Episode - 15 - Whitney Rekowski - W2 employee to Owner

Whitney Rekowski went from a W2 employee to owner, followed by her husband, and has not looked back. This is a great story of two people following their dream, not to say that they have not had bumps in the road, like many entrepreneurs. But like many Whitney joined the great resignation in 2021 and now runs a successful business offering others office space to create the perfect place to run their business.   

 

Leighann Lovely  00:19

If you are an HR professional business owner or at the operations level trying to understand what people want. You may be struggling, our systems have been shocked practices have been questioned and culture is the leading conversation. Let's learn how culture is created, sustained, and why it should be the leading conversation when discussing hiring, training and retention. This is the foundation of any business and it's time to address it. So tune in to Let's Talk HR Humanizing the Conversation. We tackle topics that influencers of change need to understand and struggle to overcome every day, such as where to start, and what the new workforce wants and how to attract and keep positive momentum going. I'm your host Leighann Lovely.

 

Leighann Lovely  01:07

Whitney Rekowski worked a corporate marketing job for 12 years while juggling a hobby real estate investment side hustle with her partner, she finally joined the great resignation in 2021. Whitney now has her real estate license but mainly focuses on managing and simplifying their real estate portfolio. She founded Office Leasing Simplified in 2021. To help other business owners cut through the confusion of terms and potential hidden fees other companies charge. Their goal is to simplify the leasing process. So business owners can focus on their business and grow their profitability. She now manages office space primarily in Brookfield and Greenfield, Wisconsin. The transition away from her W2 job allows more time with her family, and trying to squeeze in some self care. I'm so excited to speak with my guest today because it shows both sides of the coin, business ownership and a W2 position that many of us face while trying to have our own business.

 

Leighann Lovely  02:27

Whitney, hi, it is so awesome to have you on today. Thank you for joining me.

 

Whitney Rekowski  02:32

Thanks for having me.

 

Leighann Lovely  02:34

So why don't we jump right in? Why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself.

 

Whitney Rekowski  02:37

So I have been in the corporate W2 world for quite some time different roles. But on the side, my partner and I have invested in real estate, working on residential fixing them up. But my husband and I now lovingly refer to me as the exponent, which he jumped into his kind of interested in music, let's just maybe add one more property. And then we jumped in looking at commercial space and lots of podcasts and videos and just books. And so now we have transitioned from more the residential B2C side of things into the B2B side of things. And we've launched our brand called Office leasing simplified, which we really try to cater to working with other business owners and entrepreneurs making the perfect space for them. Because we realized that commercial they have a lot of acronyms and phrases that the common person just doesn't know. And we want to make it easy so they can focus on their business and be profitable.

 

Leighann Lovely  03:40

That's awesome. And so you mentioned that, you know, my next question was your husband and you decided to become business owners. And now you have Office leasing, simplified. But what I find really intriguing and not that. So obviously, during 2021 interest rates were, I mean, they were awesome for that, right? They're awesome to go and buy a property. But there's also something else that's going on during the economy. A lot of businesses were remote. So I got to ask, what, what's going on at this point in your head when you're thinking, Yeah, let's buy a commercial building and lease out space was that you know, what was going through your head at that time?

 

Whitney Rekowski  04:28

So we were actually under contract to purchase our first office building in which was to close March of 2020. And then the world flipped upside down. Okay, and the building was 50% vacant and we're just like, is this a sign were we supposed to take this? You know, it's not really the move we should do because there's a lot of fear around commercial office space, and a lot of risk, you know, but a lot of reward as well. So we decided to jump on in and ironically because most people were working remote and businesses were shut down those entrepreneurs I finally had time, they finally had time to say, You know what, I've outgrown my space. You know what I need to reduce, you know, pull in my expenses. And we filled the building within a year. Partially because Al is able to renovate the spaces perfectly for the tenants, partially because of the networking. And you know, just we're working with business owners. So we've wanted to be a perfect time. So let me borrow another building in Brookfield, certainly, you know your later.

 

Leighann Lovely  05:29

Wow. And, you know, most most people will go that you're, you're crazy. But while you so it was you said 50% vacant, and you filled up every space within a year. Yep, that is that is amazing. That's absolutely amazing. Congratulations on that. And so you bought another building. So now you own two buildings, you own one, I believe from your bio in Brookfield and one in Greenfield.

 

Whitney Rekowski  05:57

We have a few other properties. So we still have a few stragglers of residential. And we have another commercial building up north, that's a single tenant. But these two office buildings have multiple tenants in them. So one is 15,000 square feet, the other ones 45,000 square feet. So pretty big buildings. But we found also by those buildings were unique that if someone is growing, they can grow within our building and don't have to necessarily change their whole address. Or they can reduce and kind of pull in their expenses. And so we're kind of unique in that size and that opportunity.

 

Leighann Lovely  06:30

That's, that's great. So you, and you mentioned you are a W two employee. So when did you take the leap from being a W two employee to then being that sole entrepreneur and saying, Okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna walk away from that, that I know I have a paycheck, I know that that money is coming in. And now is your husband still? Is he still a W2? Or are you both now 100% on the business.

 

Whitney Rekowski  06:58

So it I think 2020 burned me out. Because in reality, I was working full time, I then had to take care of our one in our three year old at home mostly by myself, because no one would help. And I was also we just closed on that commercial building. And I'm learning and I didn't give myself credit, but it was learning how to do commercial real estate. I mean, we've done it before, but there's just different. There's, it's a new job, how to market it, how to do the leases, all of these things are different than and negotiate it compared to residential. So I think that burned me out. But then later on that year, I decided to get my real estate license. And we kind of like I said, we dream big, like, my husband's not a gold person. But what if we sold all of these and just bought another one, you know, I think you'd like this, you know, B2B side of that real estate. And so in April, we bought the Brookfield building, April 2021. And then I left my w two, after I signed two good leases, I want to just to kind of prove myself that I could do it. And so I left in June of 2021. And then now al actually, it has left in May of 2022. So he's a few months out himself. And he's just told me last night, like, I didn't think I was going to be this busy. But I continue to sign new leases, and he's doing the build outs form and just general building maintenance. We definitely have buildings that the previous owners thought this would be easy. And it takes work, right. It is a new job. It was a lot of effort. And but we love it new hurdles every day, right?

 

Leighann Lovely  08:33

So you for for over a year, you were out of the W two world your husband was still a W two employee. So you had that income coming in a little bit of a, you know, security. But now you're both out and running your own business and making it work and doing the thing. That's, awesome.

 

Whitney Rekowski  08:54

We're both part of the great resignation. I didn't know that was necessarily a thing and that we were going to both jump in at the same time. But we just learned that we were spending money on having other people do the role. And in this day and age, it's very difficult to get contractors. So you know, he has the skill set, he loves swinging the hammer, you know, I couldn't get him back into joining me full time fast enough. So I'm glad that he he's made that transition.

 

Leighann Lovely  09:19

Great. So you Okay, by trade, your background is in marketing. Correct. Okay. And by trade, what is his background.

 

Whitney Rekowski  09:29

He was an electrician, he is a boiler steam fitter, he you know, all of the random like sprinkler fitter, all of the randomness that you need for commercial space, that is him. So that's why it was really amazing when we made this transition to like, This combines both of our skill sets. And so we both you know, are needed to run our business and we're allowed to stay in our lane. But now we're kind of managing each other right now. We're kind of hey, did you get that done? And it's interesting because you're used to having more are coworkers. So we continue to evolve and work through it. But it's been awesome.

 

Leighann Lovely  10:06

Right? You're holding each other accountable at your work, as well as at home, I'm assuming for now, it's not just at home, you're holding each other. Because you mentioned you have children as well, you have young children. So now you now you have to hold each other accountable for work and work life balance, and life at home. That's got to be an interesting dynamic.

 

Whitney Rekowski  10:31

One of the things I've started for the accountability side of things is, and this was while he was still working, because it wasn't a mean comment. But he's like, I don't really know what to do all day. He just kind of curious of how do you fill your days. And so what I started, because the whirlwind happens, the whirlwind of the days, the chaos, something's darts on fire somewhere. And so things just happen so I can get, you know, distracted in the whirlwind. So I started texting him every morning saying, Hey, these are the three things I'm going to tackle today. And just so he was kind of aware, and he said, hey, don't forget to do this lease or this resigning, and don't forget that. It's like, okay, but and also, I could look back and say, Oh, that's what I wanted to do today. So with him, we've kind of started the similar system, because otherwise you can easily get, you know, things that aren't focused on the business, the biggest goals for our business, and, and kind of just dabble, if that makes sense. Right?

 

Leighann Lovely  11:27

Ya know, and that's, I think that in any business, you have to have somebody, either an equal or if you are managing a team, you have to have some, some way of holding each other accountable. In a non I want to, I kind of want to say non managerial way. So it's a, here's what I'm going to do today. And you're setting your own goals, right? Here's what I'm going to do today, I'm going to deliver this to you today. And it can be at any, you know, you couldn't be working in any type of job at all. But you set your own goals and tell your accountability partner your account, right. And then at the end of the day, if you haven't accomplished that the only person that you have to blame is yourself. And yes, we all have explosions happening. Trust me, you know, that I we were talking prior to even starting lists of hey, is, you know, how's your chaos happening today? i And I mentioned that, you know, I, I have a chaos free at this moment. And that's a good feeling. Because it's happening around us at any given time, all the time. But we have to have, you know, that that moment of right now, this is the the task I'm going to tackle. And that's great that you guys can you know, hold each other accountable. Or really, it's a matter of holding yourself accountable. But by speaking those words out loud. It makes all the difference.

 

Whitney Rekowski  13:04

Yep, there's I would love and I joke. Often I say I would love to have clean closets like to have them perfectly organized re everything is just perfect and beautiful. And but in reality, and now especially switching I think a lot of people realize when they were at home, they're like, Okay, even when I am home, I'm not organized, you know, even I'm forced to be in my own home, I can't do it. But for me, it's that wasn't making us money. And as a business owner, you know, we try to have just distill it down to basics is, does this make us money? Does it save us money? Does it simplify our life? And if we're at least tackling items that fall into those categories, every single day will move our business and our forward. And I think for every entrepreneurs identifying, you know, really, it's focusing on profitability, but there's a much a lot of different elements of what that means for everyone's individual business. Or for if you're working for someone else in a company, how are you going to make the company more profitable.

 

Leighann Lovely  13:58

There are a ton of things that have to be done every day. But there are only a certain amount of things that have to be done that are revenue generating tasks. And those always have to go at the top of the list. Everything else needs to be at the bottom of the list. And if you can get to those things great. But the ones that are revenue generating tasks, those are the ones that absolutely have to get checked off first. And, you know, I wish that I could say that, yeah, I'm brilliant. And I created that tagline or, but that's just a, that's just a fact. I mean, if you did everything else, all of the easy stuff first all the time. You would never ever get anywhere, right? And usually the revenue generating tasks are the ones that were like, I wish I could push that one off, because they're not always the easiest thing to do. Unless you're an absolutely love your career and that would be great. If we all 100% loved every single aspect of what we have I have to do. But the majority of the time, you know, I'm in sales, I hate the busy work, I hate the paperwork, if I could hire somebody to do just the paperwork, that would be great. But I don't make enough money to hire somebody to do just the paperwork. It's just a, it's a fact. Those are revenue generating thing, I have to write contracts, I have to you have to sit down and sign leases, I'm sure that you would much rather be in, you know, helping them lay out how they're going to design something or you know, I'm not in your brain. I don't know what your favorite aspect of things are. But, you know, there are certain things that we love, but often those are not necessarily the revenue generating tasks. So, so here's, here's a great quote, like, what do you think that the greatest challenge that you have had, since becoming an official business owner and moving completely having you and your partner move away from being the W two employees? Both of you, what do you think that that greatest challenge really has been?

 

Whitney Rekowski  16:03

Obviously, it's going to be the unknown, right? We don't necessarily, we know that we're both very employable, if are really fearful, we always could go back and get jobs. And that's, you know, not worst case scenario, but it's an option. For us. It's all of the risk that's on our shoulders, right. And I think that's with anyone who's an entrepreneur or small business owner, because, for example, you know, we went to our and we have to have good partners. So we went to our insurance agent, we said, hey, poke holes in our policy and make sure we're good to go, we're about to take this leap, we want to look good, you know, and make sure that we have everything buttoned up. And then there's construction in front of our building, they didn't divert the water correctly, and then we had a flood. And now six of our tenants have water in every single unit, and we're fooling the building. So we have nowhere we can move people. And so all of that came on to us. And then insurance didn't cover it, because the insurance agent didn't do his role. And he didn't reality, we could get stuck in the trenches and get upset that and for a while, you know, it takes a couple of weeks, and we're going to try to get tenants running as best as they can. So they can be profitable, but it's on our shoulders, and you just have to navigate, but the what we've done, we just had something similar happen again, but looking up and out and kind of having the 10 year mindset helps, right? It's like, okay, and this is the whirlwind of today. But this is just short lived. And we know we'll get through it. And we're, we're healthy, we're capable. And it just had a shift of like, this didn't happen to us, it just happened in our business, if that makes sense.

 

Leighann Lovely  17:41

Right? When you when you don't look at yourself as the victim, yeah, you take the mindset of, it's not, I'm not the victim here, I'm just, you know, part of the circumstances of, of the situation. And then you it's much easier to push through to make the next right move in order to get I guess, through the day, because I'm sure that there was hard days when that was taking place.

 

Whitney Rekowski  18:11

Well, and we take it very personally, because we want our tenants, you know, we keep it small intentionally, because we do like that relationship with and we don't want to have, you know, millions of square feet and a bunch of you know, we're not a corporation. That's why people like renting from us. But it's just, uh, you know, we're problem solvers. And every day, there's going to be problems and things that you can't predict. But instead of going to formal training on commercial real estate, we just kind of jump in, because you'll learn on the job. And that's with anything that people do, you'll figure it out. And as long as you're passionate about it, you'll overcome it. And I think that's just kind of our mindset words, everything is solvable, you just have to figure it out one way or the other.

 

Leighann Lovely  18:55

That's awesome. So now that you've been through this experience, I am assuming that you have reassessed your insurance agent and had somebody else, you know, go through and try to poke holes in that policy again, learn from your mistakes and push forward.

 

Whitney Rekowski  19:12

Exactly. And honestly, you can't insure yourself out of everything, right? It's not or, Hey, if I pay a million dollars, insurance, everything will be fine. It's just now making sure having reserves and knowing that everything we're doing we're not overwhelming our schedule. So when something does happen, we can pivot, right? Hey, you know what, this, we have our goals for the year, but we'll have to push those to q3 q4, and that's no different than any other business or personal goals. It's just having that mindset of this is acceptable, and this happens and you know, we'll get through it.

 

Leighann Lovely  19:49

So what do you foresee? You know, obviously, I think that there's no secret that everybody is looking and seeing a shift in the the world the UK To me right now, you said that you're looking at the 10 year goal, right? So what do you what do you see here in your two years, in your five years in your 10 years as far as how things are going to be, and you don't have to get specific? I'm not asking you to lay out your life. But I mean, when you look out at that, what do you what do you see?

 

Whitney Rekowski  20:23

So what's interesting enough and interview questions, especially when you're looking for a job, they always ask them, Where do you see yourself in five years? And what? What, but it's such a common question, and they always want to see, you know, what would you? Do you have a brain in your head? Are you you know, would you want to become the CEO? Do you realistic? Are you just fine, where you're at? But I don't like that question. And the reason is, anytime I look back in my life, two years ago, five years ago, I never could have predicted where I'm at, I never thought I was going to leave my w two this soon. But I never thought you know, we both would be focused on this. But we are. And so I love the quote, that is pessimists complain about the noise, when Opportunity is knocking at the door. And I love it, because it kind of encompasses what we're just gonna lean in, you know, we kind of put ideas out there, opportunities come up, and like, you know, I don't really know much about that. But hey, why not? Let's jump in. And we'll figure it out. Because we just always will. So, you know, as we transition to the commercial side, we love it. And I think that's where, for us, it's the you, where do we see ourselves, we're gonna keep mastering our capabilities, but if a new opportunity comes up, we're gonna jump on it. And we always say, We're done buying real estate, but I think we're addicted to it. Because when you find a good deal, and you know, you can make a difference and help more people. It's addicting and difficult to say no. So yeah, with that, I mean, the world, you can't control the world, you can control yourself, you control what's going on, there's always going to be new people who are successful, and no matter what economy that's going out there, and what's going on in the s&p 500 is not what's happening in the small business world, you know, it's different challenges. And so, again, it's remaining optimistic, like, we're gonna get through it, people are going to be successful, someone's going to make money, hopefully, a lot of people make money on it. And I don't know, like I said, positive mindset, I guess it's kind of our mind, where we're gonna keep leaning in. And the big shift now is to actually enjoy life, because we only get one body and one life and young kids. And so we're going to try to schedule in our time for once, because we didn't do that for the last, you know, eight years.

 

Leighann Lovely  22:47

You know, and it's something I heard actually today that you can't, you can't control what's going to happen. But you can, and you do have the ability to influence your immediate surroundings and your immediate project, you have the ability to influence it, but not control it. And that's all that you can do. And, and I completely again, I am, I am a recruiter by trade. So am I asking the question that, you know, yeah, I didn't even realize I'm asking an interview. But you know, it is, you know, people do they want to know, like, Hey, are you going to do this for the next? But you're right. It's it's one of those unknowns like today, where do I see myself in the next wall, I would see myself here. But if somebody were to come up, or if I were to win the lottery tomorrow, obviously, my entire world would probably, maybe not me, because I'm not one of those people who's like, Oh, I just want a million dollars, I'm gonna quit my job, I'd probably invest it, nothing in my life would change. But for some people, they'd win the lottery, quit their job and go on a major vacation, and then in a year from now, they'd have no money. So that you're right, that question is not necessarily a valid one, but I loved your answer. Because you are a true entrepreneur. You're the true. You know, you have the spirit of a true entrepreneur of I'm going to lean in, and I'm going to ride the roller coaster of whatever comes next. And you've got the itch of an entrepreneur, which means that, Hey, I found the passion. I found what I love doing, and you've become addicted to it. And that's awesome. I learned long ago, I tried to leave my industry. I tried to leave the staffing industry. I'm like, okay, kind of done with us. And it just kept wooing me back and wooing me back and I just can't, I'm addicted to it. I love it. There's aspects of it that there's some days I'm like, Oh, I don't know if I can do the grind anymore. But then for some reason, you you know, once you find your seat at the table, and you're like, Yep, this is the table I'm supposed to be sitting in. Sometimes it's really hard to leave it. Because you're like, yeah, these are my people, this is where I belong. I have found my circle. And then other times in life you go, No, I'm ready to, I'm ready to try a different food. I don't know if that analogy made any sense. But that's awesome. I, you know, I applaud you for digging in. And, you know, taking control of what you can control in your life and enjoying what you're doing. And finding a work life balance that that works for you and your family.

 

Whitney Rekowski  25:39

We're still getting there. I don't know if there's ever truly the balance out there, especially, you know, the saying that entrepreneurs work 80 hours a week, so they don't have to work for someone else. 40 hours a week, right? There's a lot of weeks like that. But at the same time, you know, the it fills your cup, right? Like you're saying, it fills your cup, even if you're working hard, and there's chaos, and there's busyness and you're like, Well, I don't like this part. But overall, you get that sense of satisfaction.

 

Leighann Lovely  26:05

And when I say work life balance, I don't necessarily mean that you're balancing Hey, here, I'm working. And I have this great time where I'm, I'm with my family, and I'm not thinking about, I'm talking, you know, work life balance means whatever it means to you. Doesn't I mean, for everybody, it's different. And you know, there's other people I've talked to the season, who have a completely different understanding of what that means to them. And hate. I'm not here to judge, my husband yells at me all the time, because, you know, I bury myself in my podcast, during my, when my daughter sleeping is really the only time I have she's for so. Otherwise, it's mommy, mommy, mommy. But I mean, that's, it's my happy place, right? As long as you have a happy place, and you've struck that with your husband and your kids. And there's some sense of, and I'm gonna go back to the first episode of the season, when Andy wines talked about alignments, as long as everything in your life is got some form of alignment, and is lining up where you can have the things that you want. And there's going to be weeks that you have to shove the dog in the crate and go, Okay, I'm running away from sorry, that's a reference to what we were talking about, you know, before we started this anyways.

 

Whitney Rekowski  27:29

Well, one of the things you mentioned, though, like we are, where do I see myself, I am not a fan of the goals. He doesn't like the word he doesn't like the concept of it. So I say, Okay, let's put crazy ideas out there. And then just write them down. Because I love the idea of the power of attraction, and you put it out for the universe. And it's probably just a mindset where you're now ready to receive all of these different concepts. But we just found a notebook of please six years ago, and we had something like self pay off our house within 10 years, and buy a lake house and do X, Y, and there's like three or four things. And we looked at him like, oh, my gosh, check, check, check. And when we wrote this down, I was like, Okay, who's gonna do that, like, this is all not going to happen. But we put it out there. And so our subconscious mind is extremely powerful. And without even looking at the notebook, because we're just cleaning up the base. And we're like, yeah, it happened. And so those type of big crazy ideas, I love putting them out there, and just, hey, now that we've built the work, though, you know, a life that neither one of us have to count our PTO days or our vacation days. Now we need to live it now. We need to fully take advantage of it and go on trips with our kids ourselves, you know, and just go play tennis on a Tuesday. I don't know we we need to schedule that into our lives and make it happen.

 

Leighann Lovely  28:49

And that's I'm a full believer in what you put out there that you need to put out there, what you want into the universe verse, that. And again, I think I've already said this, that when we were talking about, you know, accountability, that saying it out loud, that that makes it that makes it real, even if you were looking in a mirror and you're saying it to yourself, it needs to be spoken it written down. Because you're you're I almost feel like you're you're not trying to trick your brain but you're telling or you're conditioning your brain to say, this is what needs to happen. This is what I want. This is what I hope this is what I plan. And it's it's it's reinforcing the things that you want or that you think about in your own head. But now you're you're saying them you're throwing them out there to the universe. That's why people have one of those boards, dream boards or goal board vision boards. That's why people have vision boards because it's, you know, you you're putting it out to the universe. You're making it real you're making it you know, something that that you can physically see time And remember, now I don't have a vision board, but I definitely regularly will say, You know what I'm going to do what I'm going to accomplish on a daily basis. I'm a true believer in that kind of thing.

 

Whitney Rekowski  30:16

I have a funny story about vision boards. Now, I'm a real estate agent on the side, just for friends and family and for ourselves kind of helping them save money. And because it is my passion, navigating the chaos of real estate acquisitions. And so our team, we did vision boards, and I brought the magazines home as an analyst, you have to do one, two. And so now they're hanging up, you know, upstairs, or we see him every morning. But the placement, I put up certain things of place I wanted to travel, spend more time family game nights, one of them was Bora Bora. And I wrote why wait, just the concept of like, why wait of like, just do you take action?

 

Leighann Lovely  30:55

Well, then now we're going to

 

Whitney Rekowski  30:57

Bora Bora this fall. So it was like just because of the placement of the words like Well, that's not what I meant by it. It just fit nicely in the board. But maybe my subconscious kept seeing it. So it's booked this fall, and we're going to make it happen. So.

 

Leighann Lovely  31:11

Right, again, subconscious or not, or whatever it might be. It doesn't happen unless it's at the forefront of your mind. Right? It just doesn't like it's easy to forget things my husband mentioned, like we should book this trip. And six months later, he's like, we should book this trip. And if we don't do it, another six months goes by and I'm like, Why didn't we ever book that trip? Yep. Because we just kept forgetting. And it's, but it's the same with, you know, Hey, did you schedule our daughter's dentist appointment? Oh, no, I forgot today. And then a month goes by and I'm like, Oh, my God, she's due for a month ago, she was due for her dentist appointment. And again, I'm minimizing it a little bit, but it goes with everything. So now we have a list of like, schedule this schedule this and every day we check off. Even the little things like I need to get my car into the dealership, I need to do this. Well, why not with the big things. I want to go to Disney World.

 

Whitney Rekowski  32:16

And you need a time block that and I think that's where time blocking or having like, what are your big things, do them the first thing in the morning, the concept of like eat the frog in the morning, because that's the worst thing that's going to happen to you all day. Because the Mark Twain quote, and that's where focus on those big things, not just for your profitability of your business, but for your life too. And maybe that's where you have kind of what's the, hey, this is important, but not urgent, and it's gonna completely fall off the radar if I don't do it now

 

Leighann Lovely  32:47

And that's, and that's, you just completely hit home with me on that one. Business owners, individuals like you, brilliant when it comes to you know, you, you are a true entrepreneur, I can tell because you have that you have that drive, you have that passion, when you talk about it, when you when you are excited to leave your W two job and jump in talking about leaning in. But business owners get so wrapped up in I need to make the business work, I need to take care of my customer customers, I'm passionate about my customers, all of those key terms. Those are where all of the sudden, in a year from now, when I talk to business owners, they look back and go, Oh, crap, I forgot to take care of me. And so the number one mistake that you see in really successful business owners, or entrepreneurs, or not just business owners, but really successful employees, even w two employees is that they become wildly successful. And then two, three years goes by four years goes by, and they go, Oh my gosh, I'm so burnt out or their mental health is waning because they are taking such great care of all their clients and everybody loves them. And all of a sudden, this person drops off the face of the earth. And all their clients and their friends are going what happened I mean, this person was was burning at both ends. But that person forgot in the world when have been wildly successful, to take care of themselves, because they were so wrapped up in making sure that everybody else was happy. And you hear about it and you see it too much.

 

Whitney Rekowski  34:25

I'm definitely guilty of that, too. And I think that you know, that's why I said 2020 burnt me out you know I was working all hours the night trying to just fulfill every all of these different roles that I'm trying to juggle and I didn't even know the amount that I'd put on my shoulders. And a lot of people it says that I don't know how you do it. I don't know how you do it. And I'm like I just do it. I don't have an option like that. There is what other options are there. And so I think that's where now I'm still terrible about you know, personal care and time and whatnot, but we're trying right it's always progress not perfection. And I think that's, you know, it's taking probably a little bit more time to get into a good groove because I don't want to burn out in this role I don't I'm trying to set those boundaries and those that, you know, the the limits, so I have time to be a person because you only get one body and one life, right? And I teach my kids that and you say it all the time, like eat healthy to your body tree do well, so you can do all the fun stuff that you want to.

 

Leighann Lovely  35:28

And I'm doing the same thing. I've given my daughter fruit and vegetables, and then I'm realizing that on lunch, I'm, you know, oh my god, I haven't eaten anything. And I'm grabbing a pizza and I'm going, what am I doing to myself? Like, yeah, I'm shoving healthy food down my daughter's throat and she's fighting me and fighting me. And I'm going well, you got to eat your carrots. It's good for your eyes. You got to eat your. And here I am grabbing pizza for lunch. And I'm like, I am not showing her. I am preaching to her. And no, no wonder she's fighting me on it so much. The whole idea of work life balance is we preach we don't show. But and I'm not blaming companies, there are a lot of companies out there that just let their employees do it. Just continue like, Oh, you want to do it? Okay, great. Yeah, yeah. And then when that employee finally says, Man, I gotta take, you know, a week or two off the the company goes, whoa, what do you mean? No, sorry, I can't give you two weeks off. Well, yeah, but I haven't I haven't really taken much time off. Yeah, but we really need you around. And that's all of the sudden become this. Now we have a new world that people are going, Nope, I'm demanding it. I need at least you know, two, three weeks vacation time, or you have companies who are going to unlimited vacation time saying, Nope. Take care of yourself. Because I don't want you around. If you're gonna burn yourself out. It's awesome.

 

Whitney Rekowski  36:55

Yep. And there's something to be said too, about like sabbaticals, because there are companies who did that I had maternity leave twice. And I was off for medical for reason, too. And you come back, and you just come back with a clear head. And it's, you know, as long as you take a long unification sustained way, where it's similar to when we're in the trenches with our business, now, you're in it, and you're just trying to turn away. And it's like, well, when you're gone for a while, it's like, oh, that stuff didn't get done, but it wasn't that important. So you just reset of what actually is important, because there's always going to be a million things to focus on any sort of business or company. And taking the vacation just helps you reset and be more productive and, and spend your time more wisely. I think that is a big shift. Now with people going to the office some days and working from home some days. And that's why for the office space, people don't want to be in their own same four walls anymore. They like to be in their home and have the flexibility, but they don't, they want to go and communicate with other people and talk to someone down the hall and, and have that dynamic because we are social creatures, that's just how we are and maybe you limit it a little bit, maybe you don't have to do it every day. But just be also collaborate and have ideas. So a lot of good, you know, original ideas and new ideas or just from casual conversations.

 

Leighann Lovely  38:14

So tell me a little bit about that kind of let's let's circle back to your office space, I've had the opportunity to have a tour of it. And it's you have a well have the one in Brookfield it's a beautiful space. And you've showed me some of the updated spaces that you've just recently, you know, done for, it's an absolute beautiful space, and then you also have a very large conference room. Tell me a little bit about you know, if somebody was looking for space, you know, how you're able to kind of pivot to remodeling that for them or tell me a little bit about that.

 

Whitney Rekowski  38:53

Yep, so some tenants come in and you know, they know I want individual offices so people to be able to work in it. But conference rooms, you know, we have a lot of lawyers, insurance doctors in our building. And they'll come and say, Hey, I need a conference room this size can be tear out this wall or build this here. Or if they wanted a little more modern and having more of the glass walls that can easily be put in. We even have a podcast studio in our building. And you know, just everything is possible. And Ella is fantastic at making it happen. And sometimes, you know, I say hey, put your hopes and dreams out there. Let's see how much it would cost and then you know, you can pay for upfront or we can build into your lease. But a lot of times it's an amazing location right across from Brookfield Square Mall. So easy access to the freeway and you know Moreland and blue lounge area. And we're a little bit different. We're not the building that has fountains in the lobby. We are not ones that are going to you know, because they're expensive. You know, we're focusing on other business owners who say hey, I need a space that is you know, Easy for my customers to find me. And I want to be perfect. So we can run our business. But I don't want to pay 25 to 50% more for these other things, you know, they're just in there are people who can, you know, there's a place for that, right, the a plus beautiful buildings with the pawns. That's not who we are, we're a little bit more, hey, what do you need, let's make it happen for you. And focus on running your business. Because similar to what you're saying, with burnout, if a business isn't profitable, it's not going to stick around. And so if you can get your expenses under control, that's, you know, step number one to finally actually paying yourself and taking home a, you know, some profit at the end of the year, hopefully, for these businesses. But we have suites anywhere ranging from, you know, 400 square feet, all the way up to over 3,000. And it's, it's fantastic, I have a little joke that I definitely net, the next Brookfield chamber I need to bring it up is, you know, you can go first, you know, for maybe you were looking at your credit union statement, these are all people in the building, and you realize that someone's been sent betting too much on shoes or you know, hunting gear. So then you go to marriage counseling upstairs. And then if that doesn't work, then you go over to one of the divorce attorneys. And then you have to redo your title insurance with one of the people in the building. But first, maybe you hired a private investigator just to make sure. And then you refinance your loan with the mortgage guy, like there's so much cross mingling. Oh, and the final one is, maybe you have a tattoo with their name on it. And now you need to you don't want that on you. So you can go to the laser, metal spa downstairs and get their name removed from your tattoo. So like, it's just a really cool building, we are very particular about who we put in the building. Because we want there to be that cohesiveness. You know, we want people to work nicely together. We don't want to have that kind of tension or frustration or competing businesses in the sense of being extremely loud, or, or that so, but it's fun, because similar to how you get to talk to everyone about their own world and their stories, similar for the business side, and I think that's why we've really gravitated towards it.

 

Leighann Lovely  42:16

Excellent. So you've, you've got everything. Wow, you've got a wide variety of different individuals in the building from you. We're talking about lawyers, you're talking about laser removal.

 

Whitney Rekowski  42:30

Yeah, that's like a med spa. And then there's counselors and insurance agents. So there's quite a variety inside the building. And really, it's a quiet building. I mean, we're getting to almost fill up that space as well. And eventually, I'm going to be kicked out of my office suite probably soon. But that's a good thing. You know, it's an we're getting people who are similar to, and I say, like our people, I mean, they're kind of people, they're positive people, they're, you know, just trying to live their life as well, if that makes sense. People who come in, and they're just not happy people, and they're mean, and they're kind of aggressive. We don't need that, right. If you can not have that in your world. Don't have it in your life, you know, you don't need someone bringing you down.

 

Leighann Lovely  43:21

Right. That's awesome. Awesome. Well, hey, I would love to talk to you about the question of the season, we are coming to time. And so I want to get to that I know that you've had an opportunity to preview that question. But if you could go back to your younger self, and give yourself advice, when would you go back? And what advice would you give yourself.

 

Whitney Rekowski  43:47

So I'm going to have a caveat that, you know, I love where I'm at today. And I don't know, if I change anything, what the rippling effects could be. All of the hard times we continue to face and have face made us who we are today. But some of the basic things would just be going back to high school, probably and be like start your Roth IRA, read the book, Simple Path to Wealth, learn about you just so you can be more confident in finance, right, just so you know, and kind of take control over that. Because they think that I wasn't taught a lot of that. And I think I'd be even further along, you know, on my financial independence in my world right now, if I had done that earlier. But really, it comes down to you know, I think a lot of people feel the imposter syndrome, especially when you're starting a business of Well, someone out there is a professional and does it better than me and why should I even try because they're just doing it and I can never get to their level. But it's just to have the competence that everyone has days that they feel like an impostor and you are doing it you're doing it well and encourage other people on their journey to become As we're all just doing the best weekend, every single day, and sometimes you need someone to kind of pick you up and bring you along on the journey.

 

Leighann Lovely  45:08

You know, I think that, and I agree, this question is not designed to say that, you know, you would change anything in your current life, but rather, you know, maybe make it a little easier in a in a certain aspect now, but I think there are a lot of people out there that would go back and say, hey, when your dad and your mommy say, put some money in the bank, now, you know, do it and invest in your Roth and your IRA accounts. That is the exact advice that I would give myself, like, hey, hey, when your dad says, Put your money, you know, save your money, do it. That is, that is definitely something but for some reason, that advice gets lost on a lot of or at least my generation, your generation seemed to be lost on a lot of, of individuals. And then when we hit, you know, this age, we kind of went, Oh, how am I so you know, I'm not so but how am I under invested? Why does everybody keep telling me I'm underinvested. Anyways, I have enjoyed so much having this conversation with you today. It's been an absolute pleasure. If somebody wanted to reach out to you, whether it be just to connect with you talk with you more, or to reach out to you about some office space. How would they go about doing that Whitney?

 

Whitney Rekowski  46:35

So you can always find me and LinkedIn, Whitney Rakowski, or we do have a website office leasing simplified.com. And I do have to have the caveat is even though I'm from Marketing, and that's my, you know, past life, definitely of the culprit of the cobblers children have no shoes. And my website is not nearly to the level I want it to be at because we focus on everything else, but it's there and the contact information is there. So either officeleasingsimplified.com, or LinkedIn.

 

Leighann Lovely  47:06

Excellent. Well, again, Whitney, I really appreciate your your time today. It's been a really fun conversation.

 

Whitney Rekowski  47:12

Sounds good. Thank you so much.

 

Leighann Lovely  47:15

Thank you again for listening to Let's Talk HR. I appreciate your time and support. Without you the audience this would not be possible. So don't forget that if you enjoyed this episode, to follow us, like us or share us. Have a wonderful day.

 

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitney-r-a5681826/

E-mail - officeleasingsimplified@gmail.com

Website – Officeleasingsimplified.com 

 

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/cruen/family-time License code: 2330NZD3BLNDKPYI

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

building, people, business, day, business owners, happen, world, entrepreneur, space, life, insurance agent, leases, brookfield, job, w2, question, home, husband, vision boards, commercial

 

• Likes
• Download26
• Share