, I was just like y'all
(15:09):
don't need me, this is dumb.
And at the same time, I'mhaving those feelings like what
is it I do?
Like this is not my passion,like I, this is not what I'm not
, like you know, doing good orwhatever.
My old boss at CHN texted me'slike hey, I have an idea.
Um, we need somebody to writeprocess and to train.
(15:30):
Like can we like createsomething?
And so I went back in twomonths I went back and like they
built this positionspecifically for me and I like
wrote all of our procedures.
I did like project managementand training work for like three
years and then the qualityimprovement director.
It was just kind of a naturalshift into where I'm at now.
So yeah, how awesome.
(15:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
How awesome of them to recognize that that was a
business need and that that alsowas your specialty.
And you already know thecompany.
You already understand how itall works.
What a seamless transition.
Good for them for recognizing.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Yeah, and I still like.
I am good for you forrecognizing that you needed to
get out of a situation I meanseriously when they realized
that if you had stayed the wholetime, no, and I and I don't
know like really honestly, itwas like very serendipitous,
right, because it like, thankGod, I left my quality, even
that it was a summertime.
So for two months in the summerI just had the easiest job ever
(16:30):
, like I went into work and camehome, didn't even think about
the job, um, and it just was arelaxing couple of months and
then I was ready to get back towork and like challenge myself
again and we, our CEO is she'sactually leaving, which is
really sad.
We get a new CEO next week,which is gonna be crazy, but it
(16:52):
was her.
Well, she's been on her way outfor a while, so they've been
doing a search, but Sam, our CEOshe was the one that first
floated it to my old boss waslike what's Katie doing, like
she needs to do, and I've saidthis to her before too.
(17:14):
Because of that role, I not onlylike really gained a better
learning for property managementbut for finance, for compliance
at that point, for ourmaintenance department.
I wrote all of those procedures.
I learned how everybody dideverything, and so I have this
like 30,000 foot view of theagency now and I keep telling
her that I was like it's allbecause of you and I still, to
this day, feel fulfilled in thisrole because I always see
(17:35):
there's so many opportunitiesyou know what I mean Like
there's so much stuff that wecan do better here and I have a
unique perspective because Iknow all of the lines of
business now, because I was inthat role.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Very good point, and it's a very good point.
And as things keep changing,like tools come available, like
you're switching everything overto Rent Cafe, which is a beast
all on its own, but thepossibilities are super endless
at this point, you'll never bebored.
It's not like you ever reallyare, which it's just.
(18:09):
What's crazy to me is howpassionate both of us are about
housing and property management.
Yet, like I said, we've knowneach other for a while and never
once have we talked about this.
Isn't that crazy?
Up until what, like a week ortwo ago, like we never talked
about this.
(18:30):
I find that to be one of themost fascinating things, because
most people talk about whatthey do for a living, off the
bat, off the get go.
Like, whenever you meetsomebody, the first question's
always like so what do you do?
That wasn't our questions.
Like we just didn't talk aboutthat, which is so funny.
(18:51):
We talked about.
I didn't know what we talkedabout Like um, were you?
Were you running?
Are you a runner?
Speaker 3 (18:58):
I think we talked about running Politics.
Yeah, your guys' neighborhooddrama.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Okay, listen, we had a lot of neighborhood drama, I
think it's still pretty bad, butit's not as bad as
Fencemageddon was.
That was the worst.
That was by far the worst.
And then, with the HOA comingthrough, and then you guys, you
came over to the school and soyou switched schools and I know
my daughter was there at thesame time your daughter's was
coming in and soccer didn't,didn't your yes.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Liz did soccer hold on?
We talked about, likeeverything else, all these
different peers we crossed, butnever, never the work career
like but I'm excited about that.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
I'm excited about that.
I just think it's um, I thinkit's really really unique and
really cool that people can havethat type of an interaction and
never once talk about work.
I think work is great Don't getme wrong but it doesn't define
who you are.
It just defines what you do toearn money, unless you're
(20:04):
following your passion, which tome sounds like you did both.
You earned money and you stillfollowed your passion and you
still, like, intrigued yourselfmentally by being able to
progress within your own company.
Yeah, yeah, how did that?
How did how?
So I know, for me, being aproperty manager and being in
(20:28):
this industry definitely had itstoll and impact on my kids and
what they see as well.
You know, we see some heinousthings, we see some really dark
sides of life because, again,when you work where other people
live, you see how they live.
I don't want to make that belike that's the real, the real,
(20:48):
real, but it is a different side.
Going to make that be likethat's the real, the real, real,
but it is a different side.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
How does that impact you?
How does it impact you?
I mean, you know, I, you, I'msure you've said this to all
property management does.
I could write a book, you know,of like crazy stories of things
that tenants have done, um,things we've seen, um, you know
I'll come home and talk aboutstories, cause it's a good, it's
cathartic or whatever, and youknow it's funny cause I don't
even know.
(21:20):
I think they do now, but for along time I don't think my kids
knew what I did.
I don't think they understoodwhat I did, um, but more and
more I think they understand now.
Like they used to just say Iworked, uh in at an apartment,
like she works in an apartment,um, but now I think, like I've,
we've taught, we talk more, likeour kids are older now.
So we'll talk a lot about, likeyou know, getting a good job so
(21:42):
that you can pay your bills,you can get a nice house, you
can, like you know, supportyourself and I will, I will
share with them.
Like you know, the people Ihouse, they can't afford these
things and they, they, you know,have to get assistance.
It's not easy to get you, youguys, you know it's, it's, it's
not.
That's not how you guys want tolive, right?
(22:03):
So like you need to, likeyou're lucky to have supports,
because a lot of my residentsthey did not have the support
that you know my kids are.
You know they're getting,they're getting less they're.
They're learning crap fromtheir parents where a lot of our
residents they didn't even haveparents to teach them, you know
.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Right, right.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
So yeah, I don't know .
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Like I, Would you let your kids go into this industry
.
So you see this.
You see either parents notletting their kids get into this
industry or you just seenepotism galore.
A whole family owns and managesapartment communities.
What's your take on that?
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Well, I don't know, like I think the whole piece of
like the permanent supportivehousing thing, like I wouldn't
care, I wouldn't mind if my kidslike pursued that.
Just from a standpoint of, it'sreally hard to find people who
want to do this work and want todo it long-term, because people
get burnt out.
It is like social work right,you get burnt out um pretty
(23:04):
quickly.
So if they would be interested,definitely neither one of them
I don't think either one of themhave a uh tilt towards social
work at all in their, in their,in their bones.
So, um, I don't think I don'tforesee that happening, but, um,
I don't know, like I also in,like I don't know, fearless is
(23:24):
the right word.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Maybe it's stupid, um , maybe that's what I'm in the
same boat, right like.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
I I would I have put myself in positions um that were
probably not smart and not safe, like I had a tenant years ago.
This is my first, my first uhgig at CHN.
I'm really close with mytenants and I think that we are
like friendly, like we're close,like I respect you, I treat
(23:53):
them with respect and I like hadhe was um dealing in my
building um and I thought itwould be a good idea to serve
him his eviction notice in myoffice in person by myself and
my office was like, oh my god,the the door was on this side of
the desk and he comes and likewhatever, it was fine, it went
(24:17):
fine.
We had a great conversation.
He was really angry and youknow whatever he leaves, and I
was just like that was reallystupid, like what did I do?
Like he could have reallygotten hurt Really.
So I've done dumb things likethat before, but I think I,
after I do it, I'm like okay,lesson learned, that was not
(24:39):
smart.
Um, and I've been in so much,so many situations.
I actually, for a time periodwhen I was doing the project
management training gig, I gotum CPI certified crisis, um
manager or crisis de-escalation.
What does CPI stand for?
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
God, what did that stand for?
I had that certification foryears.
Anywho, I trained our staff onlike crisis stuff and I would
tell like, don't do what Katiedoes, don't do what I do, don't
do dumb things like me.
Yeah, oh, that's too bad.
I could see my kids not notbeing um, you know, know,
cognizant of their surroundingsbecause they're so sheltered,
(25:15):
and I think that's probably why,earlier in my career, I did
things like that, because I wasso sheltered to not recognize
that, like, okay, some of ourresidents.
They come to us with pretty bigtrauma and their normal
response to something is notwhat others' normal response
would be, you know.
So, thankfully, knock on wood,I didn't learn that like the
(25:37):
hard way, so to speak.
I haven't gotten myself in anytrouble, but I've put myself in
some risky situations being inthis industry.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
it's not hard to be put into those types of
situations.
Even when you plan, even whenyou prepare, you truly just
don't know you're dealing withthe public and in some cases,
you're dealing with them attheir worst, yeah, at some, at
some, in some cases, uh, I cannever forget that story.
Uh, I think it was in Floridawhere the property manager put
(26:09):
out like small balance noticesof like water and the old old
guy old guy, like veryunassuming guy came into the
leasing office with a gun andthreatened them.
He let the assistant leave andhe shot the manager.
It went pretty, it went prettyviral.
Manager lived, but still, thisis a normal thing.
And like, even I was out at oneof our properties and there was
(26:32):
a resident threatening us withan AK 47.
Just for what?
Literally for what?
And it's just it's.
It's, it's a.
It can be a scary world, butcan also be really rewarding
when you know you're helpingpeople and you know you're still
doing right, regardless ofwhich side you're on.
Uh, like affordable or forprofit.
I didn't mean conventional, Iwas like what the hell is my
(26:55):
cycle?
Um, if you could give anybodylistening to the G suite society
advice, just life advice.
Honestly like more life adviceI mean it can be work advice but
prefer about life.
What would you?
What would you say, is the is apiece of advice you would give
them that they could sort ofpocket in their brain when
(27:18):
they're maneuvering through life.
What's something you live, arule you live by, not the don't
do Katie's way.
What's a rule you would live bythat you could pass along?
Speaker 3 (27:35):
So I've actually been using this mantra a lot at work
but it applies in life too is Idon't worry until I have to?
And I've been saying this atwork a lot because you know
everybody's freaking out.
We're getting a new CEO, what'sgoing to happen?
Oh, is she going to changeeverything?
And I'm like, why am I wastingenergy, worrying until I have to
, if and when they come in andthey do the thing and they
(27:58):
change something?
And then in that moment, maybe,if I have to worry, I'll worry.
But like, why waste your timein anything in life?
Like why stress out over what,the unknowns, what could happen,
what?
Just wait until it happens andthen take it when it comes, Like
I don't have time.
You know what I mean?
I don't like that feeling.
I hate the feeling of beingworried and anxious, and so I
(28:20):
just choose a good feeling and Iknow it's really easier said
than done, but I just choose.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
I just choose not to yeah, you don't have to worry
about it.
Plus, I think a lot of the timewhen people worry about stuff,
you're assuming the worst.
It could also just be the best.
What's the harm in assuming thebest?
I don't know.
I really like that piece ofadvice.
See, that's good.
See, works for both work andpersonal.
Don't worry, unless you have to.
I love that.
(28:47):
Well, thank you for joining metoday and spending this time.
We could talk forever about ourstories with property
management, and maybe we'll getthe chance to here soon
(29:11):
aspirations to housing hero, allwhile navigating the beautiful
chaos of motherhood and propertymanagement.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
I think we can all take Katie's advice to heart
Don't worry until you have to.
In an industry where we quiteliterally work, where people
live, where every day brings newchallenges and unexpected
situations, those words hitdifferently.
They remind us that, whilepreparation is key, we don't
need to carry tomorrow'stroubles today, whether you're
managing properties, managing ahousehold or managing to keep
(29:34):
your dreams alive.
Through it all, save your worryfor when it's actually needed
Just might be the self-care weall deserve.
Katie, thank you for sharingyour wisdom, your heart and for
being my friend all these years,even when we were clueless that
our professional paths wererunning parallel.
Until next time she's SweetSociety remember to take care of
your spaces, take care of eachother and, most importantly,
(29:55):
take care of yourself.
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