Glenn Harper [00:00:00]:
Hello, everyone. Welcome to another edition of the Empowering Entrepreneurs podcast. I'm Glenn Harper.
Julie Smith [00:00:04]:
Julie Smith.
Glenn Harper [00:00:05]:
What's going on there, Julie?
Julie Smith [00:00:06]:
Well, this fall weather is really throwing me for a loop because it's not mom season yet.
Glenn Harper [00:00:10]:
Oh my god. Mums are coming.
Julie Smith [00:00:12]:
They're coming, but it's not now.
Glenn Harper [00:00:13]:
I know.
Julie Smith [00:00:14]:
You still gotta enjoy those summer flowers.
Glenn Harper [00:00:16]:
I know. It's just been hard with the drought. We can't keep things watered. It's just the way things are. Well, the good news is we've got a wonderful guest today. I'm gonna read this interesting bio and see where this takes us today. I'd like to introduce Leslie Alvarez, president and founder of Community Association Consulting Experts Inc. This company is a full service management and consulting company serving community associations in South Florida.
Glenn Harper [00:00:39]:
Leslie is a keynote speaker where energy and passion resonates as her audiences with her audiences. Understanding the issues that face homeowners associations with the influx of Karens and Kevins, she has the skill set to help the communities be the most desirable communities to live in and be part of. Home and isn't isn't home if you all can't get along. She mentors and volunteers to help organizations such as the Member Community Association Manager Council. This niche is one of the like minded people that want to make their community associations better and have clear policies and sound operational excellence. Helping other leaders of homeowners associations with the tools and expertise to run their respective associations of what gets her up in the morning. From starting career as a manager for many of Texas associations and clubs, she decided to follow LeBron and take her skills to South Florida. Just like most entrepreneurs, her journey has been wrought with highs and lows.
Glenn Harper [00:01:25]:
Her resilience is what got her where she is, but more importantly, made her who she is. Her book, When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Tamales, will help anyone who is struggling with the day to day challenge that life throws at you. That's a lot for someone who doesn't have a lot of controversial content out there, Leslie. Thank you for being
Leslie Alvarez [00:01:40]:
our show. Yeah. That's crazy. Thank you so much, guys. I am so grateful for being here today with you today and look forward to a really great conversation. The preface is the the the dog on the on on the lap. Sorry. You you have a
Julie Smith [00:01:53]:
guest we have a guest appearance. Right? Yes.
Glenn Harper [00:01:55]:
You do. We got Coco Chanel.
Leslie Alvarez [00:01:57]:
A guest.
Glenn Harper [00:01:57]:
Coco Chanel's in the house, so that's exciting. Oh, goodness. Well, we always like to start from the beginning, which is, you know, where did you grow up at? Houston, Texas, I hear?
Leslie Alvarez [00:02:07]:
Yes. I grew up in the inner city Houston, Texas area. And, it's funny. I actually my maiden name was McDuffie. So I grew up in inner city Mex Mexican hood, and I was the McDuffie. So when I would walk into a party or something at the age of 15, 16, everyone would say, hey, McDuffie's in the house. So,
Glenn Harper [00:02:30]:
It doesn't blend. Yes.
Leslie Alvarez [00:02:32]:
No. It's like, I look like this, but that's not that that's not who I am. So
Glenn Harper [00:02:37]:
That's defined. Did, you have any siblings, and parents work to work in the house of them?
Leslie Alvarez [00:02:45]:
I'm kind of as a, only child for the 1st 10 years. And, after that, I, my mom had another child, and my my, my father had separate children because they divorced when I was young. So I have siblings, but they are 10 years or more, younger than me. So there's quite a bit of an age bracket. I'm more of their second mom than I am necessarily their their older sister.
Glenn Harper [00:03:12]:
Got it. Did your what did your parents do for a living?
Leslie Alvarez [00:03:15]:
So I, my mom worked in accounting. She worked for various different firms, you know, Shell Oil, places like that and did, accounts payable, receivable, clerical work. And my father was a painter, and he owned his own company as a painting firm for, all of my life. And, you know, he he was that guy that would, you know, go to bed at 8 o'clock at night because he had to get up at 4 to be able to get the crew running to be at the job site by 6 type of thing.
Glenn Harper [00:03:43]:
Gotcha. Is that where you, learn some of your entrepreneurial tendencies?
Leslie Alvarez [00:03:47]:
That is absolutely where I got the entrepreneurial tendencies and the hustle. I mean, it's just I I just go go go go go all day.
Julie Smith [00:03:55]:
So did you did you paint growing up? Were you part of you know, did you kind of help you know, I put air air quotes in there, help your dad?
Leslie Alvarez [00:04:04]:
Well, so my father lived in in another state, most of my life. He he moved back to Georgia. He's from Georgia. He moved back to Georgia when I was 6. And so we I saw I visited him. But it was kind of you know, my uncle's a painter. My it's a family thing that we're all kind of handy. And it kind of just kind of in in I don't know if it's because in my head I knew that I needed to be a painter or what, but, yes, I'm absolutely a painter.
Leslie Alvarez [00:04:33]:
I was painting my grandmother's door frames and door windows and everything when I was 10. I just bought a house, 2 months ago, and I refused to pay for a professional painter. And I nearly killed myself with a pitch, like, 20 foot ceiling trying to get up there and paint it myself. But I was convinced that I was gonna do all the painting myself. So, yeah, I'm absolutely a painter. I can do a straight line without any painters tape as I cut in and and along the floor. You name it.
Julie Smith [00:05:02]:
As I think about your situation, it's too bad it wasn't plumbing. Right? Right.
Glenn Harper [00:05:09]:
So those skilled trades are something. They're very they come in handy sometimes.
Leslie Alvarez [00:05:13]:
Yeah. He in a later life, he started doing carpentry, and I've always been kinda scared of, you know, saws and power tools and things like that. So now that I bought this house, I actually renovated my own pantry, pulled out the old wire racks, bought myself a circular saw and a miter saw, and built wood custom stained shelving in my pantry. It's my first carpentry project. I'm very proud of it.
Glenn Harper [00:05:35]:
Better be careful. You're gonna ruin all those stereotypes out there.
Leslie Alvarez [00:05:37]:
I know. I know.
Glenn Harper [00:05:40]:
So as as you grew up, you, you obviously were doing some side jobs and hustling and things. Did you play any sports or anything like that while you're in school?
Leslie Alvarez [00:05:48]:
I was a complete bookworm. I was inside the house. I say I was meant to be a property manager from childhood because I had every Barbie house, Barbie pool, Barbie mall, you name it. And all I ever did was spend time spend time putting it all back together after my grandmother babysat at the house. And so while I was at school, these kids would come in there and play with my Barbies and destroy the Barbie Barbie City. And I spent the whole weekend doing nothing but reconstruction and, you know, putting it all back together, which is basically what a property manager does every day. So I'm like, I was it was apparently, meant to be.
Glenn Harper [00:06:28]:
That has to be so frustrating. Everybody in your toys, tearing them apart, then you got to put them back together every night.
Leslie Alvarez [00:06:34]:
I say I never played Barbies. All I did was construct the city.
Julie Smith [00:06:39]:
For them to play with.
Glenn Harper [00:06:40]:
To to destruct. Well, did you have did you have some caring tendencies when you were younger and to try to tell people what to do and how to do things? Or did you just like, I don't wanna be like that. I wanna do it in a better way.
Leslie Alvarez [00:06:52]:
I will not call it a Karen tendency. Okay?
Julie Smith [00:06:56]:
We call it leadership in my house because I have Yes. Some strong female kids too.
Leslie Alvarez [00:07:01]:
Yes. Sheryl Sandberg says that in her book, Alina. And she says, you know, that little girls need to, you know, little girls need to be, you know, not told that they're being bossy, but in in, you know, how wonderful their leadership skills are. Because that's what you say to a boy
Glenn Harper [00:07:15]:
Correct.
Leslie Alvarez [00:07:16]:
When he's taking the lead and taking charge on issues. So, yeah, I had great leadership skills. Absolutely.
Glenn Harper [00:07:22]:
You knew how to organize. That's exciting. Well, you know, at some point, you know, if you get through school and bookworm that you were, you decided to go to, the Texas Woman University in Denton, Texas, which is just north of Dallas Fort Worth area, where you earned a bachelor in Business Administration and Management. Now, the question is, you lived in Houston. You decided to move north to go here. Is it because it was the largest university system focused on women, 89% of the student body is women, or because Central Texas is less humid than Houston?
Leslie Alvarez [00:07:58]:
None. None. Other.
Glenn Harper [00:08:00]:
Other. What what was the main driving force to pick that school?
Leslie Alvarez [00:08:04]:
Well, so my story of going back to school is actually I went back to school as an adult learner. So I went back to school at 38. I had done a little community college as a, young adult in my twenties, but I was a single mom. I had my kids, I had my daughter at 20 and my son at 23. K. And I moved cross country for positions several times with them, to advance myself in my career without a degree. And when my daughter was 18, I had about 2 years of community college under the belt that I had accumulated. And I took my daughter to a parent wine and cheese event at the University of Dallas, and I was having a conversation.
Leslie Alvarez [00:08:43]:
It's a private college, you know, very exclusive and, you know, very, you know, high end and and group. And, she's amazing to be there. And I really just didn't think that I was going to be able to finish my degree anytime soon. It just wasn't a priority financially. Her she was the priority.
Glenn Harper [00:08:59]:
Mhmm.
Leslie Alvarez [00:09:00]:
And I was at the event, and I was talking to the vice president of the college and explaining that to him. And he said, you do realize that in the financial aid system, the more people that are in school from the same house on the same tax return, the more government assistance and grants you may be eligible for. And I had no idea. So I immediately went home and investigated that and learned that that was true. And it could, drastically affect the aid that my daughter was gonna get as well as my own aid. And basically, for the cost of my daughter's education that was gonna cost me loans and out of pocket, we could both end up with a degree.
Glenn Harper [00:09:40]:
At the same school?
Leslie Alvarez [00:09:42]:
At 2 I decided to do to a different school.
Glenn Harper [00:09:44]:
Okay. Alright.
Leslie Alvarez [00:09:45]:
So I chose to go to Texas Women's because they had a lot more online offerings for me as an independent, you know, somebody that was working. And I was able to take most of my classes online, and be a lot more flexible that way. She lived in the dorms like a full college experience. But that's what I did, and I had to carry anywhere between 15 to 18 hours to be able to maximize the credits for both of us. And that's what I did. I was working full time, 50 plus hours a week, and doing 15 to 18 hours, fall, summer, and spring.
Glenn Harper [00:10:21]:
Was were you living in Houston at the time and doing the classes online?
Leslie Alvarez [00:10:25]:
No. We were in Dallas.
Glenn Harper [00:10:26]:
Up in Dallas.
Leslie Alvarez [00:10:26]:
At that point, we had moved to Dallas. And so my daughter actually attended University of Dallas, and lived on campus. And then I did Texas women's.
Glenn Harper [00:10:34]:
Well, it sounds like you had a lot of free time while you're going to college because you weren't then weren't doing all the coed things that you would normally do at 18. So it it sounds like you had a good good run with that. How did you pick this particular degree as you just knew that you wanted to manage the people in this way at this type of associations and such?
Julie Smith [00:10:50]:
But wait. Let let's take a step back. That's that's getting too far forward. So Yeah. You have your kids at 2023. How did you even get into property management? How did that even
Leslie Alvarez [00:11:00]:
an ad at 19.
Julie Smith [00:11:02]:
Okay.
Leslie Alvarez [00:11:03]:
I thought I was answering an ad to an administrative assistant position. It was an assistant to a community manager. I took the job and worked there as the assistant for 10 months. And then I got promoted to my own property management position with my own portfolio and went off from there. And I focused my whole career. The industry has very specific designations and education that they can provide, that's unique to the to the to the industry. And so a lot of the employers will pay for those classes. And, so I focused on getting all my CAI designations and expertise that I could.
Leslie Alvarez [00:11:43]:
And so by the time I was 25, I was the youngest PCAM, which is, Professional Community Association Manager in the nation. And so that's how I was able to, again, move from city to city to city. I moved made multiple moves. I went from a $30,000 a year portfolio manager at the age of 21 to a 6 figure general manager of a country club by the time, you know, I am now 45. So, you know, I that's how I grew myself. The degree wasn't necessary for the for the job because I had the experience and I had the designations that were specific to the industry, and, you know, I was a go getter. So, that's that's how I did that.
Julie Smith [00:12:27]:
But it seems like that degree was, like, on a checklist for you. It was something that, you know, you may or may not have needed it, but, definitely, there was something driving you or attracting you to checking it off a list.
Leslie Alvarez [00:12:38]:
Yeah. A combination of wanting to prove it for myself and get it for myself, but also get it for my kids so that they could see me do it and something for them. I would walk into rooms and board meetings, and the executives that I was working with were, you know, millionaires. And, you know, everybody's, you know, degrees are on the wall, and you've got PhDs and everything. And here I am telling them that they can't, you know, leave their trash can out at the street. And I just got a high school, you know, diploma. And on top of that, they don't even know that I graduated high school when I was 15 from homeschool. So like, I just like, I can homeschool high school diploma, like, you know, so the role that I was in was just a much bigger role, than considering my educational background.
Leslie Alvarez [00:13:29]:
And I just really wanted to have it so that nobody could ever call me out for saying that I didn't have it because it was really uncomfortable sometimes in those rooms when people, you know, everybody's shaking hands and talking about where they went to school and I didn't, you know, I was raising kids while everyone else was in college.
Glenn Harper [00:13:46]:
Do you feel that after you got that degree, do you feel like you were treated differently, like you now belong there? Or do you think it did it mattered more for you than it mattered for everybody else because your skill set was so good?
Leslie Alvarez [00:13:59]:
It absolutely only mattered to me. Yeah. It didn't matter to anybody, and now I've just got student loan debt to pay off.
Glenn Harper [00:14:06]:
Which is which is awesome. Well, yeah, that's what real Americans do. They go into debt and buy stuff. That's what we do, invest in ourselves. Yeah.
Leslie Alvarez [00:14:13]:
So it's like, really? Yeah. So my son actually decided not to go to college. And, you know, I can't even argue the point. You know, my daughter's got her MBA, and she's doing great. But he's like, mom, you got into community management, and you've done really well without a degree. And so he's following in my footsteps, and he and I have now, you know, opened our our management firm, and he's working with me. And he's like, I don't need a degree for this. You didn't need one for 26 years.
Leslie Alvarez [00:14:35]:
Like, it's gonna be fine. And it's true. He's a very sharp guy.
Glenn Harper [00:14:39]:
Isn't it funny, Julie? You know, we get a variety of entrepreneurs. Some are like they got their doctorates, some got their masters, some got their bachelor's, some have none at all. It just whatever their journey on is, they may or may need the college validation to get into the club to do their perspective, trade or business that they wanna do. But a lot of times, most entrepreneurs, they don't need any of those degrees, which is crazy because everybody we've been led to believe that you have to have that. So it's 2 different paths with your kids. We'll see how they're both gonna have different journeys. They're both gonna be happy, and they wouldn't neither one would have happened without whatever they're doing. But it's just funny that we think people think to be an entrepreneur, you have to go to college to do something, but you really don't.
Leslie Alvarez [00:15:22]:
Right. Yeah. Absolutely.
Glenn Harper [00:15:24]:
So, you know, as you're doing this thing, you know, the homeschooling I'm gonna go back to that because the whole education thing is a whole weird thing in the country right now. Now. Right? Like, we don't know who's teaching what or how. But at 15, so 3 years early, you had all the skill set to know that you could graduate high school at 15. You didn't have to, quote, waste another 3 years to go to school. Who taught you?
Leslie Alvarez [00:15:49]:
I taught myself.
Glenn Harper [00:15:51]:
Wait a minute. Hold on a second. How does one teach themselves and stay motivated and be able to take the test if
Julie Smith [00:16:00]:
we teach dad's a painter.
Glenn Harper [00:16:01]:
I get that part.
Julie Smith [00:16:02]:
Her uncle is working. She has that drive and hustle. It's it's in her DNA.
Glenn Harper [00:16:08]:
Who knows how to do calculus by themselves? How did you do this is my inner monologue. So do tell.
Leslie Alvarez [00:16:12]:
This was before the inter this was before Internet too. So you couldn't Google it.
Glenn Harper [00:16:17]:
So how did you do this?
Leslie Alvarez [00:16:18]:
I would read the book and follow the instructions and, you know, just use the book along the way.
Julie Smith [00:16:25]:
Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. I'm just kidding. This is awesome.
Glenn Harper [00:16:29]:
That's I mean, that's amazing. Like, again, the what people think they have to do versus what they're capable of doing if they're faced with the challenge and if they want to do something, they can always do it. Right? That right there is a perfect example.
Julie Smith [00:16:41]:
What was your driving force behind that? Just your personal like, I just want this done. I want this off my like, check it off the list. I always say that. But what was the driving force behind you? Like, you could have went you could have done school for an hour and played
Glenn Harper [00:16:56]:
for the rest.
Julie Smith [00:16:56]:
Which is
Leslie Alvarez [00:16:56]:
kinda what I did. I kind of like, I actually I would sit down, hunker down and on a Saturday and just do all of algebra. Knock it all out in a day. And then I would take a week or two off. And then I'd wake up one morning, and I'd be like, okay. I'll do some English. Let's knock out, you know, 9th grade English, 10th grade English and, you know, literature or whatever the case was, and just progress my way through it. And by doing it, you know, I just in big chunks, I, you know, moved along to the next, and I was done in, you know, a year year and a half or so.
Leslie Alvarez [00:17:29]:
Right? So
Julie Smith [00:17:30]:
So when you would take those 2 weeks off, what did you do?
Glenn Harper [00:17:34]:
Paint.
Leslie Alvarez [00:17:35]:
Read. Paint. Read.
Glenn Harper [00:17:37]:
Awesome.
Leslie Alvarez [00:17:38]:
You know? Watch, you know, what was it back then? Oh my gosh. I was 15, but it was,
Glenn Harper [00:17:45]:
As the world turns?
Leslie Alvarez [00:17:47]:
Yeah. You know, General Hospital, all my children, you know, just just do whatever. I also was raised very religious, and that was actually part of the reason why we chose for me to do homeschool. And, you know, it just worked out that I'm just a very self motivated individual. So my mother worked, I stayed home, and I had a younger sibling, and I would take care of him after school, and that was helpful for her, you know, with daycare expenses and things. So it just kind of was a win win for the family. By when I turned 16, the day I turned 16, I started working. 1st job, Popeye's.
Glenn Harper [00:18:24]:
Nice.
Leslie Alvarez [00:18:25]:
I love some spicy chicken with a jalapeno pepper, But that didn't last long because that was just never gonna be what I was gonna do. Within a month or 2, I got a job with a temp agency working at a law firm and then got hired full time, as an assistant to one of the lawyers. And I did that for 3 years before I moved into property management.
Glenn Harper [00:18:47]:
Wait. Wait. You're at 16. Isn't there child labor laws that you can't be working for somebody at 16?
Leslie Alvarez [00:18:51]:
Well, that's when you can start working. It's the day you turn 16.
Glenn Harper [00:18:54]:
Gotcha. I I grew up on a farm. So it was that
Julie Smith [00:18:56]:
9. Intern.
Glenn Harper [00:18:57]:
Yeah. Yeah.
Julie Smith [00:18:57]:
You know?
Glenn Harper [00:18:57]:
Yeah. They did you weren't on the books. See, that my head just spinning on this one because, again, the the priority of your your mom effectively had to raise you by herself because dad was away working. You got a younger sibling. It's what's best for the family. You guys got all pitched together, and you're like, well, I might as well get smart as I can and do all these things because that's the only option you had. You could've chose to do nothing, but you're like, no. I wanna do this.
Glenn Harper [00:19:25]:
So I'm curious that go getter thing. Again, most people don't choose the choice you chose. They'll choose to be lazy. What was the thing that made you who do you have a mentor? Somebody that says, you can be better than this, Leslie. This is what you need to do.
Leslie Alvarez [00:19:42]:
I just was independent. I just knew Awesome. That I wanted my life. I when I was 2 years old, I used to walk around saying I wanna be a big mama. I wanted to be an adult. I wanted to be an adult. I wanted to have kids. I wanted to have money in my pocket.
Leslie Alvarez [00:20:00]:
I started at the age of 8 making homemade oatmeal cookies and selling them to my neighbors and my school teachers so that I could save enough money to buy my own 10 speed bike because my mother couldn't afford to buy it for me. And I had a specific bike in the Sears and Roebuck catalog that I wanted.
Glenn Harper [00:20:19]:
Did you?
Leslie Alvarez [00:20:19]:
And that's what I bought.
Glenn Harper [00:20:21]:
Did you
Leslie Alvarez [00:20:21]:
And so I had my goals, and I knew what I wanted for my life. And I just kept pushing.
Glenn Harper [00:20:27]:
Were they oatmeal raisin cookies?
Leslie Alvarez [00:20:29]:
I did make raisin was an option. Okay.
Glenn Harper [00:20:32]:
That's that you had me there.
Leslie Alvarez [00:20:34]:
The 50¢ extra option, but it was an option.
Glenn Harper [00:20:37]:
Peep is it people pay for the extra because they want that, and you can put any price on it, which is the craziest thing ever. So there's the hustle.
Julie Smith [00:20:44]:
But I also think it's, you know, I I don't wanna take away from her, you know, drive and motivation and her desire to be better. But it brings that, you know, I keep going back. It's like the school of hard knocks. Like she wouldn't be who she is today without, well, I got to figure it out. Well, I want the bike. I got to make the cookies. Well, I want to go get a job at 16. I've got to, you know, knock all this out.
Julie Smith [00:21:09]:
I want to go have kids. All of that, I think, just, you know, it's different in today's society, but I it's not necessarily negative at all. Like and I just, you know, to come back to that because I think that's really important and that's what makes you who you are, and it's probably part of the reason of why you are so successful and, you know, how you got to be where you are.
Glenn Harper [00:21:32]:
But another note, again, it's the entrepreneurial journey. Sometimes people just just cannonball into it. You you were doing it with purpose. I I want that. So to get there, I have to do a b c and I got that. Once you get that, you're like, okay. I wanna do that. I gotta go a b c d e f.
Glenn Harper [00:21:48]:
Like, very methodical. Very
Julie Smith [00:21:50]:
Well, and I love that you knew that you weren't going to be at Popeyes for very long. Like, that just wasn't you know, you probably wanted to run the Popeyes. Right? There was probably better better ways to do what they were doing.
Glenn Harper [00:22:00]:
But that employee discount was probably awesome. So that's a whole another thing. So so, again, it's kinda interesting that, you know, as a young, you know, mom and you now have to travel across the country bringing kids in tow, changing schools for them, did they adapt to that well very well? Because, again, you set the example, like, you guys can do this. Did you homeschool them or were they in in the public school system?
Leslie Alvarez [00:22:23]:
Oh, no. They went to public school.
Glenn Harper [00:22:25]:
Okay.
Leslie Alvarez [00:22:26]:
And I wanna share with you one turning point. You know, you mentioned at the beginning of the, of my introduction about the book that I wrote, When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Tamales. I wanna tell you the story of that because it's a little before we started moving this the across the country. When I was pregnant with my son, I was 22 and a half, and, I had my daughter. She was 2 and a half years old. And the my husband at the time my my my kid's father, decided that he wanted a divorce. So I was 5 months pregnant, and I had decided that I was going to leave working, to be a stay at home mom. That's just what my dream had been to stay to really be a mom.
Leslie Alvarez [00:23:10]:
That's what I always wanted. And so I had quit my job like 2 months before and when I found out I was pregnant with my son, so that I could enjoy that pregnancy. Because the first pregnancy, I worked through it. It was really rough. You know, I gained so much weight. It was just like, not fun. And I went back to work after my daughter was born and she was only 3 weeks old. I mean, I was in labor and delivery on the phone talking to my assistant when she was born, and I was 20 years old, you know, so I really wanted to enjoy my son's pregnancy.
Leslie Alvarez [00:23:40]:
So I left my job and then 3 months, 2 months later, my my my husband leaves me and we I have no income and he's not giving me any money. So his mother, who's very low income, you know, Mexican immigrants, you know, she's a housekeeper, $5 an hour type of person, does not speak English. I don't speak Spanish. She calls a trans she calls her daughter in to translate for me, and she says, I don't like what my son did, but I can't I can't help you. I don't have the money and the resources to help you, but I can help you to be able to help yourself. And she handed me $100 in a grocery list. And she says, now go to the store and buy these these items and bring them back. So I did.
Leslie Alvarez [00:24:27]:
And she taught me how to make Mexican tamales. And in Texas, tamales are a hot commodity and you make them and you sell them out of your trunk in a cooler type of thing in a parking lot or on the side of the road and people buy them by the dozen. And so she taught me how to make a batch. And as soon as we were done, she says, now go into the grocery store parking lot, sell them out of your trunk and then go back inside and get more money, you know, buy more supplies. And then you're off on your own. That's that's how I helped you. I gave you the first 100 and now you're on your own. So I actually learned making tamales and supported my kids and I during that period of time while I had my son and then was waiting to get back to work after my son was born, so that, you know, I could I could go back to the office.
Leslie Alvarez [00:25:16]:
And then throughout my life, all throughout the years, as I was working my way up in the in job, you know, expansions and relocations, you know, if I had a job loss or if I had a Christmas that I didn't have enough money to pay for Christmas or if I had a birthday party for 1 of the kids and things and I needed extra money, I would just break out the tamale pot. So I consistently made tamales and supported us. And literally, you know, the the analogy that you said about the example of the cookies for the bike, I did the exact same thing for 6 months making tamales out of my kitchen. I was out of work for 6 months. My kids were, like, 11 and, you know, 7, 8, something like that. And it was 6 months. And every single day, I woke up, and I thought to myself, today, AJ needs a new pair of tennis shoes. That's $60.
Leslie Alvarez [00:26:06]:
I need to sell at least 10 dozen tamales today. And then I would go sell them and then go to the store, buy the shoes. The next morning, I wake up and say, the electric bill is due. I need to sell at least 15 dozen tamales today. And I literally just took it one day at a time that way. And so the story that's where the story title comes from is when life gives you lemons, make tamales, you know? And my son picked up on that. He started selling candy out of the out of his backpack, you know, and, going to Sam's Club and Costco and buying the fundraiser pack and doubling his money, you know, when he was 7 or 8, I think. And so it's it's that same, you know, hustle and just the drive to to to because there's no other option.
Leslie Alvarez [00:26:52]:
You know, you can I I say all the time, when you get knocked off at the knees, you can you have an option on the floor? You're sitting on the floor. You can either sit there and feel sorry for yourself and become a bitter person. Just, you know, do whatever and just not not really handle your problem. Or you can take a moment, kind of breathe, feel what you're feeling, and then start plotting your comeback. And and that's just my my my take on it is you can't lay on the ground and feel sorry for yourself. You've got to sit there for a second. It's okay. And then, you know, start coming back.
Glenn Harper [00:27:29]:
Amazing.
Julie Smith [00:27:30]:
I'm speechless. That's an amazing story. Do both do both your kids now make can they make the tamales?
Leslie Alvarez [00:27:37]:
They each know different steps, but they don't know the whole thing. It's a
Glenn Harper [00:27:41]:
trade secret. Trade secret.
Leslie Alvarez [00:27:42]:
Yeah. Well, now they I I only make it for holidays. I've reached that point. And, so my son will be like, oh, it's time to make some tamales, mom, you know, because, of course, he's mama's boy, and he wants his tamales when he puts his tamales. We make them, and we freeze them so that he has some for the whole year. And I don't really sell them very much anymore, but that's, you know, I I'm all about you know, the more salt you put in them, the more flavorful they are.
Glenn Harper [00:28:08]:
It's funny. Like, it's almost like you need to have, the once a year tamale reunion just to remember where everybody came from the start. Just to kinda do that reset because that is a very powerful thing to have to go do that hustle every day like that. That is Yeah.
Julie Smith [00:28:25]:
Do you still have a relationship with your kid's grandmother?
Leslie Alvarez [00:28:31]:
Not in the last few years. We did for the 1st 10 years or so. And then as I moved away and as the kids got older and such, she had other grandkids. Like, my my kids were my daughter was the first grandchild, and I was very strategic. I even named her after her.
Glenn Harper [00:28:47]:
Genius.
Leslie Alvarez [00:28:49]:
So my daughter is life.
Glenn Harper [00:28:50]:
Family's big. Yep.
Leslie Alvarez [00:28:52]:
They're, like, the top tier there. But, so the kids still are very close to her grandmother and such. But I, you know, I'm respectful of the fact that, obviously, we've been divorced for 22 years now, almost 23 years. Like, I'm not her, you know, daughter-in-law, really.
Julie Smith [00:29:06]:
No. No. But I think there's definitely a vested interest there. You know, she definitely wanted to see you succeed, and I think that could have went either way. And, like, so much respect to her for for doing that.
Glenn Harper [00:29:17]:
Think about that. Like, if she doesn't do that for you right then, like, that choice for her to show you, and either she shows you and you take it and go, or she doesn't show you, and you gotta fig you'd have figured it out some way, but it'd been very different than this. But how fortunate was that she just did she can only give you what she could give, and that was enough to get you over the next to the next level. That that is amazing. We got a 7
Julie Smith [00:29:44]:
That might be one of the most powerful stories we've ever heard on a podcast, and that's that's that's a bold
Leslie Alvarez [00:29:50]:
statement.
Glenn Harper [00:29:50]:
That's a bold statement.
Julie Smith [00:29:51]:
Yeah. Well,
Glenn Harper [00:29:52]:
you know, then here you are. You're you're hanging out in in Texas and you're doing your thing, and then you decide, you know what? I think it's just I don't like Texas anymore. I wanna go where it's hot all the time. So you go to Florida and I I read about this where you live now, and I just have to read this off because it cracked me up. And when I say cracked me up, I was just fascinated. So and I'm trying to figure out the why you was Florida. I know they're breezing probably why, but so you moved to Wellington, Florida where Wellington, that whole entire village was purchased by an accountant from Massachusetts in the 19 fifties named Charles Oliver Wellington as he wanted to be his flying cow ranch because cow was his initials, Charles Oliver Wellington. After he's there for a few leases and purchases and whatever, the ranch had the largest strawberry patch in the world in your hometown, in your town you live in now.
Glenn Harper [00:30:46]:
And then I think air conditioning got invented, and all the people came down to Florida. And then as eventually, whatever, Wellington, again, just due west to Palm Beach, it became known as the International Center For Equestrian Sports, which is, like, the biggest horse stuff in the in the country. So being that you're from Texas, do you have a horse now in Florida because of the equestrian center or no?
Julie Smith [00:31:09]:
Do you eat lots of strawberries?
Leslie Alvarez [00:31:13]:
You know, and that's interesting to know. Thanks for sharing that because I honestly just assumed it was named after, like, the British, you know, Wellington, the the from the from the wars and such that Chuck.
Glenn Harper [00:31:25]:
Chuck from Massachusetts came down. But Noah, Wellingtonville, how'd you pick there? Is that where the job opportunity was? You had a job, you moved there.
Leslie Alvarez [00:31:33]:
I originally moved down to Fort Lauderdale and, you know, having been raised inner city, I thought I could go live inner city again. And, you know, I learned very quickly that as a suburban mom, I needed a HomeGoods and a, TJ Maxx and a Costco nearby, and I needed big parking lots without parking problems. And so I decided that the big city of Fort Lauderdale was not my place, and so I moved back out to the suburbs.
Glenn Harper [00:32:05]:
Do you live near Vanilla Ice? I know he's a he's a resident in the neighborhood there.
Leslie Alvarez [00:32:08]:
I don't think so. I have no idea.
Glenn Harper [00:32:10]:
I know he's in the neighborhood. Yes. Well, that's great. And so from
Leslie Alvarez [00:32:14]:
Donna's got a place out here too, Billy Joel, a whole bunch of them.
Glenn Harper [00:32:17]:
Which who knew? Because it's inland. Who would who would who would knew that? So that's always exciting. Now, in this, you know, just as, you know, being part of a homeowners association, it seems like it's always war with the residents versus the association because they're always telling you what to do. You're like, I pay my taxes. I wanna do what I wanna do. Where did you learn the skill set to be like, lighten up, Francis. Here's how we have to do this, and get people to kinda assimilate and do what's best for that community for those standards that's set up. How do you get people to do that? Where where did you get that marketing skill to be able to get people to go do that?
Julie Smith [00:32:52]:
Because you're talking to
Leslie Alvarez [00:32:53]:
the hire people. You're talking to
Julie Smith [00:32:55]:
2 people who would be hard to market to.
Glenn Harper [00:32:57]:
Yeah. I'd be like, I'm gonna do what I want.
Leslie Alvarez [00:32:58]:
Yeah. I hire people with really good customer service skills. And then when, they, when the resident doesn't wanna listen to them and they get to me, they get what they ask for.
Glenn Harper [00:33:10]:
Bring it up.
Leslie Alvarez [00:33:10]:
You know what I mean? It's just it's a it's a, you know, will power battle of the wheels. And I I say that to some degree in jest, but truly, I am definitely more of a, rule follower. And so enforcing rules, it just kinda comes second nature to me. And, you know, being that I had the 3 years early on in legal experience, you know, that just I I tend to function that way, and I tend to think more in that manner. So it is important that I have good support teammates who are, well versed in, helping to diffuse situations and such because some of these people can become very hostile. And, you know, if we can diffuse them and flip them around, that's awesome. And then if we can't, then the my assistant brings the big guns, me in so that we can say, it's not gonna happen that way. This isn't this isn't this isn't my first rodeo.
Leslie Alvarez [00:34:11]:
We're not playing it that way.
Glenn Harper [00:34:12]:
Do you feel like most of the people in the community just aren't aware of the rules, and they just need to be educated? Or do you think it's just like they wanna just be bitching at somebody just because that's what they wanna do?
Leslie Alvarez [00:34:26]:
Well, I think every association has a small minority who are the vocal group.
Glenn Harper [00:34:34]:
Mhmm.
Leslie Alvarez [00:34:34]:
And the rest of the people just wanna live their life. And most of them probably know the rules or know some semblance of the rules, some version of the rules and are perfectly okay with that lifestyle and complying. And if they break 1 or 2 rules from style and complying. And if they break 1 or 2 rules from time to time, it's not, you know, the end of the world. But, I think that there are just some people who there it's always a, you know, 3% or so of the community that are just either the the worst violators or the most vocal Karens in the world. But either way, that's who we hear from the most. Those are the people that make the 6 o'clock news. Those are the people that are at the state legislature trying to get laws changed because they're just so angry about something.
Leslie Alvarez [00:35:21]:
They're they just can't get over it. But the the majority of people in community associations live a pretty satisfied life.
Glenn Harper [00:35:28]:
I I would think so. That's why people wanna live there. It seems like that 3 percent is probably the 2 people. 1 is the violator, and one is the Karen ratting people out. And Yep. Nobody likes to being ratted out. But, so you gotta deal with both. Do you have to ever go in and smack down the Karens, or is it mostly just telling the people, hey.
Glenn Harper [00:35:45]:
Comply with what's going on and tell Karen to back off? Do you get to do both?
Leslie Alvarez [00:35:48]:
Is definitely, a 5050 shot. You never know which one it's gonna be that day.
Julie Smith [00:35:53]:
But I wanna go back to you talk about I think this is important for our listeners. You talk about building a team, and you talk about delegating and empowering your team. And when needed, you'll step in. But talk to us about maybe some life lessons you've learned over the years about building a team, especially from the entrepreneur standpoint?
Leslie Alvarez [00:36:14]:
Well, you know, my current business, I'm still really growing and starting that team off right now. But I've been in leadership roles with, you know, management firms and associations where I have built teams. And, I would say that one of my biggest life lesson is, you know, again, I can't do it all. I have experienced a lot in my life, and, without the right support of the t of the team, there's no way I could have juggled it all. I'm a great time manager. I was the PTA mom while I was working 60 hours a week, while I was doing 15 hours of credit of college credit.
Julie Smith [00:36:50]:
So I'm gonna need some pointers over here. Okay?
Leslie Alvarez [00:36:53]:
Club president. I you know, volleyball, basketball, football, golf, you name it. I did it all, and, I did really well. But what happens is I'm really good at juggling tasks, and I'm a good taskmaster. You figured this out. I check things off my list. That means I also don't spend a lot of time often with chitchat and, you know, the the warm and fuzzy Yeah. The warm and fuzzies of the world.
Leslie Alvarez [00:37:22]:
Right? And so I learned I have to surround myself with a team that helps me with the warm and fuzzies so that it helps to build that bridge for my relationships. Because it's not that I don't care. It's just I don't have the time. I'm too busy doing everything that I've over committed myself for.
Julie Smith [00:37:40]:
Can you please just repeat can I record that mantra so I can play it for everyone who's like, you just you just aren't nice? Right? And I'm like, well, here's why.
Leslie Alvarez [00:37:49]:
Yeah. I've got a list of things to do. I'm just here to accomplish a task. You know?
Glenn Harper [00:37:52]:
It's You seem like you're having way too much fun. Your your your smile is engaging like you're just having a blast. The busy you are, that seems like the happy you are, which, again, either lean into that and enjoy it, or you can be miserable and complain. And you've just chose not to do that. You're just gonna be happy with what you do.
Julie Smith [00:38:11]:
But I think as a fellow female mom entrepreneur, you know, I what could you lend to our listeners that some piece of advice, like, I have no idea how you just do all the things you just listed because I struggle with like trying to coach basketball and work and get the kids to, you know, from point a to point b and maybe have a play date every now and then, you know, maybe do a fundraiser here and there and then I'm like, I'm tapped out. Right? Like, I can't go to whatever whatever pleasantry people want me to go to some golf thing. Right? Like, that's low on my priority list. But what piece of advice could you offer our fellow mom entrepreneur listeners that you've learned over the years in regards to juggling?
Leslie Alvarez [00:38:57]:
I will say I used to say yes to practically everything, and I have definitely learned to say no and value my own time alone. And, you know, I I've struggled. There's a you know, I think there was a there was a real I saw or something that was saying, like, anyone in their forties right now who was in the gifted and talented program when they were in younger in elementary, which I was, are now realizing that they actually have high performing anxiety. Right? And we've done it to ourselves since we were children. Right? Because that's what we did. And you listen to my story, and that's all you hear if you really look at it. If I was on an anxiety podcast, we could be talking about high performing anxiety. And I finally, you know, I've I've had a few setbacks in the last couple of years that have had me really, face my own mortality more and recognize that I I have to focus on me more and not all those ancillary things that are all around me and, you know, say no and focus on on on being the best me.
Leslie Alvarez [00:40:12]:
And so I really have started to take a step back. My social calendar, for networking events and such, I'm trying to prioritize those a lot more wisely, to make sure that I'm using my time and my energy right. And, I value, you know, obviously my kids are grown, so I'm done with juggling their sports and their activity, so to speak. But, you know, I I value my time with them, especially now that they're adults. Right? Because getting time with them is they only get 2 weeks of paid vacation. I mean, they only get to come see me for so many days. It's not like they wanna spend all 2 weeks with me. They're trying to go out with their boyfriend to Tahiti.
Leslie Alvarez [00:40:49]:
You know what I mean? Like, I so I have to really maximize that and just learn to say no. And and I I wish I had learned that a little bit younger, and been able to slow down a little bit more because I don't even remember giving my son a bath his 1st year of his life. Like, I don't remember. I know I had a lady that took care of the kids in her home. She was a grandma, and she would often bathe him for me because I would come home so late, and she would bathe the kids and they'd be asleep and I carry him out to the car. And then we wake up at 6 in the morning and I carry him back into her house. So I really don't remember bathing him because I think she did it most of the time for me, which was great. But, like, that was my baby, you know, and my second child.
Leslie Alvarez [00:41:31]:
And I should have appreciated and enjoyed those days a little bit more, but I was too busy on the hustle. I had to because I had to pay the bills, but I wish I had been able to find a better way to deal with it.
Glenn Harper [00:41:42]:
I think it it's that sense. The hustle is the survival. Like, there there's a big difference between just trying to get what you need done, your bare necessities, to then trying to achieve something greater. And I think it was it was probably more survival that turned into a hustle, thankfully, and then you had afforded you all these great opportunities.
Julie Smith [00:42:00]:
Yeah. So we have 2 last questions. Both are the toughest questions.
Glenn Harper [00:42:06]:
Very hard. You should have studied.
Julie Smith [00:42:08]:
The first one is, what is your superpower?
Leslie Alvarez [00:42:13]:
Time management.
Glenn Harper [00:42:16]:
Time management out. Yep.
Leslie Alvarez [00:42:17]:
I'm pretty good at time management. I mean, I I really I can I can do a lot within a lot of within a a little bit of time? I have had so many employers over the years that say, Leslie, you accomplished more in 2 hours than most people in your position do in 8.
Julie Smith [00:42:32]:
I can relate to that. Mhmm. So then the last question, which is the toughest question, which is why we save it for for the end, What is your end game, Leslie?
Leslie Alvarez [00:42:42]:
My end game? Yeah. I want a life. I want flexibility. I wanna be able to have you know, they in South Florida, we call them, snowbirds. Right? The ones that come from the north and and their time. Well, I wanna do the kind of the reverse snowbird thing. My end game is I want a house back in Texas where my daughter's at. She's 26.
Leslie Alvarez [00:43:03]:
And, she'll be getting married in a couple of years probably and having her first kids, and I wanna be able to go back and forth and run my business from either location and be able to spend as much time with her and my future unborn grandchildren, that I possibly can. So I would say that is my endgame, that quality of life, at a different pace.
Julie Smith [00:43:24]:
So you answered it perfect. You get an a plus. But I think the the point of the question is once you have that hustle and drive and you, you may change and pivot how you do it, but you're not gonna stop.
Glenn Harper [00:43:39]:
Ever.
Leslie Alvarez [00:43:39]:
No. Like,
Glenn Harper [00:43:41]:
you're not gonna just, like, I'm gonna real action retire. That is never gonna be you.
Leslie Alvarez [00:43:45]:
No. I'm gonna always be act active somewhere.
Glenn Harper [00:43:48]:
Awesome. Well, I tell you if, we'd love to have you on the show. What a what a great story. And, boy, there's some good nuggets in this one. So if you wanna give a plug for your company so people kinda know who you are and what you do, we'll throw this in here if you don't mind.
Leslie Alvarez [00:44:02]:
Thank you. So, again, my company's name is Community Association Consulting Experts. Experts. We call it, Community ACE. The website's community ace.com. And then I also have a website, lesliealvarez.com, that focuses on my public speaking, keynote addresses, and other other public engagements.
Julie Smith [00:44:20]:
I have a quick question. What do you talk about when you do your public speaking and keynotes? Like, what's your theme?
Leslie Alvarez [00:44:24]:
So right now, my main keynote is, in regards to imposter syndrome. Okay. And it goes back to, you know, not having my degree and all the different ways of being McDuffie in the Mexican neighborhood, you know, all of those things where I didn't feel like I quite fit in. Neighborhood, you know, all of those things where I didn't feel like I quite fit in Posers. And overcoming that. Being a poser. Love it. But
Glenn Harper [00:44:39]:
fake it till you make
Leslie Alvarez [00:44:40]:
it.
Glenn Harper [00:44:40]:
That's a rule. Right? Awesome. Well, Leslie, it's been great having you on the show. I look forward to our guest listening to this one, and we wish you the best on your continued journey. This is
Leslie Alvarez [00:44:54]:
Thank you so much.
Glenn Harper [00:44:55]:
This is Glenn Harper.
Julie Smith [00:44:56]:
Julie Smith.