Why Smart Owners Outsource Peace Of Mind For Their Seasonal Homes with Nick Gomez

0:02Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast where we are all about helping business owners just like you achieve success. So we don't do fancy smancy. We don't do flashing lights. We don't do a lot of things that a lot of podcasts will do. These are just real stories about real people and their entrepreneurial and business experiences. We go into their wins, their challenges, and their learnings. So we hope you enjoy it. All right. So welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs. I am Cliff McRae filling in for Bill Gilliland with your local business training and coaching firm, Action Coach Business Growth Partners.

0:44I'm excited to have Nick Gomez with Mountain Vantage Properties as the focus for our Epic Entrepreneurs podcast episode today. So, Nick, please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself and your company and what primary products or services you offer the community. Yeah. So like Cliff said, my name is Nick Gomez. I am a resident of South Asheville, but we call it Arden. We'll just call it the Asheville area. I am about 31 years old, been here about four years. It's been a good four years. Our company, Mountain Managed Properties, is a home watch and property caretaking company.

1:18So what we specialize in is taking care of vacant second homes for people that are seasonal residents of the Asheville, Hendersonville, Weaverville, and Black Mountain area. So there's a lot of those types of houses out here. You know, Asheville is still a vacation destination. And a lot of people, when they vacation here, decide that they would rather spend a little more time here than they originally thought. So a lot of them end up buying second homes that they don't use as a source of income, which is a pretty nice thing to have if you're able to. So as you guys might know, maintaining a home can be quite cumbersome.

1:54And we just basically take that over for them while they're gone, but they don't have to worry about it. So we specialize in checking the house. We do any do or coordinate any maintenance on the house and really just provide that peace of mind for those people while they're living in, you know, Florida or Texas or New York, wherever they may be. Okay, great, great. Yeah, that's awesome. It sounds like a really good service. All right. So if you had to start, I mean, you know, it really does. I mean, you know, obviously if you're, you know, if it's a second home and you're not there, you know, you want somebody to go check on it, make sure it's standing, make sure Hurricane Helene didn't come through again, you know, all those things.

2:28You know, so, yeah, definitely, definitely seems like a good business to have, especially for, you know, like you said, the vacation area that this is. So if you had to start from square one in the business, what would you do differently? Oh, man, that's a good question. I think what I would do different, I mean, you know, it's kind of a funny question because some of it is like, you know, you have to go through the rough patches and the learning, the learning that comes with starting a business. from scratch, I would probably invest more into learning about marketing out the gate versus being as concerned with the operations of the business.

3:12And so my background is in operations management. I come from an engineering background. I've spent a lot of time working in factories, learning how to run factories from a technical and organizational standpoint. So my strengths really lie in operations management, but I don't have any sort of background in marketing. I'm a people person, but that only gets you so far. So kind of learning the best ways to market. I'm still kind of figuring that out for such a niche clientele. But the best ways to market and the ways to be savvy about capturing people's information so you know who to talk to that might be able to help you.

3:53Right. And knowing what, you know, vendors or other business owners adjacent to my industry might have been able to help me out from the start as opposed to kind of just trying to meet everybody. And then, you know, I don't want to say it was wasted time, but, you know, it wasn't the most efficient use of my time because I might have been talking to business owners that were a just as new as I am and don't have an in with that clientele, you know, or maybe don't have anything to do with that clientele. So I think I would, you know, if I could wave a magic wand, I would instill that knowledge into me immediately.

4:29But it's part of the learning process of starting a business. You know, some people, it's quite the opposite. They have a huge marketing background and they have no idea how to run their business. And that can be quite a growing pain for them, too. I would probably say that I liked having my pitfalls be the way they were because I'd rather know how to run the business first. But, you know, I could have it all. Marketing would be definitely the first step that I would go back and fix. Yeah. OK. Yeah. Good deal. Good. Yeah. Fun fact about me. I actually operations back around myself as well. So I know what you mean.

5:02You know, you know how to do certain things in the business, but then, you know, actually getting yourself out there. And like you said, marketing yourself in front of leads and capturing leads is kind of a hard part. So exactly. The vision of how I want things to run is very clear, but going out and getting the leads is where things get a little murky. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, understood. All right. So what have your biggest learnings been as an owner or an employer since you started your business? ah man so i think the biggest thing i've learned is that well you got to be patient you know i'm still working on that my you know i uh not with like people or employees that work for me but with myself and the expectations i set from business um one of the bigger learnings is like hey nothing is that big of a deal when it comes to the running of the business now obviously if we have a home that's got a water leak or has some sort of emergency, that's a big deal.

6:00And you got to move that up to the top of your priority list. But when it comes to the inner workings of the business, nothing is that big of a deal to the point where I need to lose sleep or worry about things maybe that I did at the beginning. But again, it's all part of that, like building the momentum and the understanding as a business owner, you know, to where now it's like, all right, I have this issue. It's fine. I don't need to freak out about it. It'll get resolved and then we'll be okay. Whether it's like a bookkeeping question or something about the software that I use. A big issue for me in the beginning was figuring out my pricing.

6:39I realized pretty early on that the pricing structure for these types of companies in Nashville versus out in cashers where I learned this industry, I can charge a lot more money out here. And I came out the gate as one of the cheaper providers in the area. And actually learning that that is pretty poor, going back to marketing, when you're the cheapest, that usually signals a bad sign to people, especially a clientele that's dealing with a luxury service. So I learned how to price myself accurately. And I also learned that not every client is worth the headache. There are some people that I've had to turn away because they were screaming and pounding their fist that they wanted a certain thing in the contract eliminated.

7:30Because I do a service contract with all of our clients. Just having to trust my people. I had an attorney draft up the service agreement. It wasn't just something I downloaded off the internet. you know, trusting the people that I've paid and put my faith into to help do the right things for me. So, you know, just, you know, it's just all, there's so much learning that goes on, to be honest with you, but there's, you know, pricing, not every customer is a customer you want. It's okay to tell a customer, no, if you realize it's not going to be worth it and be a bigger issue down the line. And just learning to kind of take a deep breath when things happen, let things play out and just, you know, fix it when you can.

8:09And, you know, not everything needs to be go, go, go right away to the point where you might get burned out a little bit. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. So what are some common misconceptions about running a business and how do you address them? I think the common misconception about running a business is that, hey, you incorporate, you file an LLC and then the money starts flowing in and it's just raining on you. I wish it was the case. I think that only happens for a few people, especially in a software, maybe like a techie kind of industry, but that's not to say that those people don't have tons of leverage and risk that they have to deal with themselves.

8:46But I think sometimes business owners can be seen as dreamers and a little more scrappy than someone who just works a regular nine to five or someone who can't fit the mold of a nine to five. And it's really not that way at all. It's just more people that are just kind of wanting to do their own thing or are motivated to do things a certain way. And they just want to live their life the way they see fit. And it's not as big of a risk to start a business as some people might tell you, depending on the field you pick. I think it just kind of depends on the person. But yeah, yeah, that'd be... That's how I feel about that.

9:36Yeah, yeah, okay. So what have you attributed to your growth so far? I think it's just been me just relentlessly networking. And I think at first I was sitting with everybody and anybody that would listen to my spiel about the company and who I am and about me. And like I alluded to in the first question, I mean, not all of those people were going to or were going to be able to help me. Some of them were just in the same mode I was. Their niche wasn't, their clientele wasn't the same as mine. So I've had to learn, part of another learning I've had is I've had to learn where to spend my time when it comes to networking.

10:20You know, it's kind of strange to say I am not the kind of client that my business would serve. Right. I don't have a luxury, you know, million plus dollar house that I just come to once or twice a year. Right. So what I needed to do was kind of get in the mindset of who is around those people. Right. And how do I get in those circles of those business owners or groups that those people might hang out? And I'm still learning my way, but it's a lot more pointed and a lot more intentional than it was in the past. So, yeah. Okay. So this is always a good question. How do you balance your personal life with the demands of running a business?

11:05Yeah, well, I think the first. So it's actually funny. Before I got on my entrepreneurial journey, I read a book called The Millionaire Next Door. and uh great book if you or anybody else listening never gets the chance and it's kind of funny that the the premise of that book was like you know basically if you just save and you know invest and are wise you know you can become a millionaire by the time you're ready to retire and you can live a nice life blah blah blah but one of the things in that book that the author kept hammering was the biggest financial decision you will ever come across is who you marry if you choose to get there so you know it's hugely important that you marry someone that is not like crazy with money and i think the bigger thing too is you marry someone that is supportive of you and your dreams and your goals and doesn't try to hold back so i say the easiest way to balance life with running a business is having someone that understands the why and why you're doing it and supports you in doing that and that doesn't mean there's healthy boundaries that you set or that you know like my wife might have to tell me like, okay, enough, like work and come hang out.

12:17And that's totally fine. And I, you know, I have to be willing to receive that feedback. Right. Which I usually am because I love hanging out with my wife and my dog. Right. But it's just, that would be the hardest part. But someone else asked me the other day, because I have another company that I run in town and I still have a W2 job that I, you know, do. You can edit that part out of the podcast because I don't want them to know. But I did this back in my days as an operations manager. It's just, and I like this term, it's just a ruthless prioritization and execution of the calendar. So, you know, if you looked at my calendar, it's crazy.

12:54But I block off time where I know I'm going to work on something. And if I don't hit it, I have to move it. And if I don't hit it, it's probably because something else came up and I had to move stuff around. But I don't just let myself miss, like in a week, I don't let myself miss my targets. I still have to write a blog on Monday. I still have to do at least two to three social media posts. I still have to go ahead and run payroll for my employees on Wednesdays. And I have those priorities and those metrics that I have to hit. Not metrics, but those goals that I need to hit. I intend to do it on my calendar.

13:27If I need to, I'll write it down. But honestly, it's about being flexible and being easy on yourself too. because at first it's going to be tough. You're going to have to try things, fail at it, then go back and retry. I mean, you can't be hard on yourself and beat yourself up if you're struggling at first. There's not going to be many business owners or entrepreneurs that come out the gate like batting a thousand. Like, oh yeah, I got... My business is making money and I don't have to do much to it. It markets itself and my home life is not seeing any sort of a backseat, right? I mean, there are times when I do have to go out on a Saturday or like if my wife gets home late, I have to run out to someone's house and do something.

14:09But again, it's just part of, you know, that understanding of each other. But, you know, like I said, also good planning. My wife knows that I'm good at planning. She knows I'm, you know, I'm very, very tight with my calendar and I plan my days out ahead of time. Usually on like Friday, I'll start planning the week ahead. so she comes home and i'm stressed about something or i'm not home and i'm out at someone's house like it's not just because i'll sit around all day and decided to just you know start to work at 2 p.m right like she knows i've been going all day long so i mean it really it really just depends open your kitchen for sure with your house so she's a family um but yeah i would say just stick to your guns try things out if it doesn't work some people can't do the calendar thing some people like to do like the eat the frog started this suit do the hardest thing in the beginning of the day um you know some people like that i like a steady like do the same do this thing at this time this day and i that goes back to my days as a operations manager too i did the same exact thing back then it's what worked for me it's what helped me and my team you know through covid uh so you know find what works for you try things out and then go from there and then that's how you balance things you know it's all you know that what they like to say it's not a work-life balance it's a work-life integration some people like to say um that's kind of how i view it yeah okay i'm getting now digging into that a little bit further how do you handle vacations yeah so sadly we can't really take two week vacations anymore it'd have to be about a week uh but that's okay because my wife and i are we are planning on having our first kid in March.

15:48So we're trying to save all the PTO we can add. So it really does. Congratulations. Congratulations to me. That's awesome. Thank you. And she doesn't get as much PTO as I do with her job. So taking two week vacations and stuff is not really in the realm of possibilities right now, but it will be eventually. But luckily I have a team of people that I can rely on for both businesses. One of them floats between both businesses and, you know, I trust him with a lot. And that goes to kind of like the hiring and figuring out how to choose the right people and making sure there's people that you trust.

16:21And I always like to make sure, like if I'm leaving town, you know, I make sure the houses are good to go before I leave and, you know, maybe check the weather, make sure there's no freeze or any crazy storm coming. That being said, we were in Germany when Hurricane Helene hit. So that was wild, you know, you know people are worried about their houses and we're not even in the country um some things you just can't plan for but vacations you just kind of you know we make it work we my wife and i love to travel so we still you know we still get around you know different places we were in columbia earlier this year um right now we're saving pto but still right we find ways to make it work awesome awesome yeah so what what qualities do you look for in employees and how do you foster a positive and productive work environment?

17:12Yeah. So for employees, I mean, the first thing I'm going to look for is integrity and honesty. I don't really care about, you know, I don't really care about, you know, their work history. I mean, as long as their work history doesn't show that they're like bouncing around and they can't hold a job. Um, I'm a firm believer that people can be taught. I look more for the work ethic versus the work cast. Uh, um and yeah my number one's always like honesty and integrity so if i you know sit down and talk to somebody and uh you know this has happened to me where i think the interview went well and then i do a background check and it lights up with some pretty gnarly stuff you know that i mean obviously i'm not going to hire them for the legal ramifications or the potential legal ramifications but also it hurts when uh you know people are trying to pull wool over your eyes but yeah if I can tell that someone's honest and that they have good core values and they care about doing the right thing and being a good person, then we're probably going to get along really nicely.

18:14And it's easy to work with them at that point because we're on the same, you know, level, you know, eye to eye. Also I'm, I'm pretty firm with explaining to my employees the way our roles will work. You know, they will be working in the business and I will be working on the business. So it's not one of those things where, you know, they're out doing work and I'm just kicking back and cashing checks and kissing babies. You know, I'm out there and I'm trying to network and spread our name around town. You know, I'm trying to facilitate relationships with, you know, different realtor firms or just different real estate agents or different vendors that might be able to do landscaping or plumbing.

18:55Right. I'm out trying to forge those relationships so that my team only has to worry about these are the houses I need to check. This is how I check them. And okay, if there's something wrong, this is who I call. And that's the system that I want. I don't want people that are checking our houses to be frantic. If something's wrong, this has happened to me too when I'm out in the field. If something's wrong, you got to know how to handle that problem immediately. If you're calling me freaking out or you don't know what to do, then that's a failure on my end. So I look for someone who's easy to communicate.

19:29well. I'm a big texter, so if I'm texting them stuff and they're not texting me back, that's a huge red flag. I need to be able to communicate with people. And some things cannot wait for a phone call at the end of the day. I'm just looking for someone that's a good person, honestly. I'm not someone that's easy to get along with. Someone you can trust going into empty homes that are$5 million. You know what I'm saying? That's a huge thing. Homeowners will meet me and trust me because I'm the face of the company. But they have to trust that I have thoroughly vetted and, you know, scoped out some people that act with integrity.

20:07And they can be in a$5 million house and not steal something. Right? So that's the first thing I'm looking for is just how they, when we sit down and talk about how they interact with me, are they warm? Are they open-minded? Are they there for a conversation? Or is it more transactional? Are they a little closed off their garbage? it um i'm just looking for someone to be like a normal person that acts with high integrity and high honesty yeah that's a little tough to find sometimes these days but sometimes it is sometimes it is man sometimes i mean it really is and you and that's something that business ownership taught me too is you know i think in the corporate world now the corporate world has its setbacks with people who are only out for themselves and i get that but you you you see a lot more polished candidates for stuff in the corporate world than you might in like the service industry um you know And polish doesn't mean that they have a tight haircut and they're well-dressed and everything's pretty and proud.

21:01I don't care about that. I could not care less how they dress, how they look now, if they're dressing inappropriately, whatever. But I need to know that they can be a normal person. They're going to do the right thing when no one's looking. And if they mess up or even if I mess up, they need to be able to tell me that and say, hey, it would be a lot better for me if you did this, if you communicated this way. you know they need to be able to manage up as we would say in like corporate america and tell me where i can be a better manager for them because if they're scared to tell me stuff just gonna breed that resentment and breed that like looking for the next gig whereas they can be honest with me and tell me what they need and give me the opportunity to improve on whatever it is that whatever that shortcoming is then that's the type of relationship i need with my employees you know okay okay yeah so next next round is going to be the quickfire round so i'm just going to basically throw out some some words to you and you just really just tell me the first thing that you think of when you hear these words it's in regards to your business yeah education uh youtube tragedy pt okay i like that i haven't gotten that one yet we can expand on anything too if you want so just let me know no i mean i mean it's pretty self-explanatory but yeah i mean if you need something you can go to youtube to find it you can go on chat gpt and ask them for help or even learning even learning on the marketing front like you can tell that marketing is a big thing for me right now learning how to write seo blogs and you know i might not write the blog but i tell chat gpt all the technical things that need to happen so i mean you know watching things on youtube like how do i do this or you know blah blah, blah, blah.

22:43Sometimes, you know, you got to learn on the fly. No, you're, you're, you're exactly right. And I don't understand some people, you know, some people, they ask me, Oh, how do you do this? Oh, how do you do that? I'm like, man, we are in the technology age. I mean, these are things that are all over the internet. You can Google it. You can YouTube it. You can do this. You could go on Tik TOK. I mean, you could do anything these days. And people are asking like basic questions. It's kind of interesting when you have a computer in your hand and called a phone, a smartphone, and you can look it up in two seconds rather than me.

23:09Yeah. Yeah. You know, and it's it's one of those things like back in the day, I think old school leadership was the leaders always have to know. And even if they didn't know, they would act like they did. But I'm very comfortable. Someone says, hey, Nick, how do we do this? Like, I don't know. I don't know. Let's look it up. There's a million different, you know, models of HVAC units or refrigerators or water heaters. So if you ask me a specific thing on, you know, one marine versus the other, I'm not going to know that. I'm not an appliance repairman. However, I know where to go find the answer.

23:45You know, like that's the type of stuff you got to be able to do. And, you know, you got to be willing to, you know, admit you don't know something and go figure it out. Yeah, I get it. All right, planning.

24:00And it's just one word. yeah yeah i don't know i mean you could no it's just it's really just the first thing that you think of when you hear that word doesn't have to be one word prioritization would be my word answer to that prioritization learn how to prioritize learn what's important when it's important not everything can be a firefight you know okay inspiration oh man my inspiration is that I want it all. You know, that would be the term. You know, it's not achievable, which, you know, I guess we're going to have a different conversation about that, but I would never want to feel like, oh, I can't achieve something, you know?

24:45So why not go for it? You know? Gotcha. So you're not scared of anything, basically. You're ready to go get it, or at least try. I mean, I'm scared of not achieving my dreams, right? I'm not scared of failure. I'm not scared of being wrong. I'm not scared of things going wrong. I mean, that's inevitable, right? But I am scared of being on my deathbed and being like, oh man, I should have, I wish I had, you know, I wish I had done this. I wish I had tried that. Like, you know, that's a scary, to me, that's more scary than, okay, I started a business and it didn't really work out. You know, I didn't lose anything, but I learned a lot, right?

25:22So So it's just, I guess, an appetite for risk, you know? Okay. Commitment.

25:33To me, yeah, I would say soul. Like, that's just what's in your soul, right? Like, commitment to my family, commitment to my wife, to my incoming son, commitment to myself, right? That I'm going to not be hard on myself, but keep pushing myself. So that's part of your soul, I guess. You know, I would say it's how you're wired. It's how I'm wired, at least. And I think commitment is huge for me. You can tell how much I touched on integrity and honesty. And that goes for myself, too. Right. So it's just how I am. I've always been. And that's how I'll continue to be. Right. The only thing I have to learn is when to be hard on myself and when not to be hard on myself.

26:11And sometimes being hard on yourself doesn't mean you're beating yourself up, but you are taking a good look in the mirror and looking at your shortcomings and how you can address them. all right so what words of advice would you offer to other business owners who are looking to grow

26:28man i'll say you know be patient have a plan right and you know execute your plan if you feel that it is the right one now i think there are things that go with that i think finding good mentors are is huge right and i don't mean like you have to go pay someone to be a mentor mentorships can be organic i have you know two business mentors right now one for sure one that i'm kind of working on being more of a fluid relationship um and like sometimes they'll you know they'll push me indirectly by saying hey why don't you try this for marketing or why don't you try that. And I've had my mentor who runs a$4 million pest company tell me, okay, next time we meet, I want to see these things.

27:18I want to see a plan for this. I want to see your outlook, blah, blah, blah. So read this book and then we'll talk about it. Finding mentors is huge, not only to keep you accountable, but just for inspiration. And again, I kind of touched on letting you know that everything's going to be okay. There have been some times I go to my mentor, the pest company guy and i'm like dude this happened this happened i am just in the pits and he's like oh yeah i remember when i used to feel like that like you're gonna be okay you know it's gonna be fine and uh you know it's it's nice to have someone who has been through it and understands what you're going through and it's kind of like looking at your future self it can be that in a way it's saying you know that guy is where i want to be let's let's get after it right let's get after it i think another thing that business owners need to do when they're starting out like myself is be careful on who you're taking advice from right whether it's friends or family or even other business owners i've had friends one of my best friends uh has like made fun of me for my entrepreneurship journey right i've got family that's questioned it other business owners say what you're just taking care of vacant houses like how can that what is that you know and it's like yeah and then you see all the projects i'm coordinating and vendors it's more of like a project management role and then you got to deal with employees right and um there's there's quite a few notable business people in the ashville area that are great people but when i told them you know my business ideas they kind of cuckoo it and it's like okay well good to know right i guess they'll never be my competition you know but uh i'm not necessarily gonna run to the hills and go back on my progress maybe because i have a slower company and by slower i mean a company that builds clientele slower but this is a recurring revenue business so man once it gets rolling downhill we're going to be forced to be wrecked with right so other home launch businesses are like that so it's not It's not like I'm just doing something that's never been heard of here.

29:34Yeah, so be careful about who you take advice from. I mean, take advice from whoever, but don't let it eat at you. You know what I'm saying? I'm not saying someone gives you advice and you write them off. Those business owners and friends and family that still question it, I don't write them off. They're still my friends and family and people that I see. But don't let it eat at you. Take good mentors. And I mean, really pick good mentors. You could be sitting down and having coffee with somebody once a week or whatever. And if it's not working out, it's not working out. You don't need to continue it.