Hello and welcome to the SunLeaders podcast. My name is Whitney Smith. I am the owner and attorney of your rental property Attorney pllc, which is a real estate law firm that focuses primarily on landlords.

Due to my firm’s unique niche, I spend the majority of my time and energy thinking about the real estate industry, landlord tenant relationships and the affordable housing community. I find both positive and negative factors that affect the real estate industry are interrelated with and co affect the housing community and those relationships and likewise trickle down to affect the community underneath. I believe through effective leadership we can make more positive changes in those industries and
therefore I wanted to focus my episodes for the Sun Leaders podcast on female leaders in either real estate industry or the affordable housing communities that are specifically leading a team or community to betterment.

And having said that, I am so excited to introduce my first guest, Jacqueline Casella, a resilient entrepreneur who turned adversity into purpose. Jackie is the owner of Elevate Stellar Realty LLC and Casella Insurance Solutions llc. You have to say reality.

Reality. Didn’t I? No, you said realty. Oh God.

Okay, let me do that. It’s illegal. Elevate Stellar Reality llc.

No, Reality. Reality. Why can’t I say that? Good lord.

Reality. Okay, you say it. Elevate Stellar Reality.

There you go. LLC. LLC.

She began flipping homes in 2019 and following a life altering bout with skin canc found her calling in affordable housing. She formed a vacation rental property management company and insurance agency while passionately advocating for education, empowerment and elevation. Welcome to the podcast, Jackie.

Thank you so much, Whitney. It’s so great to be here. We spoke previously and I understand that you have been a lifelong entrepreneur since you were 12, even having been an opera singer at one point.

However, I’d like to start your adventure by explaining how you started in real estate investing. And I believe that was in 2019. Yes, it was.

So I basically went into real estate by purchasing my own first home. So I qualified for the FHA loan at the time. And that was after many years of rebuilding my life from a tragic divorce.

And so I had to do a lot of things before like fix my credit and my debt to income ratio and all that other stuff. So one day out of nowhere, I realized that I qualified to buy a house. So I wind up teaming up with a local realtor in that area that was in Pennsylvania.

And then she had a brother who was in a mortgage lender. So we had this nice little relationship and he was just like, jackie, I think you’re ready and I was just like, no, I don’t think so. He’s like, no, I think you’re ready.

So within 24 to 48 hours I was pre qualified. I had a certain amount of days to look for a home. And I wound up purchasing a home in a very desirable area where I was living.

I was in Easton, Pennsylvania in like the number one school district of like the whole northeast. So everybody wanted to be there. And it was a hundred year old house.

It was occupied by actually some tenants who were on section eight. And when I walked in the house, it looked absolutely nothing like the pictures online. Like it like the pictures online look like great move in.

Ready, Fabulous, you know. No, I walked in to like to see the house to get for them to show it to me and it was completely like trashed. Like all of the walls were black, you know, from like.

And you had already purchased it at this point? You know, about. Yeah, I was about to purchase it. So.

So no matter at that time, you know, some people would have seen like, oh God, I don’t want this house. You know, there’s like so much work. But it really wasn’t.

It was just 1500 square feet of paint and floors. Like it was. That’s what I seen because I actually grew up in construction.

So I was always helping my dad and my family like with projects. And so I saw like the diamond in the rough, so to speak. So I took on the house and purchased it in May 15th of 2019.

And I said to myself, well, this is going to be my first property and I’m going to just fix and flip it. I was like maybe three to five years. Like that was the projection at that point.

This is like before the COVID And as soon as I got in, got in there that day, you know, besides moving everything in, we basically just started painting like right away because the walls were really, really gross. So. And did you take the skills that your father had laid out for you or is that where you had the initiative to start? That’s a pretty big project.

Yeah. So yeah, I mean I grew up as my dad’s, like I was the firstborn, so I grew up as my dad’s like little helper, like who wasn’t a boy. So I kind of did everything, even like mow the lawn and all kinds of stuff.

So I learned a lot of skills early on as a little girl and you know, it was just very helpful to my parents. And so yeah, so I kind of know like a little basics about, you know, construction and you know Repairing houses and, you know, concrete and, you know, so I was just like, well, it’s just. It’s just paint.

So, you know, and I had painted my. I did a little bit of painting in a rental before, so I was like, okay, so we’re just going to go ahead and do it. So it’s just, you know, you just had to do a little bit of time.

It was a lot of paint. It was a lot of walls, you know, and. But it was.

It was wonderful. I was just, you know, pick some nice colors, and some of them were very vibrant. And, you know, it was just.

It was just a nice adventure. And then, you know, later on, did the flooring. And at that time, basically, then the COVID came.

So, which is. Actually, I started my. My insurance agency in Pennsylvania at.

In January before the COVID So I’m in the middle of renovating my house. I think it’s so funny that you call it the COVID The COVID I think I’m going to start saying that it’s the COVID I don’t even call it the pandemic. I just call it the COVID Like, I say pandemic every once in a while, but it’s the COVID So.

Because I think I had the COVID In December of 2019, I walked into an airport, and I walked out of the airport, and I was sick for, like, three weeks. Right. It was like.

And I couldn’t shake it. And it was like a lot of the symptoms that they talked about that, you know, people had and experienced, and I was like, yeah, okay, that’s crazy. But, you know, whatever.

So over the COVID and all the free money they gave us, I wound up, you know, being able to completely renovate the house, you know, with all the. There was a lot of floor. All the floors had to be redone.

So know, that cost money to do that. And so did you end up selling the house? I did. I sold it actually two years later.

And so the plan was three to five years, and I wound up selling it almost exactly two years later. It was June of 2021. And at that time, I had just had a reconstructive surgery, so I had to put the.

The house back together. So after two months of recovery, and I basically did that in 30 days. We showed it in, like, a weekend, and it was sold in five days.

Right. So your surgery, you purchased the house in 2019, and then the COVID came. Then the COVID And also during the COVID that is when you had another obstacle in Your way? Yes.

I actually was diagnosed with skin cancer. So I’m always pretty good about, you know, every year because I’m pretty healthy for having a few interesting surgeries. So I always go to my physicals.

You know, I have a physical once a year, my annuals, you know, everything I need to do. And you know, over the COVID we couldn’t see any doctors for a certain period of time. So I missed kind of like a visit, but it was like off by like months, right? Not like by years.

So. And when I went to. And it was December of 2020 that I finally went to get my physical for my doctor and it was a new doctor.

I had just changed doctors because mine had retired. He’s like 80 years old. So I found this wonderful new doctor.

She’s just like, jackie, I want everything. I wanted you to get checked on everything, you know, in your skin. And, you know, I said, well, I just started going with a dermatologist because I have a lot of beauty marks all over my body.

So she’s like, that could be a problem. So let’s get you to a dermatologist too. And she, you know, wrote all the referrals and literally by, I think by the first of the year or right before that or right after that, like, they were like, we, you know, I went to the dermatologist and they were like, oh, we want to take some samples.

And they did. And then within two weeks after that, like, I was diagnosed with cancer, skin cancer, out of nowhere, full stop. And how, how it must have affected your trajectory at that point.

You know, I really didn’t have a trajectory at that point. Like, I was still so much immersed in, you know, I was working from home, being remote, building my agency. You know, I was working in life and retirement planning.

That was my focus at that time because that’s kind of what the opportunity was presented to me. Because, you know, remember a lot of people, places and things companies didn’t like, they had to figure out how they were going to work. So that company came to me in a brokerage.

So at that point I was, I mean, to be honest, I was sort of like a zombie for like a few months. I. It’s like I overworked myself to death. I was very stressed out.

Like, it’s like, it’s like, it’s like I say to people, I stressed myself to get cancer. So that’s how I feel. Like, I feel like I worked so much over hard, like until 8 o’ clock every night on the, you know, on the on the zoom, trying to, you know, work my business, that I stress myself out so much that I got cancer, if that makes sense.

That’s what it makes sense to me. So. Because having skin cancer.

Skin cancer to me was like, what the heck? Because I’m not a sun goddess. I don’t hang out in the sun. I’m in Pennsylvania now.

I’m in Florida. So it’s two different things. Right.

So it was very shocking and surprising at the time, and it made me reevaluate and focus on my health. And I actually had to. I was under doctor’s care for nine months to.

In order to evaluate everything that was going on in my life. Yeah. And so that was in Pennsylvania.

And then. At what point did you decide to come down to Florida? So shortly after, about two months later, I actually went. I had a.

I’ve been doing massage therapy for many years. Like 20 years. How many businesses are we at yet? No, I mean, massage therapy.

I was the patient, so I would. I would. Yeah, don’t worry.

So, no, we’re not a massage therapist, but I would, you know, see a massage therapist every month. And some people would barter and things like that. And I had scheduled to do a massage in a Reiki session.

And I never did a Reiki session before. I didn’t even. I read about it.

I didn’t know where it was. And that was. That was about, like, right after my birthday, the February 21, like the first week of March.

And I had, like, an epiphany basically happen in my life. So after I had that Reiki session, it really opened up a lot of clarity for me, and I experienced, like, two or three days of visions of what I needed to do to move forward, to just, you know, what. What was the next step for me, which was, you know, God told me to relocate to Florida and to do Airbnbs.

And so I don’t want to skip ahead too much because I kind of know a little bit of the story. That’s okay. But I think that’s so interesting.

So you took a leap of faith, literally, and came to Florida. Yes. With the idea of starting Airbnbs.

But that also didn’t. I mean, you kind of found yourself in Airbnbs. Well, it fell apart, right? Yeah.

Because once I, you know, I mean, we did. I did a wonderful job, you know, fixing, flipping the house, and the house was very desirable, you know, was able to close. You know, I got what I needed, 60 day clothes and stuff, but.

And I made a decent amount on my house. You know, compared to what I paid for it, to be honest. But I exhausted all my funds in the relocation process.

Like, I was trying to secure housing from up there, down here, and nobody wanted to help me. Like, no realtors wanted to show me, like, the property via, like, Zoom or. You know what I mean? Like, virtually at the time, that really was.

I guess that really wasn’t happening. And I was forced to secure housing, like, through Airbnb, basically becoming a guest and living in, you know, someone’s house in Airbnb. And at the time, you know, people just call Airbnb, but it’s really the vacation rental industry.

And, you know, vacation rentals is short and midterm. So I was living in midterm rentals. And that’s how I learned the business was.

Because nobody was calling it midterm, everybody’s calling it short term. But I was living there 30 days plus, and then exhausting, you know, all my funds. No, just, just.

It’s just like living in a hotel, you know, basically, you know what I mean? So it’s. You do incur additional expenses. So by the time.

So that was a few months. And then by the time, you know, right before Thanksgiving, I actually wound up becoming homeless. So because of.

My funds were really, really low. And that really wasn’t even the reason. I was with my ex partner, and I had advised him that, you know, his daughter had some mental health issues and he didn’t want to admit them.

And it came out at that time. So we actually had to vacate from where we were living because of that. And so you found yourself homeless and in hotels? Yes, in Florida, on the south side? Yep.

Well, yeah, actually, I was living. I was just anywhere. I think at first we were at the hotel in between, like, Largo.

There was a hotel in between Largo and. And St. Pete. And then I was more in St. Pete, like around Pinellas.

I lived in the south side. Once I secured housing, I lived in the south side for a year. But.

And, and so what did that experience of homelessness teach you, especially in the Florida community, our housing community? Well, I mean, it was really eye opening because, I mean, I’m from New York, so I’m used to seeing everything and anything, to be honest. So. But when I, you know, was living in the hotels and I was going from different hotels because you can always stay at the same one.

And at the. It was the last one, actually, that I learned about St. Petersburg and the community here and the homeless epidemic, really, that is here. There was parents, you know, Single parents or families with children living in this hotel and you know, on the right and on the left of me, like both ways, and there’s like three to six of them living in a hotel, coming to find out that the state is paying for them to, you know, their accommodations to live there.

And there’s not enough housing. Like that’s which I was already experiencing that because I couldn’t find a place to rent, like just a rental, you know, a long term rental, which was already an issue, like I said, because I was living in Airbnbs prior, right. So when I got that, I got down here and it wasn’t any better.

So when I saw that for myself, it just really just my heart just dropped for that. Because it’s one thing, I’m an adult, you know, and with, with you know, a few dogs, right? But this is children living in not so nice hotels. We’re not talking about the Ritz, we’re not talking about the, you know, the Waldorf Astoria.

Like we’re talking about, you know, not so great Motel Sixes or crack crack hotels or whatever this is going on over there. And you know, these children aren’t safe there. And so experiencing homelessness and witnessing those conditions that those women and their children were living in, how has that shaped your perspective on leadership, particularly in addressing social issues and affordable housing? I mean, you know, it just kind of opened up a new door for me that, you know, I knew I was going
to come here and create jobs.

But then now I was like, I got to create houses for these people. Like I, I have to create housing because like that just doesn’t make any sense to me, you know, that there’s just not enough house, you know, housing, whether it’s, you know, apartment complexes or whatever, there’s not enough space for these people for anyone to live, even myself. So it really did change at that point.

Just change my projection. But I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t like know where it was going to go.

Like, I just had a heart for it. You know what I mean? That sort of slowly developed over time. You know, when I was living in the south side then I got to really see the community and I got to see like the rich people buy up stuff and kicking out the locals.

And that bothered me to like, you know, people with money, you know, bought the, the property on the corner falling apart, you know, and it’s been sitting there forever. And then, you know, and then the local community is getting kicked out of where, where they’ve been their Whole life like that just like, I literally like knew people who’ve been there their whole life. Like that was their grandmother’s.

Grandmother’s, you know, great great grandmother’s house, you know. So that just really, you know, shook me up as well, because I was just like, I don’t, I don’t like that. Like we should be embracing the community and loving the local community that they are the ones who have been here.

Like, we have no right to come and scoop things up and to just be like, oh, you gotta go. So the industry that you, you basically lived in, the Airbnb industry. And then you.

How did you take that and make it into a business? Well, so I’ve been in a hibernation period mode like for a very long time actually price into my divorce. And I actually, when I, when I was, I moved in, that area was like Thanksgiving week, you know, into the new year. I was really lost.

I was really didn’t know what I was going to do. Like, you know, I was just like, well, I got to. Because what I actually did is in September, I formed an investment company.

So I had an investment company here. And I’m like, well, I don’t have any money to invest, so I got to change, you know, realms here, what I’m doing. So that’s where I kind of started to birth the idea of the real estate property management company for vacation rentals.

Because elevate Stellar Reality llc. Yes. And I mean, at the same time, I kind of established, created the foundation and all the services for both of my companies at the same time.

I kind of did them at the same time. So all the social media, all the branding, everything was done at the same time. And what leadership qualities have you found have been the most crucial for you in going from flipping houses to forming a property management company? I mean, you gotta know what you’re good at and what you’re not.

Your strengths and your weaknesses and I mean, there’s not very much I’m not good at. But delegation is one thing that I wasn’t really great at because I’m so used to being a one woman show that when I was like, well, I gotta hire people, people to help me because I sort of had. So I developed my company with like 10 services.

So it’s a full service property management company. Everything from acquire the property to turn it, you know, and now I even convert them and I do a whole bunch of other stuff. Not a one woman show.

Yeah, just not right. Well, I was. And then I was like, I gotta Hire somebody because I can’t do all this turn turnovers myself.

So I hired my first assistant really early on. I had started out the. When I went live, so to speak.

Like, operational was about in April of that year, it was 2022, and I acquired like three or four owners with like almost a, like a dozen properties. And I was like, oh my gosh, like, you know, I gotta, I need help. You know, I can’t do all this stuff by myself.

So that’s where I said, I hired, I. I interviewed a few people. I wound up hiring one. Thank God we found one.

She’s been with me now for a while and it’s just learning to delegate, learning to, you know, what I can and cannot do because I, I do have some physical things that I can’t do, like I used to be able to do because I had a car accident many years ago. So, you know, just learning where to delegate. And so Dana was my first employee.

And then shortly after that, I actually hired. The next year I hired a virtual assistant as. Hey there.

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I find, as you know, I lead my own law firm, so I find as a leader, when it comes to delegation, it is necessary, but it is also necessary to understand that person’s strengths and skills, you know. Absolutely. And what is their best attribute? Like, what can I delegate to them that they’re going to, to be, you know, they’re going to take it and go above and beyond? Absolutely, absolutely.

Yeah, it’s, it’s. Well, I mean, when I hired, you know, obviously I’m hiring people who have experience in certain things, like for the role that I needed them to play. And that was very much so with, you know, like, with Dana.

She needed to, like, I needed to hire someone with cleaning experience because I, you know, I didn’t have time to really teach somebody to clean. And she did have some experience, but then I wind up training her one on one to really know how to do the vacation rental space and then some other things. And with my virtual assistant, like, I had a whole paper of like, exactly what I needed this, this person to do.

And when I interviewed, I was like, okay, do you do this, this, this, this, this, you Know, whatever. And, you know, in the interview, you know, and that was a big. That was really crucial for me because the.

The virtual assistant I needed because I. I was running around so much that I didn’t have time to do social media content. I didn’t have time to do some basic admin tasks. I didn’t have time to.

I just didn’t. I had to, you know, be transportation in my business. I had to, you know, get us where we had to go.

Dana doesn’t drive, so that was a big thing. And plus, I mean, we worked as a team. Do you know what I mean? Worked as a team.

So it’s, you know, I. As I taught her more, I started to do less and less, and then I was able to do things on site, but I still had to, you know, get us there and, you know, do all that kind of thing. So, yeah, having, you know. Right.

You know, basically learning their strengths and then what they. You know what I mean? Because people can improve on things too. So sometimes there’s untapped potential that no one really knows until you kind of get to know them.

And how do you find that? You know, I guess it’s just. I have an, you know, I’m very. I have an eye for things, and then I can pick up on things.

So I’m kind of observant. I am very common sense, street smart, slash seriously intelligent. So I just sort of observe people and then, you know, and it may not come to me right away, but I’ll, like, notice, be like, well, that was interesting.

And then I’ll step back and then I’ll reflect on it and I’ll be like, hey, what do you think about this? What do you know? What are your thoughts about that? You know, because sometimes, you know, when you’re hiring someone, you need them to fit a certain role, but then they can also branch out and do other things, too. So Dana wound up doing some things in regards to, like, research. I would give her, like, little, like, projects online.

She turned out to be like a little like, you know, Internet gangster, you know, like, you know, like, you know, just finding information and, you know, things like that. So about just things, you know, like maybe like stuff on Airbnb or, you know, whatever, just obtaining more and more information. So that turned out to be really helpful too, you know, because when I really had a small team, obviously it’s really me and then a couple other people, and then I branched out and hired a few other
people, you know, so it’s just.

It’s just, you Know, like you said, just learning, you know, who you hired and getting to know them and then, you know, going from there and then elevate hat stellar reality. You’re fine. You could just say elevate.

It’s okay. Or maybe I’ll just call it elevate. It’s okay.

It really grew. At some point, you had quite a few vacation rental properties. Well, starting out, well, really strong out the gate.

Like, you know, I had probably. I think I had three owners with 11 property, like 11 units and on four properties. So it was pretty, pretty big.

And that’s why I had to hire somebody right away, because I was doing like three or four turns a day. And I had to, like, you know, go From Largo to St. Pete to, you know, to Tampa. So we had to keep it moving.

So that’s why, you know, I said, well, me and her worked as a team because we had a lot to do in one day. So, like, I would do the xyz, she would do abc. And then we were just, you know, bust through them.

And then. Because that was really daily money, like, you know, making money to pay the bills. That’s all turnovers was, to me, it wasn’t.

It wasn’t. I’m not a cleaning company like that. I don’t.

I am literally licensed for real estate property management. So the turnovers was just an outlet or a means to make money to pay bills. Like, that’s all it was.

So. And then along the way, other things developed, you know, like staging and design, like light landscaping, like a whole bunch of other things that I was like, well, these properties need this too. So that’s kind of like where that turned into.

And yeah, we just kept growing. Another owner came by, came along, and they had three properties, you know, and then I wound up getting into conversions of mini mansions or other properties from, like a residential home and they were leaving the country or. And they wanted to do something with their mansion.

And then there’s like, just long term trying to make it like a shorter or midterm, you know, but it’s all about location. So, you know, you can’t just, you know, just like everyone thought they could just buy a property last year and they’ll make money in vacation rental space. Like, no, that’s not how it works.

And also, communities are changing their zoning laws. Oh, right. And that’s the biggest problem, right, is that all the permits and the zoning, you know, everything just completely changed at the same time as everybody was scooping up all this real estate, all this all These properties.

So then you’re like, oh, you’re not allowed to do short term here. You have to do midterm. And that’s how midterm came about.

The term midterm. Right? Yeah, midterm is getting popular. Yeah.

I actually just drafted a midterm lease template. Just FYI, it’s for sale. But this.

But the vacation rental industry has taken a little bit of a turn because of all of those. I believe there’s a lot of uprise in the community. You know, a lot of these neighbors are not happy with having Airbnb next living next to them and so they’re kind of pushing back.

And so have you found that Elevate has taken a little bit of a hit? It wasn’t really so much with that. I mean, to be honest. And I, I didn’t find Marry Minnie like pushback of that.

Like, it’s more about, I think that everybody just wanted a piece of the pie. So, you know, the town, the city, the state, you know, they want a piece, they want more of a piece of the piece of the pie of the vacation rental industry. That’s what I found in my observation.

More the. Of course there’s probably some neighborhoods and they had the wrong type of house there, meaning they’re allowing parties there. Like, of course they’re not going to want like a party there.

And there’s like kids in the house, you know, like, you know, they want a party house. And that’s. And that’s too about structuring, you know what I mean? Like if, if you’re doing one day rentals, like you’re gonna maybe have a party.

So, you know, so of course that’s gonna make some neighbors upset depending on where it was in location. But my decline was really more about because my, my business started to decline just only last month, which is not bad actually. Right.

So. Because I’ve been, I’ve been going strong through up till last month and it’s just more about the industry changing the market, changing that. There’s not people traveling not as much as they were.

There’s not free money running around where people can just be like, oh, I’m not paying my rent and I’m going to Bora Bora or whatever they want to go to, you know, so that was a big thing, you know, over the COVID like people would get this money and then for whatever reason they wouldn’t pay their own rents. And then people were getting evicted and all this other stuff and yeah, all kinds of kooky things. Were going on.

But you know, for me it was that my, the super host that I was involved with, you know, they were going pretty strong. Like they’ve been in the industry 5, 10, 15 years. They’ve been booked out for years.

Like they have the same people coming every month the next year. So if they’re here this March, they’re going to be here next March. You know, so people aren’t traveling as much.

And that’s, that’s anybody that’s, you know, not it. Anybody making any money. Not just lower class or middle class.

Like even, you know, if you’re fortunate enough and you’re, you know, making over six figures or you’re able to travel like that, great. You know, but that’s even getting pulled back. Like I have a condo in Reddington beach that’s, that was booked solid for years.

Years. Every 30 days. Every 30 days the same people.

And he’s. Has declined severely since June because of people basically just not rebooking because they can’t. Right.

Yeah. I think everybody, I think it’s fair to say everybody’s taking a bit of a hit, especially with the, in this holiday season as well. So in your experience with the vacation rental industries decline, how have you adapted your leadership approach to navigate that challenge? Well, I mean I keep, I’m always looking for more and more opportunities, so I’m focusing on for my team just to obtain more contracts for them for turnovers.

So we’ve branched out and we have actually for the last several months turning over spaces for like realtors, for buyers at sellers at closing or for other property management companies for their tenant move in, move outs. Those are all turnover services. We know where we’re basically coming in, cleaning it up and making it nice and brand new for the next person, whether that’s the, you know, the new owner, new buyer.

He’s staging it, you mean? Well, it’s. No. Well, I can do that too.

We can do full staging, however. No, it’s just the empty space. So you like, you sell a house and you know, the, the original owner sells it and they move all their stuff out and it needs to be completely cleaned.

Like that’s a, that’s a courtesy. Like to me that should be happening for realtors that, you know, if you sell a house, you shouldn’t give the next person the house not move in ready. And one of the things to move in ready is not painting or whatever, but it’s cleaning.

You know, you know that you can move in your stuff and you don’t gotta worry about wiping out the refrigerator. Did you find any challenges with your team having to make a pivot? No, because I hired people who have different types of cleaning experience, like whether that was the hospitality industry or commercial or residential. So they all were very familiar with like move in, move outs or, you know, and that type of, that type of, of cleaning.

It’s just I call them turnovers. We’re calling them turnovers. They’re my turnover specialists.

That’s. No one says that. That’s my own branding.

I guess I’m going to have to like copyright it or whatever we need to do or patent it because no one else says that it’s, you know, so I have a team of turnover specialists and you know, they do everything from restocking and laundry and standard cleanings for vacation rentals, but also, you know, for, like I said, the realtors and long term property management companies. And you know, so we’ve actually obtained vendor contracts this past year and I’m expanding them a little bit more and just, you
know, keep, keep that going. You know, I don’t know how many contracts I’m going to, you know, obtain for that.

I don’t know, you know, where God is leading that. My business right now, it just might take a step back. You know, I have, I have other things that I can do and work on.

Like I’ve been sort of just pivoting myself a little bit to my insurance agency, which I haven’t been able to really work. Like it was like 75 and 25. So I’m working my real estate property management company 75% of my weekend, the, you know, Casella Insurance Solutions, 25% of my or less, you know, so I was able to, you know, a little bit fill in the gap, but not really much.

But I just decided to pivot myself. So I’m pivoting myself now because you know, what I’ve learned just recently over the last like six months is that you are your brand, you are the reason why people want to work with you. It’s not your businesses.

Where when I was 12 and I learned business, your business and your personal life were different, were separate, they weren’t the same. Your name wasn’t even attached to it. Like my dad had our music store and it was called Dennis Michael Studios.

That was so crazy because his name was in it. That’s his first and middle name. So people were like, that’s weird.

They’re like, I just come up with another name, you know, so, you know, that was probably. And just, and I just said that out of nowhere. So, like, we’re just recalling that moment.

So, you know, it was very separate, you know, and now, you know, people really want to work with you, for you. And that’s been a lot of my. How I’ve gotten to clients and, and worked with people in the real estate space, with owners, is that, you know, they just wind up becoming familiar with me or, you know, obviously, like, I replied to a post, let’s say on.

In a group or whatever. And then. Yeah, I was going to say, I think social media has really changed.

Oh, yeah. That we want to get in more intimate look at the people that we’re dealing, doing business with. But then you have to be selective with your.

We want to feel like we’re friends. Yes. But you want to be selective with your personal life as well.

So I have like four or five pages that people can all reach me on. So. So, like, if I, if you, if I let you to be a friend, like on my personal page, like, friend requests me and I accept it.

Like, that’s a really big thing for me because I do want some privacy and I am selective in who I allow. And what about. And I always.

I think that this is interesting too. I think social media kind of blurs the lines as well for employers and employees. Absolutely.

So how do you. Or do you keep any. Are your employees friends with you on social media? I have allowed some of them and, you know, it doesn’t happen right away.

Like, I don’t, you know, if I hire you today, doesn’t mean you’re going to be my friend on Facebook tomorrow or today. So, you know, I. It’s. It’s a comfort level.

You know what I mean? It’s definitely a comfort level. And I don’t even. To be honest, I know I could probably Google people right before I hire them.

I always forget and then I make Dana do it or something. So. Because I know that’s a big thing too.

But, you know, it’s, It’s. There is, you know, some privacy that you must keep. You know, that’s why I’m kind of glad I have set up myself and my businesses the way they are.

You know, different pages for my bit different businesses, a different page for my own personal branding, which I had forever was an. It was just an insurance agent page and now it’s my entrepreneurial business consulting page. So, you know, I’ve changed things, morphed it.

So, you know, it’s just, it’s just making social media work for you in your Comfort zone. Yeah. I sometimes think that you want to be friends with your employees, but you also need to maintain a level of authority.

Yes. And sometimes that’s hard when. When you get too.

Well, you’re not meant to be friends with everybody. Not everyone’s meant for you, you know, like, and. And you can hire someone.

They could be great, but it doesn’t mean you want them, you know, watching you and your kids, you know, like, you know, on videos and pictures and stuff, you know. You know, that’s not necessarily the case. Yeah, you got to have comfort level.

You know, you got to get to know people, whether that’s three months, six months, one year. Like, your spirit will feel it, you know, your energy will feel it. So you’ve decided to make a little bit of a pivot or have time to make this pivot, and you’ve, in that process, have created a support group that.

For leaders, for other leaders, coaches, mentors. And I wanted to kind of get into that purpose. How.

How were you inspired? I mean, listening to your story, you have had a lot of ups and downs. And I. I personally feel that leadership is about resilience and empowering others to be resilient. Yes.

And when you told me about this support group, that’s the first thing I thought of, because we typically do not think about leaders and what they need. We think about, you know, what they can provide for us and how they can encourage us and influence us and inspire us. Yes, but you’re thinking about the mentor and the leader and the coach and what they need, so.

Well, I’m just thinking about me as myself. Like, you know, I mean, I’ve. I’ve, like I said, been in hibernation for many, many years, up until, like, recently this past year.

And I spent many holidays alone, many birthdays alone. Whether I was married or not, I spent just a lot of time alone and there. And for me, you know, the one reason why I launched the support network just this past week was because of the holiday season, because there’s gonna be a lot of people who are alone, who are suffering, who are silently suffering, and we don’t know because they hide it really well.

So I wanted to create a support group that I call Revive Support Network for specifically coaches, counselors, consultants, mentors, and leaders. Because we often time give ourselves. Give of ourselves so much that, you know, we become drained ourselves, that we, you know, or we don’t have someone to even speak to on a personal level, you know, that we feel comfortable with, that we can just share maybe how Our day was like, vent as a professional.

And I just felt like that was just so important that we have a space that we can come, a safe space that we can come to both pour into, but also receive and fill our own cups. So it’s like, it’s truly a community that we’re working together to do that. You know, like, it’s.

It. Yes, I’m leading it, and yes, I’m going to set that precedent or, you know, whatever, but it’s. It’s to ultimately for the greater good, it’s ultimately for everyone to come and feel, okay, I need to talk to somebody today.

Or what did Jackie say today? You know, whatever, for inspiration, because I’m having a hard day. And what advice would you give to those leaders that are coming to you? What is the first piece of advice that you would give? You know, just allow yourself to be vulnerable, allow yourself to be open, allow yourself to be adaptable and to whatever comes into your day and to whatever this, this group will bring. Because it’s.

It’s meant there to really be a place that you feel warm and welcome. Right? So, you know, for me, you know, just come as you are. Like, it’s okay.

Like, we don’t have to be perfect. We, you know, yes, we. We are leaders.

Yes, we are mentors, you know, but we can have some messy things too sometimes, you know, our lives aren’t perfect. We’re human. You know, we all struggle with something, you know, in different times, different seasons of our lives, whether that’s personally, professionally, you know, whatever.

So, I mean, to be honest, like, it’s just, you know, just be open. Be open for the possibilities. And in closing, what.

What resources or connections do you need to carry on your mission? I mean, you have quite a few things going. Yeah, I mean, in order to pivot my business and myself, especially with the affordable housing epidemic that we have, is that, you know, I’m really looking for investors that see my vision, that want to help me fuel that with. With funds.

So that’s what I need at this point. So I need that for that business. And in general, you know, just everything that I do is just very.

To help everyone else. You know, ultimately, it’s just to help everyone else. So even, like with my consulting services, it’s to, you know, help the person, you know, to educate them and empower them and elevate them to go from nothing to something, you know, like they, you know, working at a gas station to, like, you know, having their own business, you know what I mean? And being Living their passion with their purpose.

Because your passion is usually. Is your purpose. Just people don’t realize that.

So what you love is usually what you’re meant to do. So, you know, there’s just so many facets of things that, you know, I do. And even with my insurance, you know, my insurance agency, you know, I’m there to help protect what matters most to you.

Right? Because, like, there are some crazy people out there and we have to protect, you know, ourselves, you know, our assets and what we invested in ourselves and our family and our businesses. And, you know, that’s very important. So, you know, life and retirement planning is very important and business insurance is very important.

So, you know, for me, it’s just, you know, it’s all has one common goal is all to, you know, educate, empower, and elevate the community wherever they are. I love that. How can people get a hold of you? Well, all you have to do is literally Google my name because I take over the whole Google search, which is awesome.

I did such a great job this past month, you know, you know, doing. I became a published author. Like, I’m literally.

You could find everything, other podcasts, everything is there. So it’s pretty. It’s pretty amazing, actually.

So they just have to put in Jackie Casella or Jacqueline Casella, and they’ll find me on, you know, YouTube, on Facebook, on Instagram, on LinkedIn. Like, they’ll find me everywhere and anywhere that my name is literally attached to. Well, awesome.

Thank you so much, Jackie. Thank you. It’s been inspiring, informative.

I am sure that our audience has benefited from listening to your story. I am super. Also excited about the second episode we’ll have Loose Colin on, which is.

She is a mother of five, owner of the Hivox group. She was a highly successful real estate agent and leader with a background in social sociology pre med and has fostered a collaborative hive mentality among her team at Keller Williams, encouraging cooperation and collective success. Thank you again, Jacqueline Casella.

Thank you so much, Whitney. I really appreciate being here and I love that I’m your first guest. Yes.

Sam. Sa.