Words of Encouragement

Posted on by mcbritt418

My Area Manager, my leader, sent this to all of her managers the other day. While our community is struggling a bit, everyone else is also dealing with their own challenges, in their own way, on their individual communities. She stated in her email that her son started testing in the 3rd grade and the teacher had sent home a poem for encouragement. She wanted to share it with us. And, now, I want to share it with you. In the world of property management, we all struggle from time to time. We face challenges unbeknownst to those who just don’t get it. While it can be a very hard job, it is one of the most rewarding careers. This is for all my property management friends:

“It’s All In A State Of Mind”

If you think you are beaten, you are,

If you think you dare not, you don’t,

If you like to win, but you think you can’t,

It’s almost a “cinch” you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’ve lost,

For out in the world you find

Success begins with a fellow’s will;

It’s all in the state of mind.

Full many a race is lost

Ere ever a step is run;

And many a coward fails

Ere ever his work’s begun.

Think big and your deeds will grow,

Think small and you’ll fall behind,

Think that you can and you will;

It’s all in the state of mind.

If you think you’re outclassed, you are,

You’ve got to think high to rise,

You’ve got to be sure of yourself before

You can ever win a prize.

Life’s battles don’t always go

To the stronger or faster man,

But sooner or late, the man who wins,

Is the fellow who thinks he can.

Author Unknownencourage

NAA Capitol Conference 2015

Posted on by mcbritt418

Let me start off by saying, I am not a political gal, in any shape, form or fashion. If you start a conversation with me about politics, more than likely I will be lost and remain silent, as any opinion that I may have to offer, based on subject matter, will not be an educated one.

But, I was provided an opportunity to be a part of the NAA Capitol Conference this year. And will be provided the same opportunity again next year. And I have to say, I may very well become an advocate for what the Capitol Conference stands for and what it exists for. Because while I am already extremely passionate about what we do for a living, the Capitol Conference provides you, as an individual, an opportunity to join other individuals to speak out and make a difference in key issues. While the key issues are provided to you, maybe one day, as future leaders of our industry, we will have an opportunity to have an input on those key issues that we speak to Congress about. You never know. “One Industry. One Voice.”

CapCon2

It was such an amazing opportunity and I am not 100% certain that I can put into words how it made me FEEL. Yes, feel. You’re in a group of industry professionals, some seasoned at this, some newbies, like yourself, and you just know that you’re currently in existence to not only learn something new and experience something new, but to make a difference. While I want to recap the entire experience, I also want to ensure that I am really being genuinely descriptive about what this entire experience meant for me.

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Stretching

Posted on by mcbritt418

I had an old friend call me who I hadn’t talked to in about five years. (Yes, I still have the same number after that long, even after having gone through about 6 phones. Three just in six months….I’m a clutz). Anyhow, her and I used to work for the same company and we both worked for this company for an extended period of time. We were dedicated to this company. Despite a lot of stuff, most of their employees were dedicated, due to a mission statement that had not, for many years, been the focus of the company sadly.

She had reached out looking for a letter (which actually also gave me an ingenious idea to share with ALL of you in another post). But we spoke about the issue she was having, the type of letter she was looking for and then we circled back to talk about where life had led us now with work and the company we used to work for in comparison to who each of us work for now.

The next words out of her mouth were, “Brittney, this is going to sound so silly. But, I actually work for a REAL company now.”

While I laughed a little bit, I also completely understood what she meant. She went on to elaborate with how amazing her company is and how she is now held accountable for everything that she does and what a great feeling that is. That not only is she held accountable, but she is held accountable in light of training she is provided. She isn’t left in the dark to guess and then be held accountable. She is trained, and trained well and then held accountable for said usage of training.

She said she absolutely loved her mind being stretched. She hadn’t had that before. (She had actually been with the prior company a lot longer than I had). She is currently using Yardi, which her and I are both RealPage girls all the way. Years spent on that software.

But here’s the thing about what she said that struck me enough to write a post. She was stretching her mind and she loved every minute of it. I get that. Completely and totally. Stretching your mind though starts with the fear of the unknown. Which she said initially she was fearful. Fearful of a new company. New expectations…or rather any expectations at all. Fearful of a new software. And then once the fear had subsided and she realized that she could in fact do it, and do it well as she had before, she began enjoying her mind being stretched. Her mind being forced to think in different ways. Forcing herself out of her comfort zone.

I tell you people, getting out of your comfort zone is an amazing thing. Stretching your mind. Do you want to know what the definition of stretching is? I LOVE THIS!!!

Stretching: be made or be capable of being made longer or wider without tearing or breaking

Without tearing or breaking. You’re not going to break. Fear is a natural feeling, but, being afraid of something new scares me less than the possibility of complacency. And I assure you, without proper “stretching”, complacency will in fact occur. So STREEEEETCH as far as you possibly can this next week. Get out of your comfort zone, be afraid and stretch your mind!

Good Luck!

BEING RELATABLE & Ruby Tuesdays

Posted on by mcbritt418

I have this friend who is my muse and who just so happens to not know a single thing about the apartment industry. Some of the conversations that we have just turn into good, no great, content. This friend also has a running joke with me about my Jewish family and his Mexican heritage (how true that is, I don’t know, but I’ll let him claim it). But how do we relate to one another as friend’s based on our backgrounds, on our heritage?

Which brought me back around to being relatable and my stint at Ruby Tuesday’s about a year or so ago (shocker, I know…more on that in a minute). But how relatable are we to one another? How relatable do we make ourselves? The standard defintion of relatable is:

enabling a person to feel that they can relate to someone or something

Our job as property management professionals requires us to be somewhat relatable. Now in all instances can we relate to the individual that we are renting an apartment home to?? No. Trust me, I have always worked on blue collar properties. Even my prior lease ups, the rents were typical middle income rents.

Now, where I’m working now? Luxury apartments…..I assure you, not relatable. I wasn’t raised wealthy, did not marry wealthy, and didn’t divorce wealthy either (HA!).

But I do have a very funny story for you, about me. I think most of you know, if you’ve read my blog or known me, I’ve been doing this for about 11 years. Since I was 21. I knew immediately I’d found my niche’, my passion, and worked hard to move up quickly. I had a confidence about me. A somewhat cocky air of confidence. That can be troublesome, regardless of how good you are at what you do. Humble gratitude for finding what you love is important.

I digress, as always. Ok, so funny story about me.

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