From HOA Boards to Business Success | Louise’s Entrepreneur Journey

In this episode of Disrupt & Discuss Podcast, we sit down with Louise Collier, founder of ForMyHOA.com, to unpack her journey from HOA volunteer to entrepreneur.

Louise shares how she turned community board frustrations into a thriving HOA management business, scaling from one neighborhood to managing multiple communities. She opens up about balancing family, leadership, and legacy building, and why emotional wellness matters when you’re running both a 9–5 career and a growing business.

If you’ve ever wondered:

• How do you start and scale a business from scratch?
• What does it really take to manage HOAs successfully?
• How do you balance entrepreneurship with family and wellness?

👉 This conversation is for you.

💬 Drop your thoughts in the comments & join the D&D family conversation.

⏱️ Timestamps

0:00 – Welcome & Intro to Louise
 2:00 – How Louise Got Into HOA Management
 5:00 – Starting Her Company in 2019
 10:00 – HOA Rules Explained (and Misunderstood)
 18:00 – Wellness, Balance & Boundaries
 25:00 – Community Engagement vs. Management
 35:00 – Family Support & Spousal Roles
 45:00 – Setting Boundaries with Residents
 55:00 – Legacy, Scaling, and Mentorship
 1:05:00 – Fun “Hella Awkward” Question
 1:10:00 – Closing Thoughts & Global Shoutouts

#Entrepreneurship #HOAManagement #ScalingABusiness #PodcastInterview #WomenInBusiness #BusinessLegacy #WorkLifeBalance #CommunityLeadership

The Fitness Collectif promo 

Transcript

[00:00:00] Just E: Hey everyone. 

[00:00:02] KayCee: Hello. 

[00:00:03] Just E: Welcome to Disrupt and Discuss. How's everybody doing? 

[00:00:10] KayCee: I'm great.

[00:00:11] Just E: Alright. Today we have another one for the D&D family. You already know, we love to bring you ~guys ~game changing voices, we're doing more than just talking about wellness.

[00:00:21] Just E: We're bringing people that are living in their purpose, their leadership, and their communities. Today's guest is another powerhouse. Please help us welcome Louise Collier. She might just go by Louise today, but she's a certified project management pro, a problem solving queen and the founder behind for my hoa.com, a digital platform reimaging, how HOA board members stay informed.

[00:00:53] Just E: Compliance and empowered with years of experience building sustainable systems for communities. She's [00:01:00] proof that healthy living isn't just about green smoothies and gym time. It's about building healthy, functional environments where people thrive. So pull up a seat.

[00:01:11] Just E: Let's get into her story, her strategies, and what it takes to live well from the boardroom to your backyard. Everybody, please welcome Louise. 

[00:01:24] Louise: Hey folks. 

[00:01:25] Just E: Thank you.

[00:01:26] Louise: Thanks so much for the warm welcome. 

[00:01:29] Just E: How are you today? 

[00:01:31] Louise: I am doing well. It is super hot where I am, but other than the air conditioner running, I'm doing good. Thank you. I love that. 

[00:01:39] KayCee: It's always good when that air conditioner works, and it's better when you got solar, right?

[00:01:43] KayCee: Oh, yes, yes. Freeze. Yes, I know, yes, for sure. Wanna run the air conditioner? Yeah, sure, no problem. 

[00:01:53] Louise: Open a window. 

[00:01:54] Just E: Yeah. Well, KayCee can you start us off with regards to this topic? We are [00:02:00] anxious to get into it. I sure can. 

[00:02:01] KayCee: I wanna thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedule because as we're gonna get into it, you really don't have time.

[00:02:08] KayCee: So the fact that you were able to make time, we're definitely appreciative of that. And I'm just going to jump right into it once I got to know you and all the things that you do, I don't even see how you're able to just, , get through a date without just falling out. And what I mean by that to our listeners is Louise has the, what we've always talked about, the nine to five.

[00:02:30] KayCee: She does that. Plus, on top of that, she runs, what is that? Three HOAs? Four. Four HOAs. 

[00:02:38] Louise: Yes 

[00:02:38] KayCee: Congratulations. So she's doing four. So on top of that, we're also talking about a wife. Mother, grandmother, how do you find time for yourself? 

[00:02:50] Louise: I sleep, 

[00:02:53] KayCee: You've got a lot of things going on and we're also talking about you work in a high stress [00:03:00] job.

[00:03:00] KayCee: I don't know all of what you do outside of your HOA, but just having a nine to five and having to deal with that and all that comes with that is stressful in itself. You can insert any job here, and you'll have to deal with what goes on with that. I don't think people really know about what it takes to actually run an HOA,

[00:03:19] KayCee: how did you even get started in it? Was it something like a hobby I'm just stepping in as an interim and now you're talking about four, so I'm really intrigued. I'll just let you. Take it away. Thank you ma'am. 

[00:03:32] Louise: So I'll start with how I got into it and then I'll touch on a couple of the other things that you talked about.

[00:03:40] Louise: How I got into managing HOAs. When I first moved to Pittsburg, I had the luck to move into a gated community where, there's an HOA Okay. 

[00:03:52] Just E: I 

[00:03:52] Yolanda: had no knowledge of HOAs prior to that. I had been born and raised in San Francisco. I came in, they were [00:04:00] having a meeting, I went to a meeting, I met a couple of the board members.

[00:04:04] Louise: I had to start making calls to the management company, to get my, account set up and to get different things that I needed. I volunteered for the board 'cause I wanted to be involved, got a brand new house. I'm gonna be part of this community. So I volunteered for the board. And did that for about 10 years.

[00:04:24] Louise: During that time we had, the first management company when I came in, the people were nice, but they were not very responsive. We got so many complaints from neighbors. So after about 10 years, we led the charge to change our management company. So we did that. We got to another management company.

[00:04:42] Louise: I led the crusade on it. I picked the person, I interviewed them, and you could not tell me they were not going to be the bee's knees to the community. But, after about six or eight months, it's , we can't find you, you're not doing what you need to be doing. Again, we're hearing all of the [00:05:00] complaints, from community members.

[00:05:01] Louise: Around 2019 I was like, Hmm, I could do that. I'm definitely a people person. I love to talk to people. As, you said in the beginning, I'm a problem solver. If you tell me what's going on, I'm not just gonna fix it. We're gonna go to the root. And figure out how it developed.

[00:05:17] Louise: So I started looking into the requirements to create my own HOA management company. ~And ~with the support of my husband and ~the ~help from one of my, ~uh, ~friends on the board, I started my company. I pitched my company. I did, ~uh, ~I, I quit the board. No conflict of interest there. I pitched my company to the board.

[00:05:41] Louise: They decided to give me a chance, and since 2019, I have been rolling and growing. By word of mouth only, I do not actively go out customer. By word of mouth, I was able to pull in additional three, HOAs. 

[00:05:59] Just E: Can [00:06:00] I ask one question to clarify for the people who may not know, what does an HOA stand for?

[00:06:07] Louise: Homeowners Association. So when you buy your house and you get this paper saying that you are part this community, you are part of an HOA, they are a set of rules that you need to follow. And with that also comes a cost. Everybody's gonna pay some HOAs run from 50 to a hundred dollars. I do have one HOA that's $335 per month.

[00:06:33] Louise: It really depends on where the HOA is and some of the amenities. Like I said, they have a swimming pool. It's a smaller community with only 23 homes, so of course their, dues are higher because they need to pay for all that stuff. I have another HOA that's 98 homes and their 3 31, and again, that one's a condo, so it's high-rise.

[00:06:55] Louise: Your HOAs are to pay for things that go on in your [00:07:00] community. Don't be afraid to get into an HOA. Make sure you get into an HOA that has a good manager because all the threatening letters and all of the missed phone calls. That is not something that you have to take when you are paying for somebody.

[00:07:13] Louise: So call me. 

[00:07:17] KayCee: I have a question. If I move into a community that has an HOA, I understand you have to get approval for something on the outside of the house, I was watching something on TikTok, and one guy was talking about changing the flooring in his kitchen.

[00:07:32] KayCee: And, he went through all the paperwork, but it was surprising to him that he had to get approval, to do something on the inside of his house, we're not even talking about moving a load, bearing wall why would I have to go to HOA for something inside my house as opposed to not going to you guys?

[00:07:53] Louise: It truly depends on how your governing documents, and that's what they call our cc NR. The code of [00:08:00] covenants and restrictions. It depends on how those were developed, in one of the HOAs that I manage, again, it's a high rise condo. You have to have approved anything you wanna do for the floors, because when the floors are put in, the material that was used is supposedly rated for noise at a certain level.

[00:08:20] Louise: So if you wanna go in and change from your carpeted to your hardwood floors, you have to consider the people under you that are gonna hear every step you make where the HOA comes in is to make sure that ~they, ~they're supposed to look at your plans and make sure that.

[00:08:34] Louise: The materials that you use are rated for the same noise level? In other cases I have not heard of, like if in a single family home, if you're changing anything in your home I have never heard of them, asking for that to be approved.

[00:08:50] Louise: Unless, like you stated, you are changing the footprint, then Yes. Because when you create a HOA, you might have ~five, ~four, or five different model homes. So when somebody [00:09:00] else comes in and they're gonna come into this house and be like, it doesn't look like the model home or the other ones, we have to have that on file to say, Hey, this change was filed.

[00:09:08] Louise: Approved. 

[00:09:08] KayCee: Okay. 

[00:09:08] Louise: Mm-hmm. 

[00:09:09] KayCee: That makes sense. 

[00:09:10] Louise: It's always the message to the madness. Always. 

[00:09:13] KayCee: And again, , on social media, you only get one side of the story. So I can't say if it's a condo, if it's a single family home. But I just thought it was interesting and I knew that you were coming onto the show to ask that question, because where I live, I don't have that.

[00:09:27] Just E: Mm-hmm. 

[00:09:28] KayCee: So there's, yeah, I, 

[00:09:29] Just E: and also you have to take in consideration, if it's in a different state, different states have different governing rules. Correct. 

[00:09:36] Lousie: Absolutely. Every HOA must create and, have filed their bylaws and their, CCNRs, which is how the board interacts, how the homeowners interact.

[00:09:48] Louise: So all of that information is filed with the state. I would also offer, that it could have been in a historical, neighborhood. True. You never know. The truth behind the story. But if it was in an historical [00:10:00] neighborhood, then those homes are set the way they are.

[00:10:03] Louise: Oh yeah. 

[00:10:03] Just E: They're grandfathered in. 

[00:10:05] Louise: Exactly. There's all kind of reasons why folks just love to get upset when they understand that there's rules around the HOA, but they are truly there to protect you and your investment. And for a lot of us, that is your investment. 

[00:10:18] Just E: Yes ma'am. I'm one of those people.

[00:10:21] Louise: I 

[00:10:22] Just E: did, oh my God. Our last house. We were in a HOA community. Mm-hmm. And oh my Lord, they were, some of the people there were a little bit more seasoned. They would walk around and, at night and next thing we gotta notice. Oh, you didn't, your, lawn is, a couple of inches high.

[00:10:46] Just E: You need to mow it. Your garbage can, was out an extra day. You can't do that. You can't wash your car in your own driveway. And me and my husband was like, eh. So this house where we are now, [00:11:00] the house that we bought here, no HOAs. 

[00:11:03] Louise: Yeah, I totally feel you. It was hard for me when I first moved in.

[00:11:07] Louise: I had never been in the HOA, we came in and I put blackout curtains up first day I went to Walmart, got some blackout curtains. Two days later, I gotta know your curtains need to be, in, it needs to support the aesthetics of the community. I'm like, who the heck are they trying to tell me what to do?

[00:11:25] KayCee: We gotta see inside your house, right? 

[00:11:28] Louise: So I would definitely say that it can be, a horrible experience if you have a board that is like super aggressive, but if you have a management company that does not put those checks and balances because your board is not sending the letters, in most cases, they are sending that information to the management company and the management company is sending out those letters.

[00:11:49] Louise: If I get a letter from a board member in one of my communities, there's no parking on the street. For the, all the, there's guest parking only on the street, so this particular [00:12:00] board member knows who owns which car. A car can be on the street for 30 minutes. He's taking a picture, Hey Louise, we need to send them a note.

[00:12:08] Just E: Oh wow. 

[00:12:08] Louise: I have not sent them a note yet. I tell him that, Hey, you need to learn how to give folks some grace. What if they were just running in the house to get something? What if they had to drop their kid off? So let's contact people and ask them the question before we issue a fine.

[00:12:22] Louise: You really have to have a strong management company who is not afraid to push back, because that's our job as the HOA manager. My job is to make sure that the rules are enforced the way that they should be, not arbitrarily by some nosy board member who do you wanna walk around and measure your grass?

[00:12:41] Just E: You ain't got nothing else to do, right? No. Okay, I like that. So you essentially, if I'm hearing you correctly, you go in. And, pitch your company. 

[00:12:52] Just E: Mm-hmm. 

[00:12:52] Just E: And you take over from, the actual people in the community who, facilitate this, you end up being [00:13:00] essentially the property management, but for single family home environments.

[00:13:04] Just E: Correct. 

[00:13:04] Louise: Exactly. Most HOAs currently are managed professionally. There is a provision in your CCNRs, it says boards can do it, but board members are volunteer. They cannot be paid. So most people just don't want to take that on. It is a lot of work, to actually manage the entire community. I pitched them that I'm going to come in and make a difference.

[00:13:27] Louise: I don't even call myself a community manager, I'm the community engagement manager. I wanna talk to people, I wanna understand what your issues are with the HOA, with the board, with your neighbor, because those are things we can, bring together. We wanna bridge those gaps. My tagline is turning associations into communities one at a time.

[00:13:49] Louise: And that's a big thing. I want every, association to really be a community. We are here, we are sharing this space, and we should be able [00:14:00] to get along, follow the rules, and everyone be happy. 

[00:14:04] Just E: I like this because I did not know this existed. So if this existed, I would've pitched you to come to where we was at before you come take it over because, oh my goodness.

[00:14:16] Just E: You talked about, why you ended up into this. What went into the research into finding out that you could make this into an entrepreneurial business? 

[00:14:26] Louise: Google is my friend. I got online. For years I have been trying to find my.

[00:14:33] Louise: Space. I have started and stopped several businesses. A lot of them were, more administrative where I'm helping people to do things. I was not able to make that grow or I got bored with it. It wasn't just me saying, I want a business. I have always had that entrepreneurial spirit where I knew that my nine to five was not going to be what pushed me over and gave me enough joy to be happy with.

[00:14:59] Louise: [00:15:00] When I decided to do this, I looked at what they were doing and not doing, and I said, I could do that. So I started researching it. I googled, ~I ~went to, a governing body over HOA management companies. I went on their website, understood, the trainings, the information.

[00:15:17] Louise: So I did that. I took classes. It was like a project management bootcamp. So I went in, I took those glasses and then I got on and just created the company I was very lucky because the HOA where I lived was fed up with the management companies we had been dealing with.

[00:15:35] Louise: So I was able to create my website, create a proposal that really spoke from my heart. It definitely spoke to the people because, they have those larger companies, they don't care. And again, I love to talk to people, so people always say, yo, she always answers the phone. I do, but you're getting on my nerves.

[00:15:55] Louise: No. But, ~um, ~I'm always here. I'm always there trying to, ~um, just ~[00:16:00] make it a little bit easier. Nobody ~just ~wants to give up their money for nothing. So I'm, just trying to help out. Right. So research figured out, ~uh, ~that I could do it and just went ahead and did it. 

[00:16:10] KayCee: I have a quick question. In listening to what you're saying about your job, your daily job.

[00:16:14] KayCee: How was your nine to five? Did that help you? Bridge the gap? Meaning did the skills ~that ~you have in that job, carry over into what you're doing now or is it two totally separate things? 

[00:16:26] Louise: Absolutely. So when I started in my nine to 5, 24 years ago, I started as an administrative assistant.

[00:16:32] Louise: So I, again. How to talk to people, how to become organized, how to manage a project. I got my PMP in 2011, so I'm a certified project manager. I know about root cross analysis. I know that we have to involve our stakeholders and in this case our community members. That nine to five and all of that, that learning that I took even on them bad days when I [00:17:00] was hating them and want to roof test my computer, it truly helped me build up the skills I needed.

[00:17:06] Louise: Now I will say that I'm gonna give some of it to my mom and daddy 'cause I was raised as that person. I can speak to anybody. I'm not afraid to talk to anybody or any place. I had that legacy there of. Being okay with who I am and being able to assert, ~um, ~authority in certain areas. So between my upbringing and that nine to five for those 20 something years absolutely helped me to understand how to set up my business.

[00:17:37] Louise: I have, policies in place for, different actions that may come. I have accounting policies in place. I hired somebody to help me with accounting, understanding that I don't like a bunch of numbers. So I have somebody that helps me with that. I have another person that does all of the bank reconciliations, when I say I have people, I have hired my best [00:18:00] friend who has been in accounting for years.

[00:18:02] Just E: Mm-hmm. 

[00:18:02] Louise: And then my niece, who has also been in accounting for years, they both have nine to fives as well. They have lent their time and expertise to help me grow this. So I have not done it by myself. I could not do it by myself. Just gotta really give it up to the folks that I have around me who have not only supported me when I had the dream, but we're here to say, Hey, I got you.

[00:18:26] Louise: If you need me and I'll help you. Granted, they wanna be paid like everybody else. Right, 

[00:18:31] KayCee: right, 

[00:18:32] Louise: I can't do it alone. 

[00:18:34] KayCee: Well, and that's what we had talked about when we were ta the series of entrepreneurialship. Yep. You need to have a tribe with you. I can't say I've done what I've learned a lot.

[00:18:43] KayCee: Yes, I have, but I have not done everything myself. 

[00:18:46] Louise: Yeah. 

[00:18:47] KayCee: I totally agree. So then my question would be, how would you define wellness in your day-to-day life? Because how can you be, helpful to yourself when you're already helping everyone else through your day to day?[00:19:00] 

[00:19:00] Louise: A couple different ways. The first one is you gotta know who you are. I gotta know who I am and know when I'm ready to draw that line. So if I'm getting irritated by that nine to five, and then I start getting calls from some homeowners who may not be happy with a situation. Sometimes I'm just like, okay, no, I'm not gonna answer that phone now, or I'm not gonna answer that email.

[00:19:22] Louise: I'm gonna go downstairs and watch sisters, or I'm gonna go in the room and sit with my husband. We finna have a margarita right quick. So you have to be able to limit yourself. You gotta put up some barriers and then find other things that I can do right here in this house that may take me away from my desk for 30 or 40 minutes, but they make me happy.

[00:19:41] Louise: They make me feel better. So I will, shut everything down and go watch some tv, shut everything down, and maybe take my dog for a walk. So I find small opportunities to love on myself no matter what that is. 

[00:19:56] Just E: I love that. Because you can't pour from an empty vessel. Nope.

[00:19:59] Just E: Absolutely. Mm-hmm. [00:20:00] The fact you, everything 

[00:20:01] Louise: I agree. 

[00:20:02] Just E: And the fact that you realize that when those times are needed. Yes. Because a lot of people don't realize when they need to, stop, push back. It can wait and go, take you a walk, walk your dog, go have a margarita.

[00:20:16] Just E: Sip a line, just decompress real quick instead of answering that email or getting on that phone and responding the way you're not supposed to. Right. 

[00:20:25] Louise: I could be outta job if I get the board member call me. I'm like, what you want, bro? I can't do that. Exactly.

[00:20:34] Louise: I'm always gonna be Louise. But yeah, I gotta act, I gotta put my best foot forward. So, yeah. Yes. Not answering that phone sometime is a lot better than. 

[00:20:44] Just E: Exactly. If nobody can take anything from this conversation, take that. 

[00:20:50] KayCee: So the other question I had, because I didn't realize to what degree you have done this kind of stuff.

[00:20:56] KayCee: When you come into a new job, not a job, [00:21:00] but taking over another HOA, how does that work in terms of the people that are currently in there, they're not doing their job, they don't wanna leave, but then here you're coming because they voted you in. How do you make that transition? And better yet, you already know you're gonna have that to deal with.

[00:21:17] KayCee: But then what about some of the residents, here's another person coming, well, what are you going do? Make me think differently about you. Dance, puppet dance kind of thing. Really, how do you 

[00:21:27] Louise: handle that? Two ways. First part, when I'm picking up a new, community

[00:21:33] Louise: it's usually I'm in touch with the board member or some person in the community who puts me in touch with the board members and I have a conversation with them. I. Pitch myself. I pitch my company, I give them my website, I create a proposal, and I do pride myself on not going with that global approach. There's a million HOA management companies out here.

[00:21:58] Louise: I set myself apart [00:22:00] because I am that people person. I am all about the engagement and creating the community. When I go in, I have that conversation with the board, they set their standards. This is what we expect, and I tell them exactly what I expect. If they are being managed by another company, then I contact that company, the board first must send a notification to the outgoing company, giving them at least 30 days notice if they are still under contract.

[00:22:28] Louise: They need to. Them a 60 day notice and then allow them 30 days to correct any behaviors. If they don't, then they can be terminated. I come in once that has happened, on a couple of my HOAs, I have helped them through that process by writing up the notifications that go to the outgoing companies, just whatever they need me to do

[00:22:47] Louise: Our board members are not, well-versed. Some of the contractual language that they need to be covering. So I get into contact with the outgoing management company everything that is produced for an [00:23:00] HOA or any community is property of that community. The only thing that is mine is the system that I use.

[00:23:06] Louise: So I must be able to download and provide any report, all that information to the new company. So that is what I go in and get. So I need homeowner names and numbers, their contact information, what their current balance is, how long they've been paying, all of that information. I pull all that over, upload it into my system, and then boom, we start that out.

[00:23:30] Louise: I, forgot the second part of your question. 

[00:23:31] KayCee: No, just how you introduce yourself to the residents. And some I'm sure are welcoming, like, oh God, I'm glad those people left and now, okay, but what are you gonna do for us? Because we were promised all of this before. And what makes you, and again, I'm just thinking how I would think. ~I~ 

[00:23:46] Louise: absolutely get that. What gonna do 

[00:23:48] Just E: differently. 

[00:23:49] Louise: Exactly. 

[00:23:49] Just E: Yeah. So 

[00:23:50] Louise: what I like to do is go in and have a community meeting, even before I'm hired. I want to hear from the community, not just the board members. What are [00:24:00] your pain points? What has been happening that you are not happy with?

[00:24:04] Louise: And then I'm going to show you, based on my systems, I always take either my laptop or my tablet. I'm showing them my software. You can do this. You can do this on your own. Everything has a record. So if someone is saying that they're submitting a maintenance request and nobody's gotten back to them, I can go through there and see, you didn't submit no maintenance requests, or you did.

[00:24:26] Louise: So ~I, ~I reassure them in knowing that they have power. You have the power to go into this system and to record whatever issue that you want. You can call me, I take text messages from homeowners on my little trustee phone here, so I answer those up until about seven o'clock in the evening.

[00:24:46] Louise: I let them know. And one of my favorite lines is I'm a small company and I'm hungry, and I am ready to do the work. So all of these big companies, they have 10 and 15 and 20 and maybe even more folks to help them out. [00:25:00] And you're still not getting it. Give your girl a shot, and I will prove to you that I can manage this community and that you will be happy.

[00:25:08] Louise: I, one community that I took over the small one and 

[00:25:11] Just E: mm-hmm. 

[00:25:12] Louise: They have 23 homes. When I first took them over, I sent out the first notification of billing and one guy replies back. It was like 7 30 on a Saturday. And he was just going off. Oh, we, every time we get a HOA company, they coming here talking to what you going to do.

[00:25:31] Louise: I'm sure that when he was just going off. I think, actually, I think I had sent out a notice saying I was going on vacation and he was like, yeah, have fun, but I'm sure you ain't gonna be thinking about us. I just replied back to him casually during that weekend, and then that Monday he replied back to me.

[00:25:47] Louise: Hey Louise. Thank you so much. Sometimes when I have a little wine, I get a little mouthy. So he admitted it and because I just kept going back and forth with him just as sweet as pie, he appreciated [00:26:00] that. And today he has become one of my biggest supporters in that community because I was able to, connect on that personal level.

[00:26:08] Louise: I was probably having some wine too, oh, he ain't finna just keep coming at me. But, I didn't do it with an attitude. I totally, understood where he was coming from. 

[00:26:17] KayCee: So I, and I know in the intro, and forgive me for not remembering this, you said the smaller community of 23 homes, right?

[00:26:26] KayCee: That's the smallest, 

[00:26:27] Louise: I have. One that's 22 homes. One that's 23 homes. The condo that I do, ~uh, ~is 98 units. And then the other community is actually 253 homes. 

[00:26:38] Just E: The biggest one. 

[00:26:39] Louise: But it's actually also the easiest one ~to, ~to do, partly because I'm close to it, but ~the, ~they have been in an HOA for so long.

[00:26:48] Louise: They know the routine. They know they need to request a parking pass. They know, they have to have a number to get in the gate. So it's so much easier. All I get is a bunch of requests, Hey Louise, can I get this? Hey Louise, can I get that? The smaller [00:27:00] ones can sometimes be more of a bother because they think that, you should spend more time. 

[00:27:05] Just E: They want that white glove service. 

[00:27:07] Louise: Yes. And although I'm gonna try my best, I can't always give you that white glove. You cannot call me and tell me your rosebush in the front needs to be trimmed when I know it was trimmed last week and you're putting fertilizer and stuff to make it grow quicker.

[00:27:22] Louise: You gotta work with us. We got four zones around here, so the landscapers are unfortunately not in front of your house today, but I'll make a note for next. Time, so giving them that white glove service, but letting them know that it's really a plastic glove, because you gotta back it up a little bit.

[00:27:39] KayCee: Do, you have staff to help with, the financial side, do you have staff with you currently to help ~do ~with all the stuff that you're dealing with? 

[00:27:48] Louise: I pretty much do all of the day-to-day engagement with, homeowners, by myself. I'm lying. So my staff that helps me with the homeowner account.[00:28:00] 

[00:28:00] Louise: So if she does take some calls, if they're calling for specific things, like in one of the HOAs, they pay their water bill through a third party vendor. That third party vendor bills us. ~So ~she handles that she'll, receive the billing, put that on the homeowner's bills, and then when they get their bills and have questions, they contact her directly.

[00:28:21] Louise: Or when I'm on vacation or out of the office, they'll go to her directly. So she does help me a lot with that. But most of the day-to-day in the weeds dealing with the homeowners is me. Homeowners and boards is really me. I do, get the help when I need it, but, I'm still small. Like I said, I'm hungry.

[00:28:39] Louise: I really want to, ~you know. ~Show my brand and my brand is the exceptional service. The engagement, ~again, ~the community, community engagement manager. I wanna make sure that, ~you know, ~everyone around here is on the same page. 

[00:28:54] Just E: I love that. 

[00:28:55] KayCee: I wanna tell, I'm impressed.

[00:28:57] Just E: I wanted to ask this because I'm the [00:29:00] techie. You spoke to software, so did you create your own software or did you go out and find a software that was compatible that you could, integrate into your, business and take out to other, homeowners associations? 

[00:29:17] Louise: I wish that I was a techie and that I could create it.

[00:29:20] Louise: I have so many ideas around it, but no, I went out and, luckily I found that there were several companies that offered, software to manage not only HOAs, but individual properties. I, tested, demoed maybe four or five. I did end up going with one, not only because it was the cheapest, but it was so easy and user friendly, and I felt that at the time it was just me.

[00:29:47] Louise: I hadn't hired other people to help me at that time. So I figured, okay, this is something quick and easy that I can get into. It's easy for the homeowners when I set them up in their homeowner portals so I chose that one, and it has been working for me [00:30:00] ever since. I do ~con ~constantly get courted by other companies who want that business but I'm like, I started here, I'm happy. And like you said, if I'm not gonna make it myself, I might as well just stick where I am because it's very familiar for me and I've gotten all the homeowners, used to it as well. 

[00:30:16] Just E: What about the role of emotional wellness? How does that play a role in your effective leadership and decision making? 

[00:30:25] Louise: Hmm. Sometime, I don't know, but, yeah, again, , I gotta sit around and. I remember who I am, ~I ~center myself and then think about where I need to be. Where do I need to spend my time?

[00:30:39] Louise: Is this one of these times where I want to call that homeowner back because the dog is off the leash and running around? ~Um, ~or do I wanna call that homeowner back and let them know that the pest company can't get to that wasp nest on the third floor of the building hanging under the eave?

[00:30:56] Louise: Or do I just wanna take a moment to sit back and think [00:31:00] about a better way to approach it? My emotional wellness comes from understanding who I am. 

[00:31:07] Just E: Mm-hmm. 

[00:31:08] Louise: What I need to be doing, and what the time limits that I have. Sometimes I'll just. Take a break or start playing a game or something.

[00:31:18] Louise: Anything to bring it down a little bit because between that nine to five and my business, I am busy and pulled in so many different directions, sometimes I be on here like, Ooh, I hate this person, but. It's not that I hate them, I hate what I'm going through at that moment.

[00:31:36] Louise: So I take a step back, dim my lights, maybe turn on some music, or again, watch something on TV that will help me get into a better place. Just really get into a better place. I'm lucky to have a husband who truly understands what I am going through. So sometimes I'll just go in there like, Ugh.

[00:31:55] Louise: I just need a hug and, just stand there for a minute we'll just watch a [00:32:00] show together. Just really stopping and centering myself and figuring out what I have to do, what people want me to do, and ~then ~what I'm going to do right now. 

[00:32:12] KayCee: I'm glad you brought that up as far as the husband, because, as we were talking before, we're all entrepreneurs.

[00:32:18] KayCee: We're all married. Been married for years. And the fact that I can speak for myself where my husband is not stifling me. He's letting me do all that I can do. I guess that also means that, I'm not bothering him, at the same time, when you're starting to build your business, starting to flourish, that dynamic changes.

[00:32:40] KayCee: But I'm thankful that my husband is, behind me no matter what I do. And I know with you, you've got a nine to five that you have to be there. Whether it be physically, mentally, you have to be there and you have all this going.

[00:32:53] KayCee: How do you take time to be. With him and everything else is closed [00:33:00] off because there's times you need, if it's no more than just sitting there and like my husband and I will talk about early morning and we're talking about what we gotta do for the day, but that's our time that we do together.

[00:33:11] KayCee: Do you guys have something like that to where it's just you and him? Whether it be laughing at what stupid shit the kids did. 

[00:33:17] Just E: You know? 

[00:33:18] KayCee: But your wife, you are not entrepreneur. You are wifey right now, or ~hell ~your friends. How about that? ~A~ 

[00:33:25] Louise: Absolutely. We are definitely friends. I have somebody who acts a lot like me when it comes to certain things.

[00:33:32] Louise: Our thing is tv. We like to watch TV shows. He's a sci-fi nut. I'm the mystery horror. We watch TV shows together all the time. We just finished a series called the Sandman, really Good so now we're on Twisted Metal. That's the kind of things we do in the evening. It may be seven or eight o'clock before I actually sit down for the night and say, okay, I'm done.

[00:33:57] Louise: Last night he was going in the room. He is like, how long? How much long are you [00:34:00] gonna be, sweetie? I'm like, I'm almost. 

[00:34:02] Louise: Done. 

[00:34:03] Louise: And it was like seven 30. I just needed to send one email. I get really busy around this time of the month because I send out statements. The monthly statements.

[00:34:12] Louise: I'm printing some, I'm emailing some, I'm creating the newsletters, I'm printing the statements, I'm folding them and putting them in envelopes. He helps me out immensely by, doing my envelopes every month. He'll put the postage on, I have to put in the, envelope for them to return.

[00:34:29] Louise: He does that and then he'll put the statements in. So he does help me out a lot. But last night I was just almost done. As soon as I hit that email, I turn off the monitor, walked in the room, wrote. I'm like, okay, we finna watch. So we Right. That is really how I unwind, how we unwind. And yeah, from ~that, ~that point on is our quiet time.

[00:34:49] KayCee: And then he feels like he's included in the sense that he's not getting lost in the shuffle either. Yeah. He gets his time. Absolutely. There's sometimes for us, during the day, [00:35:00] he wants me to sit down and I wanna sit down, Hey, what are you doing?

[00:35:04] KayCee: He's retired now, but I know he goes to the gym every fucking day. How was your day? What did you do today? But, oh, I went to the gym, but the moment I don't ask, then it's like, well, you don't care about what I did. I, and I might have forgotten, 

[00:35:22] Louise: funny. I remember one day I left here.

[00:35:24] Louise: I always get on my husband about this. One day I left here, he was sitting in the living room on his phone, playing a game. I had to be gone four, five hours. When I tell you I walked back in that door and this man was still sitting there. Playing that game. I almost went off, oh, I'm out here doing inspections and everything else, bro.

[00:35:45] Louise: You up in here playing your game. And you know what he'll say, 

[00:35:49] KayCee: candy Crush, I'm tired, 

[00:35:52] Louise: I'm retired. When you need me to do something, I do it, but I'm retired. 

[00:35:56] KayCee: That, that's what, and what 

[00:35:57] Louise: He cleans up. He washes, he does most of [00:36:00] the stuff around the house because he knows I'm working two jobs.

[00:36:03] Louise: What am I gonna say? The kitchen is clean. The floors is clean. I gotta go put away clothes upstairs, but still don't sit there for five hours. We gotta find balance too. I tell him that all the time. 

[00:36:15] KayCee: Yeah. Mine's retired, so if he's not taking a nap, he'll go to the gym. 

[00:36:19] Louise: ~Yeah. ~And he had told me, 

[00:36:20] KayCee: at least the first year, don't ask me to do shit. 

[00:36:23] Louise: I know that's right. 

[00:36:23] KayCee: And I said, okay. But then, what I found that I've started to do, because, he was working graveyard so he'd be asleep during the days that I'm doing stuff.

[00:36:32] KayCee: I started, now when I'm on the phone, I'll sometimes have it on speaker so he can hear the conversations that I'm having with vendors and other stuff. Is he gonna be bothered with it? No, but he'll get used to the language. He'll get used to what is being done and what is being said.

[00:36:48] KayCee: And in some way, he feels connected to what I'm doing. At the same time, he's oh, okay, yeah, that's so and did want me to introduce you?

[00:36:56] KayCee: He goes, hell no. But he still wants to [00:37:00] sometimes sit and hear the conversations, so he'll feel part of it, because I go, if something happens to me and you gotta talk about something, what are you gonna do? 

[00:37:07] Louise: Absolutely. I don't think my husband will ever take over being the 

[00:37:11] KayCee: manager. Neither is mine.

[00:37:12] Louise: Yeah. So he'll help me out with things like if, one of the homeowners purchases a new gate remote, he'll go and meet them every time he does that, they'll be asking him some of these questions. He'll, run off what he thinks and they'll come back and tell me.

[00:37:25] Louise: I'll be like, okay, you was listen, see. So yeah, absolutely. They get it. He gets it. ~Um, ~it's not like he wants to do it all every day, all day, but he will jump in when he needs to. 

[00:37:39] Just E: Yeah. I think this is important for people to hear, because a lot of times you hear on social media, where a lot of men are, vilified for, being a part of their woman's.

[00:37:51] Just E: Or their wives. Entrepreneurial ventures. And they're, oh, you're taking a back seat. Oh, you're not actually being the man or being the [00:38:00] breadwinner. And that's not the case a lot of times. They play a pivotal part as well. My husband plays a pivotal part as well. Is he always, gung ho about being a part of this social media stuff?

[00:38:13] Just E: No. But he realizes that it's important to me. And, because it's important to me. It's important to him. Yes. It took a second, I'm not gonna say he just jumped in, he was like, what are you doing? What is this about? Once he understood it, then he okay, now he helped me with, my angles.

[00:38:31] Just E: Or he'll have, do you need me to take the camera and, record you? Yes. You need me to take the picture of you. , He understands now. That definitely helps. My husband's not retired yet, so he's still out there going to work. Would he like to retire? Yes. Would I like to retire him?

[00:38:47] Just E: Absolutely. I would love to retire my husband, but we not there yet. He still comes in the house and our decompression is, we scroll TikTok together. You watch, ~uh, ~shows together. We'll be on TikTok [00:39:00] watching. He brings me home. Once he gets home, he'll like, Hey, I got these tiktoks.

[00:39:05] Just E: Let's look at these tiktoks. And we just have fun laughing about little stuff that he's ~brought, you know, ~brought back. Everybody plays their role and I think a lot of times ~a lot of ~people get caught up in the gender roles. ~Mm-hmm. ~

[00:39:16] Just E: ~Mm-hmm. ~

[00:39:16] Just E: ~And you know, ~it's not always about your gender and what gender does what.

[00:39:19] Just E: Absolutely. It's like y'all, you guys are a team. We're a team, we're a family. We're. Partners. We go through this life together ~and so ~

[00:39:28] KayCee: ~you ~Yeah. 

[00:39:28] Just E: There are sacrifices that are being made on both ends. On both end ends. 

[00:39:33] KayCee: There is, there definitely is.

[00:39:35] KayCee: I mean, and then my husband feels like, well, look, I know what account is going into. Thank you. So he goes, yeah baby, go on and keep doing it. Keep doing it. 

[00:39:45] Just E: When that track goes and they swipe 

[00:39:48] KayCee: or 

[00:39:49] Just E: Clean up and it's still, thank you. Approved. Dang.

[00:39:52] KayCee: Yep. ~They ~

[00:39:53] Louise: ~say ~ain't voted for nothing 

[00:39:55] KayCee: in 

[00:39:55] Louise: years. 

[00:39:56] KayCee: Nope. 

[00:39:57] Louise: We rocking. 

[00:39:58] KayCee: If your bank account does dwindle, in [00:40:00] a couple of weeks or next week, you got some more money coming in there. Pay myself.

[00:40:04] KayCee: ~Yeah.~ 

[00:40:04] Louise: I love it. 

[00:40:05] KayCee: Yeah, so ~it, ~it definitely helps to have somebody that's in your corner. It always surprises me, and again, I'm not there obviously, but when you see some of these actors, or I don't even know what you call them now, but when they were hungry.

[00:40:19] KayCee: And they had that person who was with them. Then they start making a little money and they start making a lot of money. Now you done got a whole new model. 

[00:40:27] Louise: As for what girl? 

[00:40:30] KayCee: Well, 

[00:40:31] Louise: so yeah, I totally, 

[00:40:33] KayCee: yeah, exactly. I'm gonna blink once for Yes. Twice. Okay. And like I told him, I said, I ain't going nowhere.

[00:40:41] KayCee: First of all, you know that's work. That's another job I'm not trying to do. That's right. But seriously, you get up to a certain stature and then you're just gonna start coming in contact with other people that you normally wouldn't. But who was with you day one?

[00:40:54] Yolanda: That's right. Right, 

[00:40:55] KayCee: At the end of the day, yeah, we have a business, but people aren't gonna do work with [00:41:00] me unless I'm paying them. So I'm paying you to be nice to me basically and doing work for me. But when I get through with everything else, I'm gonna sit with my glass of wine with my husband and we gonna either talk about how the day went or what we gonna do tomorrow.

[00:41:14] KayCee: I know he's going to the gym of course, we're still gonna talk about that. Exactly. 

[00:41:18] Louise: Me and my husband be tearing up these homeowners though. Knock on my door. He'd be like, Hey, you better let them know this ain't no office. 

[00:41:25] KayCee: So that brings up another question. What is the boundary? For them. Because you're the home, HOA for where you live. 

[00:41:32] Just E: Mm-hmm. 

[00:41:33] KayCee: So now they know where you live, right? Yeah. Not that the other ones didn't have access to you. But now these residents have complete access to you, right?

[00:41:44] Louise: So they think so let tell you, my first name is not Louise. When I first started taking over the HOAs, I decided to use my middle name because I didn't want people to know who I was. Whether they got along with me or not, so when I [00:42:00] started this company and took over the HOA, I would send out all of these emails under Louise and letters and all of this was Louise, Louise, Louise. Only because my fellow board members who are, very good friends of mine, don't know how to use the Louise.

[00:42:17] Louise: Right? So I had, one of the first board members that I sent the letter for, for something that she did. She called me, she wanted to see my business license and everything. And I'm like, SIS, I got you. Here you go. I sent it to her, but it was because somebody else who had been at a meeting was like, the new management company is actually the old board member.

[00:42:37] Louise: So she didn't like that. So again, we had to, educate them on what was fair. 

[00:42:44] Just E: Mm-hmm. 

[00:42:44] Louise: I quit the board ~in ~this month. I got hired as the management company this month. There's no conflict. I'm using Louise because I didn't want this right here. I didn't want you judging me or this community and the board, because they had a [00:43:00] relationship with me first, ~I'm, ~I wanted to prove to them that I was better than what they had before maybe in the time that I've been here, maybe five, 10 times, people have come to my door. It happened quite ~more ~often when I was a board member. I remember one night the, had two homeowners across the street from me fighting over parking place. Two o'clock in the morning, they ringing my doorbell.

[00:43:23] Louise: I don't even, why would you ring my doorbell two o'clock in the morning? Especially my husband up there Hey. Who is that? So since then, maybe five people have come and I had to start telling them. At first I was like, okay, yeah, I, this is where I live.

[00:43:39] Louise: You wanna parking pass? Okay, I'll give, give 'em a parking pass. But in the last year or so, I have truly had to, establish those boundaries a little bit more. 

[00:43:49] Just E: Mm-hmm. 

[00:43:50] Louise: Don't come to my door on Saturday at six o'clock for show. Don't come to my door without calling me on any day, because this is my [00:44:00] home.

[00:44:00] Louise: Right. I work here. Yes. But this is my home. And i'm pretty close to some of the residents here. And those are the main ones that were doing it. Oh, I need my sister here. It's six o'clock on a Saturday. So finally I had to tell them, I'm off.

[00:44:15] Louise: You get all, so they 

[00:44:16] Just E: were doing it because they felt the closeness they had to you 

[00:44:19] Louise: personal access? Yes. Yeah. 

[00:44:21] Just E: Okay. 

[00:44:21] Louise: Of the other home members were like, oh, you here, you was always cool when you was on the board, so since you're the management company, I'm gonna come to your door now.

[00:44:28] Louise: And so I had to stop that. Don't do it. We put that out in, newsletters. Your board, you should not be knocking on their door when something is wrong. You should be contacting the management company, calling or emailing. So we try to put that out. I still have, maybe one or two people that will come to my door.

[00:44:48] Louise: Oh, I don't know. I don't have email. You got a phone, 

[00:44:52] Just E: really Text 

[00:44:53] Louise: messages. Yeah, all of that. 

[00:44:54] Louise: ~Um,~ 

[00:44:54] Just E: I be like, you come to my door on a Saturday, you better have a bottle of wine. You better bring a piece, [00:45:00] offering a Hey, ~how just do mix with~ 

[00:45:00] Louise: a bottle wine. 

[00:45:03] Just E: He offered us 

[00:45:04] Louise: But yeah, so I have to establish the boundary and I have to keep at it and just keep letting people know, no, just because I live here. Does not mean you have 24 7 access. You need to follow the rules. So one of the things in this community we have, every home has one parking pass that could be used for your car.

[00:45:23] Louise: Mm-hmm. Most people wanna park their car on the street, not in their driveways and garages. So they use that pass. When they're having company, they'll call me and say, Hey, I need a guest pass. There's rules to this, if Monday through Thursday from nine to five, you can request a pass for the next day, Friday after 12.

[00:45:42] Louise: I see you Monday. ~So ~I get a lot of people that'll come to my door on Fridays at five or three. ~No, ~no, that's not how it rolls. I'm gonna need you to read this policy. Or even when they send me an email, I'll get that to you Monday, so it's really about setting the boundaries.

[00:45:57] Yolanda: And of forcing them and being like that with [00:46:00] everybody. Because as soon as you let one slide. 

[00:46:05] Just E: Yep. 

[00:46:06] KayCee: So if somebody's coming by to visit, can they park in front of the person's house, or they're coming to visit until 

[00:46:12] Louise:  midnight when we start towing?

[00:46:14] KayCee: Oh, yeah. I'm just talking about, regular, Hey, I just wanna stop by when you're talking parking pass. 

[00:46:18] Louise: You don't have to have a parking pass unless somebody is going to be here after midnight. 

[00:46:23] KayCee: Oh, okay. So you start, 

[00:46:24] Louise: At 10 o'clock at night is when our security gets here and they start riding around and then they will tag you if you don't have a tag in your car, starting at about 1130 to midnight.

[00:46:34] Louise: Oh, okay. And then they call the coach truck. 

[00:46:36] KayCee: Okay. Wow. 

[00:46:37] Louise: Mm. 

[00:46:38] KayCee: Now you never had anything with people trying to fix cars in their driveway, have you? 

[00:46:42] Louise: Oh, please. People will think of anything. Because technically they'll like three cars in the driveway. They will, have it up on the sidewalk a little bit.

[00:46:53] Louise: We even place Yeah, exactly. And then we find 'em for that. We had one, a [00:47:00] couple of homeowners here made, so we have these like red hang tags that say Harbor Lights. They went and had something made. Oh God. They didn't need a parking pass. We getting all these calls from neighbors, like why they got five passes and we're like, stop lying.

[00:47:16] Louise: Nobody has five passes. There you go. Yeah, they do. We go back there one night. They got five passes, parking, five cars. So that was interesting. Oh God. You got 20 minutes to get these cars outta here. 

[00:47:30] Just E: I was gonna ask you, what is the most outlandish thing you've experienced from a resident at any of your places?

[00:47:41] Louise: This was actually recent a couple of weeks ago at one of my smaller HOAs that is in a very prestigious area. 

[00:47:49] KayCee: Okay. 

[00:47:50] Louise: There was some ivy growing in the back of all of these homes. The board members in a meeting. Were like, yeah, the Ivy's not supposed to be here. Just holds [00:48:00] rodents.

[00:48:00] Louise: Let's get this outta here. I inform the landscapers. They go and do that. Oh my goodness. This one lady called, wanted to cuss me out because she the homeowner. She need to have a say. So what happens on her property? Ma'am, that's not your property. It's common area for one, two, the board instructed me to do this.

[00:48:20] Louise: She went to cussing me out. Would not let me talk. So finally I said, I'm going to end this conversation 'cause I will not be spoken to like that. 

[00:48:29] KayCee: Yes. 

[00:48:30] Louise: And so I hung that up and then I sent an email to the board immediately.

[00:48:35] Louise: This is what happened based on what you guys asked me to do. Where are we moving forward to this? And I expect the board to deal with that. I don't have to be treated like that. And I won't be, she'll never get through on my phone again. I think I blocked her. I might unblock her in another month.

[00:48:51] Louise: We'll see. She gonna learn how to act or she gonna put it in writing. So I have proof. But, I think that was really one of the. [00:49:00] Most egregious things I had other than, we have certain rules where you can't ride ATVs and things like that. 

[00:49:06] Just E: Okay, 

[00:49:07] Louise: you got these people outside letting their kids ride up and down on ATVs.

[00:49:11] Louise: One of the kids gets hit, they wanna sue HOA How? You wanna sue me when we told y'all not to do that? Not me, but the HOA, 

[00:49:17] KayCee: people don't wanna follow rules. You might get a separate, subpoena. On top of the HOA. 

[00:49:23] Louise: That's why you gotta know how to write your contracts.

[00:49:26] Louise: No fault boo. They can't sue me for nothing that happens up in here. Absolutely not. Because it is not my fault. Especially if you ain't following the rules ~and ~I'll be the wrong one to get in the court to be talking about suing me people will try to do anything that they can. Right. And here I'm just like, come on now, let's not do that. Just doing it in a way that lets them know that I'm on your side as the management company. I ain't work at the behest of the board, but I'm here to support these community members.

[00:49:56] Louise: Right. I don't want people feeling like they're in A-A-H-O-A and they [00:50:00] hate it and, we are not sending you no letters talking about your grass. ~10 uh, two inches too high. Right. And ~granted we take care of the grass, it's really about making the homeowners feel comfortable. 

[00:50:09] Just E: You talked about a lot of the probes, having a HOA, the safety of it, taking on that responsibility and creating that community, that engagement. But in your personal opinion, having been in this for 10 years, I wouldn't say what are the cons, but what do you think there could be improvements to HOA, communities or HOA, management?

[00:50:32] Louise: I think that improvement needs to come from the board because usually, the management companies work at the behest of the board, we are taking the rules and the regulations. That is what we are managing if somebody is hating being an HOA, I'm gonna ask you why.

[00:50:48] Louise: What are the three or four things that made you hate it? And is that something within my control? Was it that you were not being communicated with, did you, were you not aware of this [00:51:00] issue or this rule? What is it that you really hate about it? Then I say education, that's what I'm gonna start doing.

[00:51:07] Louise: Educating not only the community members, but the board members. Board members need to not be so pushy. Board members need to allow the management companies to do their job. If they send me a notice about somebody who's parked on the street for 30 minutes and expect me to send a notice to that homeowner, I got common sense.

[00:51:25] Louise: I'm not going to do that. That is what's missing from the industry. It's really, thinking for yourself a little bit and then being able to push back on the board and say, Hey, I don't think that's a good call. I don't think that's a good use. Let's give this some more time and then we'll figure it out.

[00:51:43] Louise: And then, for the homeowners, this is the cc and r. This is what it says. If you don't like it, you can either come to one of the meetings and see how many other homeowners don't like it, and you guys can start it. We could force the board to amend some cc and R. [00:52:00] Or you can come to a hearing with the board, and in a hearing you come to, in front of the board, you lay out what your issue is, they have to hear you.

[00:52:08] Louise: And then we follow up with the letter saying, you know what? We heard what the outcome will be and how we're going to move forward. So although you, once you're N-A-H-O-A, you pretty much cannot get out of one, unless your HOA misuses all their money or you move. And you don't want your HOA to misuse all the money because that has consequences with your mortgages and other things like that.

[00:52:31] Louise: But it's about learning how to play with it. You learn how to play on the school yard. You learn how to play at the park, learn how to play in your HOA most importantly, follow the rule. 

[00:52:41] KayCee: Okay. Yeah, follow the rule. Now, have you had to handle some, residents, it just like the Hatfields and McCoy kind of thing, where they just could not get along with each other.

[00:52:51] Just E: Mm. 

[00:52:52] KayCee: Instead of working it out, they pull you guys in, which you have nothing to do with but they're so used to, mommy, mommy, help me. [00:53:00] Or somebody else has started hearing about it. So how have you dealt with that? 

[00:53:05] Louise: First thing I do is listen. I listen to them, I want them to know that I'm with you.

[00:53:10] Louise: I hear you. I feel you. I'm a neighbor too, so I understand what you're going through. And then I tell 'em just that, this is not an HOA issue, but then I offer them things. If it's a dog that your neighbors have and their backyard that is constantly biting or digging under your fence, you should videotape it.

[00:53:30] Louise: You should knock on your neighbor's door, tell them about that document what's going on, and then send that to animal control. And then if you need some help, yes, as an HOA, we can send a letter to the homeowner saying, Hey, we have received a couple of reports from your neighbor. Just wanna let you know that this is going on.

[00:53:48] Louise: It's not a violation. It's not even really a courtesy letter, it's just a, Hey, this is happening. You might wanna talk to your neighbor. Not too long ago, we had an issue where a shared fence [00:54:00] had fallen. The neighbors were talking, the neighbor over here just kept saying, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll get it.

[00:54:06] Louise: This neighbor was like, okay, just let me know. I'll get the person I can get a couple of estimates. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll get it Until the HOA. ~I ~had to send a letter saying, Hey, this fence has been broken for two months now you need to work with ~the, ~your neighbor within the next seven days or the HOA will fix it and charge you.

[00:54:26] Louise: And that's something most people don't want because I'm not looking for the cheapest vendor. I'm gonna find the first one that's going to fix it. You can look for the cheapest vendor, but if you making me do that, I just might send somebody over there gonna charge you double. So you need to do it.

[00:54:40] Louise: After they got that letter, they got together, they fixed it, no problem. So even in situations where we have no authority, we can still help. And that's really about that engagement, that relationship building. You have to be able to collaborate, with, ~uh, ~folks in order to get them to move.

[00:54:58] Louise: Nobody wants somebody [00:55:00] just, coming in saying do this, do that. And that's not how I roll.

[00:55:03] Just E: I love that. I have two more questions the first question is, you have a team, right? And you've been in this business for about 10 years, and within that 10 years you've developed this team that helps you. Some people are your friends, some are, family members, but they all have a profession or they know how to do what.

[00:55:28] Just E: You've instructed them to do, correct? Yes. So my question for you is legacy wise, if you were to retire from this, is there someone you have that could be second in command that could take this over or would you sell it to someone else?

[00:55:43] Louise: So my, Cassandra, who does my accounting and some of the homeowner things. She's next up boss. I already told her, you gotta give my son a couple of thousand dollars a month and you could have all the rest. But no, she, that's what she does. I'm grooming her to take it over. And not [00:56:00] only when I get ready to quit, when I wanna go on vacations.

[00:56:03] Louise: Granted she's my niece. Sometimes we do family vacations and she's with me. But when she's not, when she's here. She's the one and she really handles all of that well. So yes, she is helping, she is learning it. She has actually helped me to put policies in place so she's more well versed in them than I am, she's the one it will all, be handed down to and she can just take off and run.

[00:56:27] Louise: I'm also trying, and she and the other person I have are very close. When I send emails about accounts, I send them to them both because I wanna make sure that they're both educated, that they both know what's going on. They do have very different functions, but, I make sure that they're connected ~on ~so they can see, 'cause we don't know what life holds.

[00:56:46] Louise: I could, , walk outta here and. Hap it could happen a day. And I want my business to be able to sustain. I'm still teaching folks like, my husband and my son. ~So ~when I do walkthroughs, [00:57:00] I go to the communities, take a walk and I'm physically looking for any violations.

[00:57:04] Louise: I've taught my husband and my son how to do that. They can do it for me when I can't. Now granted, he retired and he ain't gonna do it too often, if need to be done, he will. And then for my son, that's how he's going. That's his contribution. When you know something happens, that's what he's going to do, that's the part he'll take over.

[00:57:24] Louise: So I'm definitely training them up. Train up a child in the way they should go. No, I'm doing that now. 

[00:57:31] Just E: Absolutely. ~I, ~I love that because we've been talking about, like KayCee said, we had a series where we were talking about entrepreneurship, ~you know, ~running ~a, ~a business that you've created on your own social influencer, content creator, and how you create a legacy 

[00:57:47] Just E: ~Yes.~

[00:57:47] Just E: That can outlive you, right? Mm-hmm. Now, this one is more for the d and d family, because I know, based on what you've stated here, in my mind, I'm like, you said you're [00:58:00] teaching your husband, you're teaching your son, right? How to do this. Have you thought about or do you coach others how to become, how to create like their own, become an HOA, manager, or run a management company mentor, or have classes where you can teach other people how to do this in their perspective, county, state, or, things of that nature.

[00:58:22] Just E: Are you offering a class? 

[00:58:24] Louise: I am not, but I would love to be able to share this knowledge, to share this wealth, because this is not rocket science. It's about the people connection and putting systems in place. So I have not, but, anybody that wants to learn if they hear us on this or if you know some people that wanna learn come to me. We can talk about it. I can walk you through what I did and just talk to you about some of the ups and downs of the industry, some of the training that you will need, Absolutely, I'm here for it for sure. 

[00:58:58] Just E: Y'all hear it? D and 

[00:58:59] Louise: [00:59:00] DI 

[00:59:01] Just E: got 

[00:59:02] Louise: you. 

[00:59:02] Just E: We got you. So we are gonna put her information, especially her website, into the, ~uh, ~description here and then, if you wanna reach out Definitely, because I'm listening to you.

[00:59:13] Just E: I was like. Does she have a class? Does she, offer training to, ~you know, kind of ~teach people? 'cause there's so many other cities, county, states. 

[00:59:21] Louise: Absolutely. 

[00:59:22] Just E: You know, 

[00:59:23] Louise: And I am even willing to work with folks. So if you don't wanna start your own business, but we wanna expand somewhere, come on, let me teach you.

[00:59:30] Louise: I'll go get that contract and we can work it like that. So there's a lot of ways that we can, work together that everybody can get on the bus. 'cause that's, I'm 

[00:59:40] Just E: not 

[00:59:40] Louise: about holding it to myself. 

[00:59:42] Just E: She's not a gatekeeper. Y'all hearing it first? 

[00:59:44] KayCee: That goes to what ~again, ~we talked about last time, other people ~that are, ~that are entrepreneurs.

[00:59:49] KayCee: It's not a matter of, oh, I'm gonna keep all this information for me. Mm-hmm. You, you disseminate it. Because again, if I had a HOA company, and so like [01:00:00] Louise, ~it's like ~we're bringing different things to the table. My beauty influencer example, how much blush, eyeshadow, and lipstick can you possibly talk about?

[01:00:08] KayCee: All three of us appear on the panel can talk about, but we're gonna bring something different. All three of us are gonna bring something different to those three items. Items, absolutely. Okay. So again, if you're with somebody that it's almost like you're pulling information from 'em, then that's not somebody who you need to be around.

[01:00:26] KayCee: No. Now, there's some people I won't give any information to because I ain't fucking with you. Period. So it's either that's real, but at the same time, if we're all on the same level in terms of this is what we're trying to do, we're trying to get further along, and I'm not trying to run up your back to get there.

[01:00:46] KayCee: Right. Well, I'm just trying to learn. Mm-hmm. 

[01:00:47] Louise: That's 

[01:00:48] KayCee: a totally, and again, we all got common sense up here, when somebody's bullshitting you, period. So let you know, 

[01:00:55] Louise: common sense, 

[01:00:55] KayCee: ain't 

[01:00:56] Louise: afraid to fight. Hey, as I tell 

[01:00:57] KayCee: people I don't like [01:01:00] confrontation, however, I will not back down from it.

[01:01:03] KayCee: I prefer to be able to talk, get it over with, be done. But again, I ain't a punk. Just as they would say. Absolutely. 

[01:01:10] Just E: No, I love that. I love that because it's not gatekeeping, I'm quite sure somebody who's listening, who will be listening to this, it's probably thinking the way I'm thinking.

[01:01:19] Just E: Like, Hey, I could probably do that too. I could. 

[01:01:23] Louise: That's all ~I ~I, that was the first thing outta my mouth. I could do that, 

[01:01:27] Just E: you know? Right, right. But you dunno where to start, where to get the information. 

[01:01:32] Louise: Exactly. Just start it out. Figure it out. Google is your friend and it will not only give you that information, it will give you the organizations that you need to contact to get more information.

[01:01:44] Louise: So don't be afraid, let's just step out. We gotta do something. Because that nine to five ain't always the one that's going, take you over. And I do want to get over, I just don't wanna get in, get along. 

[01:01:54] KayCee: Exactly. I just have one last question.

[01:01:57] KayCee: Do you plan on expanding even more? [01:02:00] I mean, you have a company, but expanding that company to where you're having staff and all this kind of stuff. Because ~I mean, ~last time we spoke you only had three HOAs, now you got four. And it was like, oh no, ~I'm, ~I can't take anymore.

[01:02:15] KayCee: I'm tired. I can't do that. Now you got four 

[01:02:19] Louise: So, yeah, absolutely. And I wanna expand in different ways. Being in this industry, I see the industries that touch me, right? We pay very good money to security companies to get very subpar services. I'm thinking about starting a security company.

[01:02:37] Louise: Wow. Towing, all you need is a tow truck and a plot of land that ain't too far from the place that you're towing from. Because in a HOA, just in my HOA we have people that park in the Red Zones, that's a automatic tow, but we can't get the tow truck to come through all the time when they're parked on the street at night without your parking pass.

[01:02:56] Louise: Bam. That's an automatic tow. I can make good [01:03:00] money per day towing for HOAs. So those are the type of expansions I'm thinking about as well as picking up more communities and, finding more work. I be shooting ideas to people like, Hey, you should do this, you should do that. But people just, they ain't ready yet.

[01:03:17] Louise: And everybody gotta get to that. They're ready. 

[01:03:20] Just E: That part, they're not ready. I'm trying. That's so true. Because my cousin owned a towing truck company out here in the perspective area. And yeah, it's a lot of business. Good money. It's a lot of money. 'cause a lot of 'em can't get to, there's room for a lot of people to be in that realm.

[01:03:40] Just E: Absolutely. There's so many different places. And like you said, security. ~Mm-hmm. Uh, ~concierge,

[01:03:45] Louise: yep. 

[01:03:46] Louise: For the units 

[01:03:47] Louise: uhhuh, 

[01:03:48] Just E: they do it a lot in, the high rises in Oakland and San Francisco. They're building these newer, more modern types of places to stay. They have the concierge, they have the security.

[01:03:57] Just E: Yeah, that's good. There's so many different avenues [01:04:00] that you can take within it. 

[01:04:01] Louise: If your listeners are contractors, I am often contracting out work for all of the HOAs, whether it's fence repair, painting, plumbing, all of that. Call me.

[01:04:14] Louise: I would love to have you on my list. I wanna give everybody some business. If you offer a service, holler at me and if I can use it, I will definitely, put you in play. I ain't gate keeping, not the business or the money. I'm trying to share it all for sure.

[01:04:30] KayCee: The law of reciprocity. ~Plain yet simple.~ 

[01:04:31] Just E: Yes. Plain and 

[01:04:32] KayCee: simple. 

[01:04:33] Just E: Her information is going to be in the description of this, and if you're in the California Bay Area, San Francisco Bay area, definitely look her up. It will be in the description 

[01:04:44] KayCee: for sure. 

[01:04:44] Just E: Absolutely. Are we gonna play a hella awkward?

[01:04:47] Just E: Did you have a hella awkward 

[01:04:48] KayCee: we kind of answered it already. 

[01:04:49] Just E: I like a hella 

[01:04:50] Louise: awkward question. 

[01:04:51] Just E: Give us the hella awkward question. 

[01:04:54] KayCee: Okay. Well this would, I've done this one before but [01:05:00] again, this is with Louise, so it's different.

[01:05:02] KayCee: Yeah. Okay. This is an actor question. 

[01:05:07] Just E: Mm-hmm. 

[01:05:08] KayCee: Which actor should play you in a movie about your life? 

[01:05:14] Louise: Now y'all gonna laugh at me. I got two. The first one is Madea. I wanna be Madea sister. So bad. Tyler Perry can dress up and play me any day. 

[01:05:30] KayCee: Oh gosh. Okay. I wouldn't, my real

[01:05:35] Louise: it's gotta be Queen Latifah. 

[01:05:38] KayCee: See, I said 

[01:05:39] Just E: Queen Latifah 

[01:05:40] KayCee: for mine. See, I didn't say Queen Latifah for mine. I said, and I still hold true. I would love Regina King to play me. 

[01:05:50] Louise: Okay. 

[01:05:51] KayCee: The personality wise, obviously we've got a height difference and she's got a wine out now. No, I didn't know that. Me and [01:06:00] you.

[01:06:00] KayCee: Oh, that's her. Me and you. Okay. Yes. I like her a lot and it came across my ig. It's the name of her son, IAN. 

[01:06:10] Just E: Mm-hmm. 

[01:06:11] KayCee: So it's like a homage to her son. 

[01:06:15] Just E: I like that, 

[01:06:16] KayCee: Okay. 

[01:06:16] Just E: But yeah, 

[01:06:17] KayCee: I like her. 

[01:06:19] Just E: So, Regina King? You said Queen Latifah and Tyler Perry.

[01:06:22] Just E: Madea. 

[01:06:23] Louise: Madea. 

[01:06:24] Just E: And then I said Queen Latifah. And the last time I said this, ~and ~I'm still holding true Regina Hall 'cause we smile alike. 

[01:06:31] Louise: Yeah, I could see that. We smile alike. 

[01:06:33] Just E: Height differences. That's why I said Queen Latifah. I think Queen Latifah is, a tall glass of water, or at least close to my height.

[01:06:42] Just E: She got my factor. 

[01:06:43] Just E: Yeah, 

[01:06:44] Louise: she got my swagger, ~so~ 

[01:06:45] KayCee: I'm good. Oh yeah, see, then, okay, there's a second person. Now, Regina King is definitely the attitude, the personality. I definitely could see us, she's oh, she's a stalker. She's a weirdo. So maybe not, but the other lady, [01:07:00] and you looked her up before E she was on, ~um, ~nc IS, was it?

[01:07:05] KayCee: Yes, I know who you're talking about. 

[01:07:08] Just E: New Orleans. NCIS. 

[01:07:10] KayCee: Yes. 

[01:07:10] Louise: Country 

[01:07:11] KayCee: mouse. 

[01:07:12] Louise: The city mouse. 

[01:07:13] KayCee: City mouse. 

[01:07:14] Louise: Yeah, city Mouse. 

[01:07:15] KayCee: So, yeah. She's by your height. Yeah, we're out the same height actually. ~Um, ~so see her name was, 

[01:07:21] Just E: ~uh, ~Charletta Grant. Mm-hmm. 

[01:07:23] KayCee: So Grant, ~yeah, so ~I think that ~that, and, ~and really she could probably just personality ~as ~as well.

[01:07:28] KayCee: 'cause she's got that feistiness kind of thing too. Yeah. Kind of quiet. 

[01:07:33] Just E: She is. Yeah. ~Yeah, ~her and her, she's married. She got married out here, and her and her, ~um, ~her wife, they live out here, if I'm not mistaken. 

[01:07:41] KayCee: ~Yeah. ~They live out here. Cool. ~I, I, ~I didn't know, but yeah, I definitely would say, ~yeah,~ 

[01:07:48] Louise: take her. 

[01:07:48] KayCee: ~I can see that.~

[01:07:48] KayCee: I definitely see that. 

[01:07:50] Louise: Mm-hmm. 

[01:07:51] KayCee: You know, I'm a lot calmer than when I worked nine to five. I was always ready, locked and loaded. And the reason why I say that with the personality when you talk [01:08:00] about nine to five, you always had to come in ready to defend yourself.

[01:08:03] KayCee: Some people will say, oh no, that's not the case. Oh, yes, it was the case. 

[01:08:08] Louise: Or you come in like me and anoint them deaths. Lord, I ain't gonna let them on me today. Oil on them. 

[01:08:15] KayCee: ~No, ~no, I was coming in there. Lord, I wish a motherfucker would. No

[01:08:21] Just E: thank. I wish. 

[01:08:25] KayCee: They're like, it's only Tuesday. 

[01:08:26] Louise: Hey KayCee tell him what you used to do. When this fool would leave work, she would take her phone receiver, unplug it from the phone and put it in her drawer. 'cause she didn't want nobody touching her phone. 

[01:08:39] Just E: She did not.

[01:08:41] Just E: I believe that. No, wait, 

[01:08:42] KayCee: there's a reason why though. My phone was right across from the fax machine. The minute somebody would send a fax, they felt it necessary to call and, make sure they got it so yeah, they would just sit there and be on my phone.

[01:08:59] Just E: Kills [01:09:00] me. I wouldn't want you on my stuff. I don't know where your mouth been, sir. Man. 

[01:09:03] KayCee: And, then I remember one time there was, one physician that passed by my, desk. 'cause again, like the people I've sort so talked to before knew that I was ~in, ~in healthcare.

[01:09:14] KayCee: One physician ~had ~walked past my desk and then walked back ~into my desk ~not knowing it was ~my, ~my cubicle. Now mind you, I got my name played up here and she's looking at some of the stuff on my desk and I'm right behind her. ~And ~I said, well, can I help you? Oh, I didn't know this was your desk.

[01:09:33] KayCee: Yeah. ~Okay. Yeah. So ~you doing that? I'm taking my phone and ~I'm, I'm taking ~the receiver. ~I did. Sure did. ~Every day you unplugged the receiver and put it in 

[01:09:42] Just E: your desk. ~Locked~ 

[01:09:42] KayCee: it 

[01:09:42] Just E: ~up. ~Yeah, I can definitely see that of you. Yes, we got 

[01:09:50] Yolanda: good times.

[01:09:51] Just E: ~Yeah, I that Well, this was a good one. I, ~this was a good one. I love it. KayCee do you have anything else you wanna add? 

[01:09:57] KayCee: I do, but I don't. Okay. I really [01:10:00] enjoy the, like I told you before, Louise, we just conversate. We just have this big conversation and it's really laid back.

[01:10:07] KayCee: And again, I know you have like 40,000 jobs and I'm very happy that you took time out of your busy schedule to just come and hang out and vibe with us. So again, thank you 

[01:10:21] Louise: Thank you for having me. I truly enjoyed myself. I do gotta meeting at three 30, but I appreciate y'all, I enjoyed it and I would love to come back if we wanna do some type of follow up.

[01:10:33] Louise: Yes. And talk about those other businesses that we need to start and I need some people out there to jump in on these ideas. So yeah, please absolutely me back whenever you like. 

[01:10:42] Just E: Absolutely. Everybody, thank you guys so much. ~Tap in excuse. I'm gonna take that out. ~D and d family, thank you so much for joining us.

[01:10:50] Just E: Hopefully you enjoyed this conversation. You've enjoyed, ~uh, ~Louise and what she had to bring to the table, what she had to offer with regards to HOAs, homeowner [01:11:00] associations, the mental health of it all, the community of it, all, the engagement ~of the, ~of it ~all, ~and also the other opportunities that can stem from that legacy, ~uh, ~building, scaling.

[01:11:11] Just E: She brought it all today, so her information, like I stated, is going to be in the description. Please take advantage of it, especially if you want to hear more. If you want to connect with her, ~um, ~that information will be there. I just wanted to give a special thank you. To Louise because truly you brought some ideas that I wasn't even thinking about with regards to this.

[01:11:34] Just E: So thank you so much for, coming and blessing us on the panel today. I wanted to give a shout out to all the subscribers and all the d and d family that's been rocking with us and going through all these wellness series, a special, ~uh, ~thank you to our ~international 'cause we have a lot more ~international folks. I was amazed when I looked at. ~Uh, ~who's been rocking with us. ~So ~shout out ~obviously ~to the United States, you holding it down for us.[01:12:00] 

[01:12:00] Just E: But we got Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Germany, India, United, ~a ~Arab Emirates, Argentina, Brazil, and Nigeria. Thank you guys so much for logging on to ~our, our, ~our podcast, ~our audio ~and downloading. We ~truly, ~truly appreciate you guys ~so, so much ~for rocking with us. ~Uh, ~we are gonna head up outta here, hit us up on all our social media. Subscribe to us. Why are you not subscribed? We're bringing quality content to you people as you can see. 

[01:12:33] Just E: Okay.

[01:12:33] Just E: So until the next one you guys, what do we always like to say? Bye bye.