Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Stacey Salyer Show, the podcast for property management leaders ready to think bigger about growth. I'm Stacey Salyer and the only acquisition strategist in this industry who sat on all sides of the m and a table. I've been the buyer acquiring a 370 door competitor during COVID using seller financing.
I've been the seller building and exiting a seven figure business. And I've been the corporate evaluator as director of acquisitions, assessing over hundreds of companies nationally. That means I know exactly what you're thinking, what you're missing, and what actually works when it comes to buying and integrating in this space.
On this show, we dig into acquisitions as a real business tool. Not luck, not someday. You'll learn positioning, strategy, numbers, and integration from someone who's actually done it all. Let's go.
Stacey Salyer: Today I have a [00:01:00] guest on who is one of my dear friends in the property management world. She has made a huge splash and name for herself in the industry for all things investing really and working with landlords and I think holding other property management business owners accountable, right, um, to what they do.
And she had a huge keynote recently at the NARPM broker owner event in New Orleans. And so I knew that not only I had to bring her on because she's one of my dear friends, but also because she's super amazing. So I want to introduce the famous Hold It with PM Jen.
Jennifer Reulens: Thank you. The crowd goes wild.
Stacey Salyer: Absolutely. Of course they
Jennifer Reulens: I'd rather be famous
than infamous, but I've definitely dabbled in the infamous before
Stacey Salyer: Yes, I'm sure you have. So yeah, well, welcome to the show. I thought it would be really fun to have you on. And for those listening, I like to kind of recap where [00:02:00] we're gonna go today. I thought we would kind of talk about what you spoke about at NARPM Broker/Owner, kind of a highlight of that how it relates to buying or selling property management companies, and of course, talk about what you're working on as well.
I know you own a property management company in Pennsylvania but you're doing a lot of cool stuff on the national level as well. So yeah, let's, jump in. Give us the highlight reel of Broker/Owner.
Jennifer Reulens: Sure. So at Broker/Owner it was a continuation of this message I've been trying to bring to property managers, which is you need to build your visibility. And more than, I don't mean SEO or billboards or more ads. It's not what I mean. I mean being visible, being famous in your market for what you do.
And so at NARPM National last fall, I did one on using video as this incredible leverage tool that is, by the way, for the most part, free as a great way to build your [00:03:00] PMC. And what I've realized, as a person who's walked that journey, who's made crappy videos for her business, for operations, who's made slightly less crappy videos for everybody to see, and who's really doubled down on this, I saw it grow my business.
I saw it change the sales and marketing and the lead gen and how we work our leads and the quality of people we get to work with and how we retain our customers, all of that. Tremendous. I can't talk enough about it. But how does being visible as a property manager change the industry, change your life?
And what I've noticed by building my visibility is that the opportunities that come to me in my business are just incredible. So from your perspective, from acquiring, either selling your company or buying other people's companies, that visibility is tremendously valuable in your negotiations, finding deals, all [00:04:00] these things that come with it.
But the being visible within your industry brings a lot of things to the table. So, being well known among the vendors in our industry means I have more negotiating power. I get early access to things sometimes. Now, I'm giving to those vendors as well, so when they need a test case or whatever, we're really cooperative.
But from a public relations standpoint, like I've gotten connected with the Small Business Development Center and had a free research project done. I've gotten exposure on magazines and in news
sources just by being visible, and I think property managers overlook it. I think we're busy.
Stacey Salyer: Yeah. No, we, yeah, definitely busy. But okay, so I love all of that, but we're gonna like, rewind a little bit because I'm sure somebody's listening to the show, they're, like, taking their walk or they're driving to an eviction or whatever, and they're like, "Okay, that's nice, but whatever. You probably have a team and, you, you feel comfortable doing it."
Well, take us back to the very beginning. Like, how, like, how many years are we talking? Are we [00:05:00] talking you've been
Jennifer Reulens: 2019,
Stacey Salyer: Okay. Wow, okay. So
Jennifer Reulens: I think 2019. I made my first videos
Stacey Salyer: And how did that feel? Like, when you sat down and you were like,
"I'm gonna make a video," was it a talking head video? And for those of you who are listening or watching, talking head video is kind of what we're doing right now, right?
You talk into the camera, you edit it, post it, and you're talking out loud. So, tell us what, what did that feel like?
Jennifer Reulens: Yeah. We had been using video for video tours in the properties for a very long time, so we were using video, but we weren't in them. And then in 2019, I rebranded the company, and there was a lot of announcing, and I wanted to use video for that. And, oh, how was it? It was a little nerve-wracking, a little nerve-wracking to put myself out there that way to make them, to film outside near traffic and have it not turn out.
There was just a lot of fumbles. And then the talking head videos I did in the office, I started... I really, around the rebrand, did a [00:06:00] lot of public relations. That was high-effort video, 'cause that was new to me, and I... But I was just doing it myself with my cell phone. The... Operationally, I started making videos that same year, and it was, like, in this dark office, and I used to use a teleprompter app that I could look at the camera, but right there the script would be moving.
And that's when COVID happened, and I really was like, "Wow, I have to push this," because I wanted to have a conversation with each and every client about what was going on. I'm their resource for this. I was bringing the news. I was breaking down what it meant to them and their asset locally. And I just started making these videos on a weekly or biweekly basis.
Especially in the beginning, there was so much new stuff all the time. And listen, they're rough. They were filmed in spare bedrooms and closets and all these things. But that's when I broke out of the teleprompter app, and then my videos got a lot better. The teleprompter app stank for me, but I got really...
I knew my content a lot more, 'cause I was living and breathing these COVID [00:07:00] restrictions and policies and things. And so that was when I started putting it out there, and then once the COVID stuff died down, I started continuing to talk about my message and refine it and grow that way. So to answer your question, no, they were really rough in the beginning.
But the great news is it's not like any property managers are out there putting out really sophisticated stuff, guys. I still am not. You don't need to be sophisticated. You don't need to be clean. People are hiring a property manager in Wichita, Kansas. You should come across as a property manager in Wichita, Kansas.
You shouldn't come off as
Savannah Guthrie on the Today Show. That level of smoothness isn't needed
Stacey Salyer: Right. Well, and I think... So I hear that a lot. People have this
misconception of "Oh my gosh, I have to, have all this perfect lighting. I have to have this perfect microphone. I have to have, uh, the aesthetics. My hair has to be done, my makeup, my clothes." And honestly, for those of us that are creating a lot of social content, we can tell you [00:08:00] that, that, those videos do not get views.
They don't. The algorithm doesn't like them. At least on the platforms I'm on, and I'm on Insta, Facebook a l- not really so much TikTok, but I would say Instagram and Facebook, right? The, those algorithms, they want kind of like the rough, like raw, real-life stuff. So tell us, like, when you first started, did you have a vision of what you thought it should be, and has it changed, or tell us about that.
Jennifer Reulens: Yeah. I mean, I remember one conversation when we were growing the business and my sister had started working with me and we were drilling down. We were working a playbook. We had, uh, worked with a, a loc- a company in the industry, and we were writing our playbook. And I said, "If I'm in front of you, I sell you.
Person to person, I can get your property to manage if I want it." And she says, "Well, great. Then we need to figure out how to get you in front of more people at once." And I said, "Okay." And we started doing speaking gigs. I started speaking at real estate investor meetups, rotary clubs, just stuff like that here in my town and the local towns, and [00:09:00] that's how it went into video, 'cause I saw the speaking work,
and I just, the, I kind of ran out of things to go to.
So I started making the video
Stacey Salyer: Very cool. Okay, so you started doing video in
2019. Did you see a huge return immediately? Or did-- how long do you think it kind of took?
Jennifer Reulens: The huge return that happened immediately was buying back some of my time. So particularly during COVID, right? I was replacing a lot of phone time with those videos. So in my opinion, I was giving my clients more with less of my effort. So that was an immediate payback. The next payback I saw was operationally, same thing.
Repetitive conversations, cut them down, right? People take your policies more seriously when you made a video about it, too. When you make a pretty flyer on Canva about why you require something as a property manager, people are like, "Oh, this is an unbendable rule. She made a whole Canva graphic about it."
Operationally we saved time with repetitive [00:10:00] conversations. And then as I got better, I got bolder, I started putting things out on more platforms, and that's when I saw the sales impact. And integrating video into my sales process,
Stacey Salyer: Hmm.
Jennifer Reulens: so using it for one-on-one communications, moving people along holding boundaries, lighting fires. Video's great for a lot of things
Stacey Salyer: Okay. Okay. So I know that kind of goes a little bit maybe beyond visibility, but internally, so you have a, you have a video process for your sales process? Do you wanna walk us through what that looks like?
Jennifer Reulens: Yeah. So, in terms of sales in the... So we have a typical discovery call, property visit, stabilization plan, and then onboarding. So to get the discovery call, if you... Well, I think I got a phone call last night in the middle of the night, got a voicemail, "Call me about my property." So that person got a personalized video.
"Hi, Allison. Good morning. It's a little early for a call, but I'll send you this, email or text. Good morning. This is how you can book a call with me. Can't wait to chat with you." Right? That's just so much different than "Thanks for inquiring on our website. Here's the link." [00:11:00] Right? You just get me, I'm a real person.
It looks just like this. I'm at this desk. So y- I use that. Then I'll go do their property visit. Usually I'm meeting with them personally, but afterward I'm writing a stabilization plan. And in almost all cases, the stabilization plan requires the client to be okay with us fixing the property for them, doing various deferred maintenance tasks.
So it's a, it's a sale, right? I got to sell them on doing some work. So I'll use video to walk through that. So, "Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Owner, so great meeting you yesterday. I've taken an hour or two and written this plan. I want to walk you through it." And I walk them through my reasoning. Why am I suggesting a rent increase, some tenant compliance activity, deferred maintenance?
And I'm showing they know I was there, and I've put a lot of thought into this. Then I'll close them, and then we'll use video. And by the way, over that time, I'm using pre-recorded videos to keep the questions down. So you booked a call with me, you get video library. If you're like a g- a person who does their homework, you can watch some of that stuff.[00:12:00]
People ask me questions, I answer them, and then I can make sure when I follow up, include the video so they can hear it again. Pets in rentals. Why do you need my Social Security number? Just stuff like that. The stuff that we're talking about all the
time. So yeah, it's canned videos, it's one-on-one videos.
Goes really well. Okay. No, I love that.
Stacey Salyer: That's really cool. All right. And so then kind of going back to what you were talking about on stage in New Orleans the visibility piece of it tell us more, and, we're gonna kind of tie this into why it's important if you're buying or selling your property management company and why I think it is.
I think you would also agree, right? It's really important. So tell us more about that. So why...
kind of run us through what you talked about a bit.
Jennifer Reulens: I don't come to this visibility campaign because I want property managers to be visible to get all the business, although that is a wonderful side product My, my thesis, the title of my, my keynote talk was Buy and Hold Investors are Being Set Up to Fail and [00:13:00] Property Managers are Being Called to Lead.
And just quite simply, for the buy and hold investor, the average investor, when they go to get advice on, "What do I do about my apartment building? Should I do this or that?" There are two places they're going. They're going to their realtor or realtors, like people that they've done sales transactions with in the past, because of course that's your real estate expert.
And the other one is people I call dream merchants, and this is your coaches, gurus, mastermind groups, all the way from a broad BiggerPockets to like your Facebook forums, right? This like easily accessible, very well promoted, but not deep in expertise crowd, right? And so the deficiencies I find in both the real estate sales agents, right, and these dream merchants is their incentives, what they get paid for, does not align with the buy and hold investor's interests.
And these people, while they [00:14:00] have some experience, enough to be dangerous, they are not experts in the place to walk a buy and hold investor through the complexities of the issues that are coming up. But who would meet both of those definitions? Their in- their incentive philosophy matches the investors, meaning maybe property managers who get paid a percentage of rents as time goes on.
Little checks at a time, right? No big checks in property management, little checks. And who's doing this day in and day out at scale? So I don't trust a property manager who's managed 20 doors for 20 years. But you show me a property manager who's managed 200, 400, 800 doors for 20 years, now you're talking about some reps where that person is beyond the...
You know, when we talk about problems, Stacey, because you're a former PMC owner, we don't get into like, "And then the tenant said this, and then the tenant said that." No. It is a very like business-like, follow the process kind of thing. We've moved beyond that, [00:15:00] and I think that's a signal of expertise. So what I want buy and hold investors to do is go, "My realtor's great, and this is what I go to them for.
Dream merchant's great. They build inspiration. They do a lot of bulk education. But when I have a problem on my rental property in Poughkeepsie, I should be talking to the best property manager in Poughkeepsie. That is my information source." Now, the truth is, for the buy and hold investor, it's not like they're closing the window on a bunch of property managers who are sending them content.
There's no famous property managers. There's famous realtors, contractors, lenders, right? There's certainly famous dream merchants, but there are no famous property managers. And I just think that's one of the reasons we're so maligned and misunderstood, is that we need
more visibility in what we're really truly doing.
Stacey Salyer: I love that so much. I cannot love it enough. If I had the heart button right here, it'd be like ding, ding, ding. Just because you're right, right? I mean, like, when we think about [00:16:00] everything that we watch, uh, 'cause I'm sure everybody listening, has doom-scrolled here or there a time or two on Instagram, TikTok, whatever.
And you're right. I mean, there's a ton of real estate agents out there that have, their presence. There's a ton of the, the gurus, as I call them, usually the dudes in front of the probably rented Lambo or whatever. And there are some good people out there doing some education. But I love that.
So you're kind of on a mission, I feel and I know we've talked about this offline before. I feel like you're on a mission to create an army of visible property managers who are the true experts around the United States. Is that fair?
Jennifer Reulens: Yeah, my first draft of my keynote was literally military themed, and I said, "You've been drafted. You've been signed up into my army of property managers growing visibility." But yeah, this is my belief that, that if pr- if, if we all... I ca- I call it lighting a candle, right? And that might be my LinkedIn account or my little newsletter or my local real [00:17:00] estate investor group.
Those are all candles of visibility. And I don't have to light a dozen on my own, but if every property manager ri- lights one or two, one or two, wow, that's a lot of light. And the pro- and the buy and hold investor now can see us. They're not sitting there in their, in their living room going, "You know what?
I'm gonna talk to somebody whose interests aren't aligned with mine and who doesn't really know what I need." They think they're going to an expert. You're not even on the grocery store shelf as an option to them, and that's the frustrating thing is I want buy and hold investors to be able to find us.
So when I think about that property manager in Eugene, Oregon who goes, "You know what? I'm gonna make a TikTok account about how I love riding motorcycles and managing property and raising my kids." Great. Make one about how you like to surf off the coast of California, and you like talking about fair housing.
One thing I, I wanna see from property managers is the diversity that we really represent, right? So when we're in a room together, [00:18:00] we look like small business people, 'cause that's what we are, and we're pretty gritty people, 'cause we're doing a really gritty business. And I love to see how people work their faith into it, how they work their former professions into it other skills and talents.
And so I see property managers talk about maybe you're like an animal lover, and you work with animal rescues, and you're passionate about animals and ri- talk about that. Talk about anything. I've made buy and hold my whole thing, that holding forever is what you need to do. That's how you make the most money.
It's not sexy. It's not glamorous. That's my niche. That's what I feel the most passionate about. But, and I cuss and swear and do all these crazy things while I do it. Maybe there'll be somebody who's k- more
conservative and tied up who talks about the same thing. That's valuable. It's all valuable.
Stacey Salyer: Okay. So I'm hearing, and I kind of talked about this, I actually wrote about this a little bit a couple weeks ago in one of my newsletters, is you need to declare your flag, Plant your flag in the ground and [00:19:00] whatever it is. And if it sounds like somebody else down the road, then it's not yours, right?
So, like, in the way you're doing it. So maybe, the buy and hold isn't necessarily different than maybe somebody in a different state or location would think of, but you are injecting your personality and the things that you love to do. I mean, you talk about how you love Diet Coke.
Like I know, I know when Hold It with PM Jen goes out, she always has three drinks in front of her I know this because you're injecting that into your social media. And for those of you who don't follow PM Jen yet, which you need to, it's water, Diet Coke, and Sazerac?
Jennifer Reulens: Well, iced coffee, protein drink, that's the wild card. But always ice water, Diet
Coke, and then a third. Or a cocktail if it's cocktail time
Stacey Salyer: right. Yes. I guess I shouldn't say that, make it sound like you
drink alcohol all day long.
Jennifer Reulens: it's okay, three drink minimum. That's what I call myself, the three drink minimum. 'Cause it's so awkward to sit at a restaurant and she goes, "Can I get you something to
drink?" [00:20:00] And I'm like, "Da, da, da." And she's "Really? Just for you?" "Yep, I'm gonna need all of those."
Stacey Salyer: Yeah. Well, I don't see anything wrong with that. I mean, why not? They always generally automatically bring water anyway, unless you're in maybe Southern California. But anyway, so okay. So for anyone listening today and maybe they weren't in New Orleans, like how does somebody get started? What's one or two very simple steps that they could, get off this, like listening to this podcast and declare something about themselves and then get started?
What... How do you- how do they do it?
Jennifer Reulens: There's room for everybody, right? 'Cause I think when I talk about this, people go, "There's no way I'm gonna make those cringey videos like you, Jen, so keep... Talk to someone else," right? Well, I'll start then with all the stuff you can do if you're positively allergic to putting yourself on video. I think real estate investor meetups, city council meetings, housing authority board meetings, these are local [00:21:00] places in your town where a property management representative belongs.
Very likely isn't there. There might be realtors, there might be homeowners, there might be tenants. There's not usually a property manager. I find we're not often invited. We're not thought of as critical to that conversation. Housing is a huge conversation in our country and in most communities. Being the property management expert in that room, gotta show up consistently, gotta participate and be informed.
What a tremendous position to build visibility from. I really like that idea. And then you can take it a step further. If you like and enjoy that a lot, grow your visibility by working at the county level, the state level, or even the national level. And, usually, when you're gonna do those things, you're gonna do it under the umbrella of a trade organization but you can do it independently.
You could go sit on your real estate commission board. You could be on your local realtor association board, right? If you're part of that [00:22:00] organization, great to have a property manager in those rooms. Love to see it. And so if you're not into the online publicity thing, you can be that local celebrity very easily, taken very seriously by dedicating yourself to those things.
And that's a matter of finding out what's going on, putting it on your calendar, and showing up. Doesn't cost anything but your time. And that is a huge suggestion. Now, if you're not allergic to video, if you have the blood type where you show up on camera and can actually do that, well, then there are no freaking rules.
I mean, you already said, you have, you're on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram are your primaries. LinkedIn is my primary. I'd like to think YouTube is my secondary, but we're working on things. Th- everybody has a place they can go. You could go on Truth Social. You could go on Snapchat. You could do anything that you like and makes sense for you, and, and, and double [00:23:00] down on where you wanna be.
So if you're new to this and you don't know, where are you spending your time now? Go there. So if you love TikTok, you spend a lot of time on TikTok, be on TikTok. The key i- people say you have to be consistent and you have to be yourself. Well, you're not gonna do that in a place where you don't get it and you don't feel like you get it.
That's kind of like me and Instagram. I'm on Instagram, and I'm gaining a little traction there. But man, I don't, I'm not native to that. I don't feel it. I'm losing touch with Facebook. Who would've known? I thought I was like a Facebook forever kind of girl. I'm not loving the vibe there. And you made a point about figure out what your point of view is or what you want to be known for or what you want to talk about, and I
agree with that.
But I'll just add a little caveat, and if you change your mind, that's okay too.
Stacey Salyer: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. You can totally change your
mind. In fact, if you go back so when I launched this business, if you go back [00:24:00] into all my original videos, they're totally different, and they're also moderately cringey. And, it would take me an hour to edit one talking head video, and I hated listening to it.
Now I literally am just like... My family is like, "Oh my God, can you turn down the volume?" 'Cause they'll hear me say something, over and over, and I just edit and I don't even care.
Jennifer Reulens: You realize nothing bad
Stacey Salyer: No, it doesn't. Yeah
Jennifer Reulens: I used to be much more precious about my content, and now I'm like, "Nobody dies. Nobody cares. I'm the only one
who sees the
error or the mistake, or I said
something mumbly
Stacey Salyer: Right. Well, and you know what's funny? So I have this saying is, at the end of the day, even if somebody comments something negative, thank you so much for bumping me in the algorithm. I appreciate that. So
Jennifer Reulens: All attention is a bit of good attention in that world, which is u- which is uncomfortable for a lot of people, right? Which is why they might wanna hang out at those city council [00:25:00] meetings or real estate investor meetups or things like that. Yeah, but like NARPM meetings are great. Your local realtor meetings are great.
Those are not places to build visibility for you and your business, right? So that doesn't make you Central
Pennsylvania's property management expert because you are a member of Pennsylvania NARPM. That ain't
Stacey Salyer: Yeah, you got it. Yeah, for sure. The very, I would say the start is becoming the expert in your community so that you are the person they call when they have a property management question, and that means real estate agents, investors, friends of friends. I still get those calls. I sold my company the very beginning of 2022.
What are we, in '26? I still, to this day, like from real estate agents other investors, friends of friends, and they will still call on me because I worked really hard in my community to become that expert. And it, and I didn't use video to do that. I showed up
Jennifer Reulens: And I bet at your funeral one of these [00:26:00] people's gonna show up with a lease and go, "Could Stacey just look at this quick before you put her down?"
Stacey Salyer: Yeah.
Jennifer Reulens: I, I mean, that's how I feel too. You're right. Once you've been in enough of these rooms and build enough of a reputation, I mean, if you do lunch and learns with local real estate agencies, that's gr- all these people need to know is you'll pick up the phone and direct them to the Landlord-Tenant Act, the rule about this, 'cause they've got a client they're trying to answer questions for.
So being that resource, being that, adding that value,
your number will get saved. You will get business. You will grow visibility
Stacey Salyer: 100%. And then in turn, we will raise and elevate the industry because I think that's where, I mean, you and I definitely agree, is that our, we're still really looked down upon, landlords and, professional property managers. People don't like us. We're vilified. We're almost like police officers, right?
Everybody hates cops and they hate landlords. You don't even know me. I'm actually a really nice person
Jennifer Reulens: Actually, I would say more people hate landlords than
hate cops. I-- see those thin [00:27:00] blue lines flags everywhere, and I-- don't think there's that
Stacey Salyer: That's true. I-- You're right. I mean, for any property manager that's unfortunately
Jennifer Reulens: All the spouses and family of property ma- of, uh, police officers love them. I don't know if you could say the same about property managers
Stacey Salyer: That is true. That is true. So yeah, I love that you're on a mission to change that and help educate everybody and just, And, and I would say too to people use what you use the forum and communication you love to do. So if you're a writer, Substack might be your jam. Writing articles on LinkedIn might be your jam.
It doesn't have to be video. I mean, I think that video of course makes you the most visible on the internet, but it doesn't mean that you have to do it that way. I mean, blogs are still a thing. Those are really important for your SEO. So there's a lot of different ways you can get started. I think the key is just that mindset shift, right?
I talk a lot about mindset in my business. You just have to make the decision and flip, m- move over. [00:28:00] Yeah.
Jennifer Reulens: I'd say the thing about visibility, growing visibility that people will get off track on, is that like anything, it's a new skill, so you have all the intentions. Just like working out. "Oh, I'm gonna start a workout program." And you do it for a while, and it gets hard or difficult or inconvenient or whatever, and you fall off.
It's about getting... It's just like anything else, getting back on and keeping on going through the uncomfortability. That first negative comment, that first time that you have an exchange, feedback, whatever, where maybe somebody was like, "Who do you think you are?" Or they fight with you, or they argue with you or they, they pressure test you a little bit.
And it can be easy to go, "Oh, I gotta go back. I gotta hide. I gotta hide. I gotta be safe." You don't. And it's just, you- I'm c- I'm confident, you're confident in this, but we're past that stage, right? We have seen the results. We're never gonna stop doing our workout program, or in this case, our p- visibility program.
And so I, I just think for new people, working through that [00:29:00] discomfort. For some people, it's how they look and sound on camera. For some people, it's the technology. For other people, it's like the public feedback or old childhood trauma. I mean, if you were a little girl in like the '60s, '70s, '80s, we were told like, "Don't be don't be full of yourself.
Don't be arrogant. Don't..." It was like the worst thing a young girl could be is full of herself or think she was something. That's a lot to get over as a 44-year-old woman in 2026 trying to use these platforms like, "Who the hell do I think I am?" And that's just middle school girl talk in my head.
That's all that is.
It's just in my head, crazy. I need to move through that and I have, and you will too if you want to.
Stacey Salyer: Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, the stories that we tell ourselves, right, as to why we can't do something. So I think, again, that really boils back down to mindset and whatever it is you feel like need, that you need to reach out to, whether it's like reading something or, I don't know, going back to therapy.
Because if you really want to be visible and [00:30:00] increase your visibility and help raise the ind- industry standards then we all need to move forward and be visible. We, I mean, as you said, like we do stuff at such a massive scale. In fact, I was talking to a friend this morning, and I said, there's a big part of me that really misses like that summer rush of turning homes, 10, 20, however many at a time."
And I'm like, "Gosh, I really miss that." I was really good at that, like that project
Jennifer Reulens: out here. You can do it again, Stacey
Stacey Salyer: I know. I'm gonna get calls like, "Oh, would you like to swing by
our company?" And, feel free. But you know, it's those kind of things where I, I was... And then I said it out loud. I was like, "Wow." Really that's a huge skill.
People don't even realize like what we do. I mean, being able to turn so many homes in a short amount of time, like that's a big deal, right? yeah, your average landlord that's on, Facebook complaining, I'm like, "You have one home." That's like nothing.
Jennifer Reulens: You talk about so many different aspects of this business, and it's so fascinating to people who aren't in it. And another thing you could do that would [00:31:00] be different is you can include your team or not include your team. So me, I have included my team in various ways, but I am really building a personal brand.
This is on me. I call the thing Hold It With PM, Jen, but there's only about five or six of us single-family property managers out there growing our visibility in a real purposeful way online. And I see them adopting their teams into it in all different ways. And I love to see that because that's what's right and natural for that company.
So if the founder, broker, owner of the, the small property management company feels like, "Oof, oof," it doesn't mean it's off the table for you. Your company needs visibility, not you necessarily, but you can make it about you too if that's your choice. And that might be something to think about in the context of this acquisitions discussion, right?
I'm building visibility for my company, and I've continued to grow. I, I grow-- I kind of grow One Focus's [00:32:00] visibility, and I consider Hold It With PM, Jen, as like encompassing One Focus, but then it's like all this other stuff that isn't One Focus. And when I think about the potential for me acquiring other companies...
Well, you see a lot of people who get serious about acquisition get really serious about visibility. Back in the day, not that far, but remember Matt Whitaker? Matt Whitaker, when they got really serious at Evernest, when it was GK Houses, I watched him go on podcasts, do a lot more stuff visibly and people on his team were doing that.
You see Tiffany Rosenbaum doing that playbook now. She's very, very serious about acquisitions, and she's building content and building her visibility and going to events and putting her money where her mouth is in terms of this goal. And I think, I, I think if I was going to be growing my company through acquisition, I would be talking maybe about some different things than I'm talking about, 'cause that's not one of my goals right now.
But it would be [00:33:00] incredible in planting those seeds. I know you train people on the calling, the letters, the emails, all the different ways you can source and find deals, but I hope it's in your playbook that just growing your visibility as a property manager increases your ability to acquire, and I would say be acquired.
I mean, I don't know if everybody else has twenty emails a day, uh, from people talking about selling in their inbox, but I do. So if it's all of us, great. If it's just me, well, I guess
making videos has made that happen. 'Cause how else would you know I'm
in Nowheresville with a company that I might wanna sell?
Stacey Salyer: Right. Yep. And that is something we definitely work on inside my program is that extra piece of visibility, right? So if you're buying, it is, in my opinion, very important to have a brand. So not only a personal brand, but your business brand because part of buying is attracting buyers to you. Not, I mean, there's just as much of an interview on both sides.
Just because [00:34:00] somebody's "Oh, I wanna sell my company," doesn't mean it's a slam dunk. There's a lot of reasons why they might wanna sell, and how cool is it if they can actually kind of get to know you, I'm using air quotes for anyone listening ahead of time? They see you on podcasts, they see you on video, they maybe read your blog.
They... So they feel like they already know you before you even walk into that meeting. So you already have a leg
Jennifer Reulens: what I talked about at national. People do business with people that they know and trust. And you think about the normal client journey, right? If I know you, you're a prospect. If I like you, you're a lead. And if I l- if I l- know trust, if I trust you, I'm your client, right?
The same can be said for this relationship building and the acquisition process. Know trust is built through experience with people, and it's my assertion that we build this best one-on-one, breaking bread together, eating, talking like humans do. The next best is what we're doing now. Still, though, using our faces, [00:35:00] voices, hands to communicate, which humans have had 150,000 years to develop in our brains how we construct and receive messages to and from each other using all of these things you see here.
We've only had written language for 5,000 years. And we've only had widespread literacy, meaning most people could use that form of communication, for 500 years. So our brains hardly know what to do with the written word in terms of conveying information and building relationship. And if I'm trying to get you to know and trust me, video's great, 'cause if you can consume me looking like I do, sounding like I do, making my funny faces, and doing all these things, and then I'm with you in real per- life or again on video and I'm the same way, well, that builds trust.
That's an authentic person who showed up the same way. I feel like next time I talk to them, this is the experience I'm gonna have. I follow through on what I said I was gonna do, right? That built [00:36:00] trust. So I can see video being... I mean, I would not send one email to a potential acquisition target that didn't have video in it, didn't have maybe a canned video of like, "Hey, I know you're not looking to work here, but this is what I advertise for employees with," and it talks about what a great company it is to work for.
But there is an individual video from me to you, Stacey. "Hey, Stacey. We don't know each other yet, but I really wanna meet you because I love what I see about your company. And listen, I'm looking to buy companies. Maybe that's you. Maybe you know somebody. Can I take you to coffee? Can I bring a sandwich tray by the office tomorrow afternoon?"
Listen, I'm getting 20 emails a day from various people who claim to have all this money and all they wanna do is buy my
company.
I have gotten zero videos
Stacey Salyer: Well, you guys have heard it here. Look at this. This is like mic drop moment, honestly. I mean, and I, and I think that's the thing is people don't wanna think outside the box. So of course one of my things is I'm trying to teach people [00:37:00] to think outside the box, and I love that you brought that up because-
Jennifer Reulens: Well, another way I grow visibility, this is o- off the wall, a little hamboney. I've made those cups, those Hold It With PM Jen cups, and I got these sassy stickers. And if I do events with somebody or I get to know somebody and I wanna build a relationship, I send that cup, but I send it wrapped in wrapping paper that is my face and my logo.
And what I'm trying to do is create a little impact moment. You showed up, you went home tonight, and there was this package on your doorstep or in your mailbox. Everybody loves to get a
package. It has colorful wrapping paper on it. How often do you get a package in the mail. that's wrapped in wrapping paper?
Stacey Salyer: Or ever get a package in the mail. Maybe some Amazon, but that's not the same
Jennifer Reulens: Right. And it's... No, I tell you, I see those cups everywhere, and I haven't bought that many. It's not like I've sent out hundreds. I've only probably bought 100 in my whole time of doing this, but it makes an impact. I just had Vanessa Anderson, [00:38:00] CEO of Prop- Property Tech, show off the package I sent her on LinkedIn.
Now, listen, I was building my relationship with Vanessa. I didn't expect her to post about it. But didn't I do both of those things with that, So what was that? A $28 cup and $6 postage. Oh, and the wrapping paper. But you, you see my point. It's not that much, but I've systematized it. I, I send out cups just about every week
Stacey Salyer: Wow. I love that. I love that. And I love all of your creative ways and, and everything. I think that, yeah, I have one of your cups.
Jennifer Reulens: Everybody does, girl.
Stacey Salyer: No, I know. I know. And yeah, I, I love
all of this, and I hope that everyone listening today was able to kinda tie it back into why it's so important if you're buying or selling.
You're not behind. I mean, you're only behind if you don't start. So, I hope that people were able to take away, one little thing where they could just start and just move forward. Baby steps, right? You just gotta keep getting on the bike, and then one [00:39:00] day you're gonna be in a cool bike race.
I don't know. I'm trying to think of some weird analogy. But
Jennifer Reulens: Like even the old stuff that you did last year that you're not that happy with, it's still out there working for you. And if you, look at my video library and go back in time, you see me, well, you see me gain 150 pounds in the past. I used to weigh a lot more. I had lot poorer quality video, a lot poorer quality delivery, but I let them be out there because that's what I was, and that's, this is what I am now.
And I think anybody who's a human understands transformation, and to hide my past, to hide all that isn't real or authentic, and I think it goes a long way. So all I'm saying is have no fear, do anything, and don't copy everybody else because you just look dumb
and weird. Do whatever makes sense to you
Stacey Salyer: Yeah, Be yourself. Be yourself as far as building your company brand
and your personal brand. There's-- Everybody has something special in their company that they're doing. And, even if it's something really tiny, that is what you should [00:40:00] build your brand on as far as what, what matters to you and your team.
It'll matter when you go to sell your business because anybody that has built an amazing business in a community, I mean, your valuation's going to be higher. And then same when you're going to, to buy, that seller is going to be looking at you. And how cool, like I talked about just a few minutes ago, if they can consume part of you before they even actually meet you in person, that makes a huge difference because that trust factor is already there.
So, yeah
Jennifer Reulens: Take away the no before it's said, right? They have, like somebody writes you an email or get, leaves you a voicemail and you don't know them. How much reason do I have to call them?
Stacey Salyer: Right. Yeah. Well, no, I mean, you don't have any. I mean, and we all get those spam emails. Delete.
Jennifer Reulens: Yeah. Find a way to use e- use video in your communications, particularly those cold reach-outs. I think that's... If I was trying to buy a company right now, that's the most actionable thing I could take [00:41:00] is, like, how do I make that intro email and then the ones that move it forward, right? 'Cause it's just like any kind of sales.
You kind of move those people through a pipeline, your acquisition targets. How can I use video in this to stand out, to get better results, to build that relationship quicker?
All those things you need
Stacey Salyer: Awesome. Well, everybody just got major truth bombs from Hold It with PM Jen, Jennifer Ruhland out of Pennsylvania. So is there anything that you wanna share with, uh, my listeners as far as what you've got going on, where you might be speaking, anything like that?
Jennifer Reulens: Yeah. North Central PA landlords, you want us to be your property manager, onefocuspm.com. But if you are hosting an event for real estate investors or even maybe property managers, I am speaking. I am doing a tour. I have a speaker sizzle reel that's coming out really soon, but this is all part of the mission to build my visibility toward changing the industry.
Like I said, my goals have gone a little bit beyond growing the company at this point. So, NARPM state [00:42:00] chapters, uh, or, or any other kind of chapters that want to have a speaker. If you have a real estate investor meetup that happens close there, I might come out and do that 'cause then I could talk to the investors as well.
Listen, I'm still not that expensive and super reachable. That won't be that way forever. This visibility train is on the tracks, but for now I am, and I'm very generous, especially with NARPM folks, and I'm still talking to property manager audiences. Eventually, I'll just talk to investors 'cause that is really who I'm interested in and passionate about.
But yeah, that's what I'm looking for is opportunities to speak, opportunities to be on podcasts that are,
uh, well aligned with me, and friends. Yeah, talk to me and be my friend.
Stacey Salyer: Yeah, and I will say I am Jen's friend, and we leave some fun video messages back and forth. Video or audio, whatever you call that,
Jennifer Reulens: well, get on Google and give me a five-star friend review.
Stacey Salyer: I will, I will do that for sure. I know. That, that'd be kinda cool, 'cause it, it's harder to make friends as we get older. But anyway, I don't wanna derail this particular episode.
But I will say, [00:43:00] Jen is amazing. She's a great speaker, super energetic. I mean, very engaging. I mean, she dropped some awesome truth bombs right here. So I hope that everybody listened today and had at least one takeaway. Your contact info will be in the show notes, so if you don't follow Hold It With PM Jen, go down into the show notes, click all the, all the follows, and you can find her.
Some of her TikToks are amazing and have gone
Jennifer Reulens: Yeah, the TikToks, guys, are really just for me. I mean, I put them out there publicly. That is, I call it becoming
PMGen, and that is where I put weird stuff. Well, they go viral, so I mean, TikTok really loves
Stacey Salyer: them. So you do, you do a great job. You do a great job.
Jennifer Reulens: I treat it like my personal video library that like when I make them I go,
"One day when I'm a really big deal, I'm gonna look back on these and love them." That's what I think about.
Stacey Salyer: Well, I love them." now, so you have, you have at least one TikTok fan. You have a ton of [00:44:00] TikTok fans. They, they're going viral. You have all those likes, so
keep it up. Yeah. So thank you everyone for tuning in today, listening. I cannot wait to see everybody building their personal brand and their company brand, and if you ever have questions, feel free to reach out as well.
You can find my contact in the show notes as well, and we will see you next time
Outro: thanks for listening to the Stacey Salyer show. Here's the deal. You can read about acquisitions anywhere, but you can't learn acquisitions from someone who's done it the way I have as a buyer, a seller, and from the corporate side evaluating hundreds of companies. That's why I need you to subscribe and share this with someone in your network who needs to hear it.
And if this episode landed, leave a five star review. It's how more PM owners find the only acquisition expertise in the space that comes from all sides of the table. And while you're at it, grab my Acquisition Readiness checklist on my website at [00:45:00] staceysalyer.com. Then when you're ready to move from Growth Thinking to Growth Building, explore the Built to Acquire program.
Don't leave it on the table. See you on the next episode.
