Unfiltered by PropertyManagement.com
00:13:28 · Thomas Perfect, Dylan Scroggins
[00:13:28] S0: Yeah. Well, I mean, I love... I... I've been on the broker owner committee three years already. So this last year, I was the vice chair. I got to see how Brad Randall, handled everything, and, he did an amazing job getting that whole conference planned and organized, especially through some shifting pieces that he didn't necessarily have control over with NARPM as a whole. But definitely trying to carry that NARPM two point o vision with... We're like, okay. Well, NARPM two point o, you know, it's it's more than just words. Right? Well, what does that mean? Like, what are we doing? And it was it was trying to take that, you know, direction and and, you know, carry out and execute something that could be seen by NARPM membership as a whole. And I feel like it was it was great. [00:14:13] S1: Yeah. Our mutual friend, Peter Lohman, he had a really good summary this morning. I'm assuming you've read it already, but some really good stuff, kind of forecasting the next year, but also looking back on broker owner. Is there any takeaways? And I'm kind of straddling two fences here because I want to lean on your involvement with NARPUM in a second. But back to Uplift, this year, like you said, there's a lot of talk right now about marketing. There's a lot of talk about regulation, especially in a state like California. What are some things that are keeping you up right now when it comes to leading Uplift specifically?
00:14:42 · Thomas Perfect, Dylan Scroggins
[00:14:42] S0: I mean, my main thing is, you know, first off, big takeaway was how easy it is to vibe code something and to cut out some of these ancillary software costs that we have. You know, for example, I use day off because I give all my remote team members two weeks of paid vacation every year. Right. And they can accrue that, but I run through VPN. So there isn't really a solution inside that platform. So I'm I'm paying for day off. That's something that's like, okay, that's a pretty simple tool. Like, I almost felt like I could do it in a spreadsheet, but day off made it so much easier for me to coordinate people's logins and whatnot and and let them have access to it without having manual updates. And now I can probably build that tool in an hour or two and just have that built into my employee intranet that we've had for years where we just have a Google site with all of our SOPs and HR docs and employment documentation and, you know, policies and procedures. Right? So it's... I have a lot of data that I've put together, and now I feel like I can use AI to help me code up and make a better experience for my employees as well as for my owners. And it's where how far down that rabbit hole I wanna go is still yet to be determined. And I have a really big focus on where are those guardrails that we need to have in place so that we don't just let AI totally take control over our entire business and we lose sight of that trust from our clients. Right? [00:16:13] S1: Do you guard time each week to read, research, or even vibe code, like guarded time?
00:16:13 · Dylan Scroggins, Thomas Perfect
[00:16:13] S1: Do you guard time each week to read, research, or even vibe code, like guarded time? [00:16:20] S0: I don't right now, but it's definitely one of those things where I'm like, maybe I need a calendar block for that just to to get into it. I have a couple, you know, good friends that are are really into it, and, yeah, I haven't taken the plunge yet. It's one of those things where I'm like, I'd rather see 500 people do it right before I'm their guinea pig. And I feel like I'm not quite there yet, but it's definitely in the works where, you know, Paul Henderson with PropertyManagement there in in Salt Lake area, Utah. He's doing some really amazing things with some different AI agents and things that really are supporting his business. And if we're talking EOS, they're really helping him LMA a lot better, being able to analyze reports automatically and make follow ups with, with staff members. And, you know, even, you know, the one that's most impressive to me is he has essentially a, a CFO AI agent that is going through and asking them questions about his books and making sure that he's doing what he can. Know, you if he can just talk to this AI agent about his own corporate books and, you know, learn and make insights off of that because being a data driven property manager is definitely one of our goals.
00:17:30 · Dylan Scroggins, Thomas Perfect
[00:17:30] S1: That's interesting you said support your business because I think that's the distraction even for me as a business owner, obviously not a PM business or a recruitment business, is answering that question like, Will this support my business? I can't really figure that out until I start doing it, but then I don't always want to start doing it until I'm fully convinced it's going to support my business. So, it's a little bit of chicken of the egg here, and I don't know if you feel the same way. But, yeah, guarding that time to really dig deep when I don't know what the output will be and that risk and opportunity cost, that's where I'm at right now. Maybe I'm just being, you know, pansy and just need to, like, go heads down and learn it. [00:18:05] S0: But I think I'm I'm definitely more you on that. I'm definitely more towards you on, I'm I'm watching what people are doing. And then at some point I'll be like, hey, teach me the way and I'll jump into it. But I definitely have some some big fish to fry right now with Uplift. We're really heavily focused on our marketing efforts and our lead generation and trying to trying to really figure that out and figure out how to how to jump into new markets as well. [00:18:30] S1: Outside San Diego?
00:18:30 · Dylan Scroggins, Thomas Perfect
[00:18:30] S1: Outside San Diego? [00:18:31] S0: Yeah. So at the beginning, early last year, we we jumped up into, like, the Temecula French Valley area, which is about an hour and a half north of where we are, just giving it a shot. And we've signed on, you know, several units, you know, a a few dozen units up there in in the year, but we felt like the rollout was really slow, and we're trying to say, well, hey. How do we how do we go all in on opening a new market? You know? And so that's one of those things where I've really enjoyed being able to mastermind and talk to some other PMs about that. And, yeah, so figuring out how to generate leads, especially in a new market is something that we're definitely focused on.
00:19:06 · Dylan Scroggins
[00:19:06] S1: Side note, I need to connect you with the past guest of Unfiltered, Chaz Foot. He was a broker owner. He's the, one of the, members of Grove, like a holding company. Yeah. And they, purchased Coachella PropertyManagement and then Eastbay PropertyManagement, both about like 600 to 700 doors. He'd be a great guy to connect to. I will make a note of that. But walk me through, you know, just zooming out now. And not just with Narpen, but just you as, you know, an industry leader, been in this game ten years, having peers and friends and comrades also doing the same thing. What are some things that are really exciting you about the industry as a whole? I know we've touched on AI and AI agents right now. Obviously, like marketing and sales is a big push, but you know, from a national perspective, what are some exciting things happening in property management that keep you up at night in a good way because you're still thinking about it?