74 Innovation and Preparing for the Future - Laura Ownbey Aug 18 2021

Greg Bray:  [00:00:00]Hello everybody and welcome to today's episode of the Home Builder Digital Marketing Podcast. I'm Greg Bray with Blue Tangerine 

Kevin Weitzel : and I'm Kevin Weitzel with OutHouse. 

Greg Bray: We are excited today to welcome to the show Laura Ownbey, the director of sales and marketing for Landmark Homes. Welcome, Laura.

Thanks for joining us. 

Laura Ownbey: Thank you, guys. Excited to be here. 

Greg Bray: Well, why don't you start us off with that quick introduction to help us get to know you a little bit better.

Laura Ownbey: Basically I've been in, home-building probably about five years now. I had a background in tech startups, so kind of [00:01:00] utilized that whole thought process of being scrappy, wearing a lot of hats and just dug into home building, and wear a lot of different hats in the home building world, but kind of settled into marketing where my passion is.

And then most recently took on managing the sales team.

Kevin Weitzel: So, that sounds like a lot of business right there. I didn't hear any factoids about you personally. We want to know something interesting about you that people will only learn about you on this podcast.

Laura Ownbey: I mean personal stuff. So, I am, you know, married. Have two kids in college, which I know Kevin found shocking. But yeah, I've got definitely some older children that are doing some amazing things. I've got a daughter who is going into cybersecurity, so always be fearful to piss her off cause she might hack into your world.

So nothing like living in fear of your children, but yeah, it's awesome.

Kevin Weitzel: What schools are going to?

Laura Ownbey: My daughter's going to Capital Tech in Maryland and my son is going to the University of Oklahoma [00:02:00] down in Norman. So yeah.

Greg Bray: So, Laura, you mentioned tech industry startups. So, I just got to point out that home building sometimes isn't given credit for being the highest tech industry.

Maybe that's not fair. I'm just, but it comes, was there, were you trying to get away from tech or, or was the tech kind of, tell us about how you made that leap into home building from, from what you were doing before?

Laura Ownbey: Yeah, no. I think tech, the whole always being creative and work smarter, not harder. Yes, work smarter, not harder.

I always switch them. But basically, just kind of using that creative mind of like how you can solve problems and so in a way, home building has some of the same stuff. There are problems. How do we navigate the new industries and all the different markets that are happening and everything that's going on?

So, I feel like it fit, fed the same side of my brain, and then just using tech way of, you know, yes, we're going more and more online where, you know, this is all pre COVID of course, before I jumped, when I jumped [00:03:00] in, but really just kind of fueled the same passion in a weird way. And then homes are just way more fun in a way.

Yeah, and honestly, they can be.

Greg Bray: Homes are way more fun. That's a quote to keep. There we go. Well, tell us a little bit more about Landmark Homes. Help us understand where you guys build, kind of which markets you're serving.

Laura Ownbey: Perfect. Yeah, we are based in Northern Colorado. So, we've been around 15 years or so, and our bread and butter are actually attached.

So, we were doing attached before everybody started thinking attached was cool. We know that we're trying to get into more affordable housing and different things like that. Just offering more bang for your buck by, you know, getting more in a space if you will, but we do build height and luxury townhomes all the way down to elevator service condos.

And then we do have a small section of Landmark Homes that focuses on single-family. And then we also do multi-million dollar homes too. So we do have quite a spread. And then we're also in retail and so we do, when we come into a community and build townhomes and [00:04:00] condos, we also come in and be like, hey, can we add in some restaurants and retail, some things like that to really give them that walkable features and to build a community rather than just drop some townhomes into town and walk away. We build communities.

Kevin Weitzel: So, uh, two things. One, can 200 grand buy me a house in Colorado still, or no?

Laura Ownbey: No.

Kevin Weitzel: Ever? Like, not even a tiny...

Laura Ownbey: Well, I mean, in parts and parts of Colorado, possibly yes, yes, yes.

Kevin Weitzel: Done in Golden or something? 

Laura Ownbey: No, you might just have to keep going out east in the plains. Keep going further out, but yes, yes. Not in the front range.

Kevin Weitzel: My second question is, is how often are you guys incorporating over at Landmark, mixed-use, like, uh, possibly an apartment above a retail engagement?

Laura Ownbey: I believe we did it a couple of times previously. We haven't done that specifically lately that way. We do have it fairly separated, but we do try to mix in what we have in some of our communities that are coming.

We're not just going to be like, hey, here's a section of town. It was over here, there are condos over here.

We're trying to [00:05:00] intermingle it and it really gives a really good cityscape and mixes it up well. But yeah, we haven't done a lot of the retail below, per se.

Kevin Weitzel: And do you find the marketing is different when you are trying to send a message for, you know, a condo versus, you know, a semi-attached townhouse versus like a single-family home?

Laura Ownbey: Yeah. No, very much. Um, there's a lot of expectations that have to be set because for single-family, most people are used to the single-family world. You pick a lot, you pick a home, then you, you know, marry those two and you go. For us, you know, you have to do everything by building. You know, you can't just pick one home and, you know, that's what you want.

Well, we also still have to sell the other, you know, 3, 4, 5, 6, you know, homes that are in that building in order to build it. So, it's a lot of navigating of reservations and setting expectations and it's way further out.

People are excited. They want to be in this particular home in a building, but that's building number 25 that we're building and we're on building 3, so it's going to be a couple of years before we get to you, but they really want that spot.

And so, if it was single-family [00:06:00] land, you're like, okay, we can build on that lot over here, but we can't. We have to be, you know, a little different. So, it's expectations and things like that we have to set.  

Kevin Weitzel: Now, morbid curiosity. If somebody was, let's say you have a 25 Plex development.

You know, five units per plex, so five plexes. Um, what if somebody does want that last unit? Do you literally hold it for a year, two year, three year period?

Laura Ownbey: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we have, so that's been part of it taking reservations on those because there are certain floor plans, of course, that people love more than others or whatever it is and yeah, they're willing to wait.

You know, but we have to give them the expectations. We have no idea what our pricing will be two years from now. You know, we have to basically set that pricing later. So, it's a lot of, it's a different world, especially doing this now in 2021 where everything is so crazy and up in the air., but absolutely.

Yeah, it's tricky because everybody's so used to their minds of single-family land, but I think more and more builders, now that we're going attached and they're adding in an arm, that's doing some attached townhomes or whatever within their company, that this is going to become more and more common,[00:07:00] but we're just trying to navigate that.

Even on our current website, we're really trying to dig in and figure out like, how do we help people? They go on that natural journey of they go to a builder website and they all kind of function the same-ish. You know, they pick your plan, you pick your lot and all that, but for us that's different.

And so we want to be familiar to our buyers, but we also need to get them on our journey and our journey is just different.

Greg Bray: And do you find that the buyers get that, or is it a big effort to get them over that?

Laura Ownbey: Some do and some don't. And so that's something that I want to work on. I mean, we even have some realtors that are just confused and, you know, they'd call our online sales gal like they just don't even understand, like, what do you have? I don't wanna, you know, so she has to do a lot of explaining and walking through and so that's, what's been a red flag to us, is like she's repeating the same conversations over and over again.

Then we need to find a way to help people kind of get there on their own via the website too.

Kevin Weitzel: Is it that they need to know? Or is it that the real estate agents need to figure it out?

Laura Ownbey: Probably both. Probably both on some levels. But yeah. Honestly, it'll probably be education to,[00:08:00] you know, the real estate community, you know.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do a lot of meetings for the last couple of years or anything to kind of, you know, explain things to them, but in time it'll catch on more and more, um, and they'll understand our processes better. But yeah, it's, it's a unique thing and I think more and more builders are going to be experiencing it.

I feel like we might be some of the first kind of digging into it, the people I talk with and we're just trying to be very, very creative with it.

Kevin Weitzel: Being the trendsetter of, you know, attached buildings there in Northern Colorado, are you finding that more builders are jumping into that arena with you, and is that creating any kind of new complications with what you guys do?

Laura Ownbey: Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, there's definitely, there's a couple, locals that are kind of taking on attached and doing that more and more. There are some nationals of course, that are bringing them to the area as well. Just to be able to offer more options for people in different price points. Yeah, it's unique, just, you know, our positioning and how we do it and just making sure people aren't confused, but yeah. Yeah, it's definitely, you can tell it's kind of the trend and where things are going to be [00:09:00] going, just to be able to help buyers and have more options though.

Greg Bray: So Laura, when you look at these different kinds of customer segments that you're targeting then, as far as you know, because it's a different customer who wants the, you know, million-dollar single-family home versus the attached or whatever. And then of course, on your, on your commercial or, or, you know, retail side, are you guys also trying to sell the actual, you know, merchants or the restaurant to move in, or are you just kind of doing the building and somebody else takes care of that?

Laura Ownbey: I think it's a little bit of both, but we are so I guess, we have a lot of great relationships in Northern Colorado that people are coming to us. People like, hey, I want a restaurant in this area, you know. And then we're like, Hey, we're actually building, and it just kind of, you know, falls into place.

I don't think there's been a lot of hunting at all. I think we just have a lot of those relationships naturally which is great.

Greg Bray: Great. So, so then when you sit there and look at your, your marketing efforts and processes and things, do you spend a lot of time kind of saying, well, we've got, you know, target one [00:10:00] versus target two, and we need to have different messaging and different, you know, everything that goes along with that, or do you kind of, you know, merge that all together and, you know, at a different level? Tell us a little more about how you approach that.

Laura Ownbey: Yeah. No, I mean, we definitely have some higher-end townhomes, you know, that are at a very different price point, you know, cause they're on an overlooking a golf course with amazing views and all the perks and bells and whistles versus, you know, some other price point communities that have different finished levels and our little different price points.

So, we have to absolutely cater, you know, and adjust our marketing accordingly to those, and, but we've really do find that it's strange, but there's a lot, a lot of overlap. So, either people are looking at, they might buy at the higher end, but they're looking at the lower or a different price point too for rentals.

And so it's kind of strange, but really there is a lot of overlap.

Kevin Weitzel: Be that you have the retail side of it, in addition to the multi-facets of various home types, are you marketing all that internally, or are you using partners, or how, how's that working? [00:11:00] How do you structure your marketing team?

Laura Ownbey: Yeah. No, honestly, the marketing team really doesn't have a lot of hands in it.

It's really more of along the lines on the business side and our owners that have those relationships and make it happen. Um, so we, thankfully aren't really having to market it. Of course, we, you know, anybody who moves into one of our buildings, whether they're leasing or purchasing them and things we, of course, consider them our partners and, you know, want those building those businesses to succeed.

So, you know, we even had a photoshoot at one of the restaurants, you know, right next to our office. We want to support them because that's surrounded by our townhomes and all of our buyers, you know, will frequent that restaurant. So, um, it's just kind of a really cool overlap of marketing and partnership and community. 

Greg Bray: So Laura, how, how much do you have in-house versus outsourcing just within your own team? We know that you're kind of, kind of new in your role here lately, from what we understand and so I'm sure you're still trying to figure some of that out, but help us understand a little bit how that works.

Laura Ownbey: Yeah. No, I'm so actually I'm currently hiring for a marketing manager to pass off since I took on this new role of overlapping and seeing marketing and sales now.

Um, and then we [00:12:00] have a marketing coordinator, so we do most basic things in house. So, I just kind of look at the strengths and weaknesses of the team and you know, you have a verbal, creative, I was the visual creative, and I have to get out of that. I can't be there.

So, you know, we might have to outsource more of the visual design and things like that unless I hire somebody who has that skill set. You know both myself and the marketing coordinator have very online ad campaigns, you know, background, if you will, but we can't stay up to the trends. And so that's usually always something that we look to outsource because it's just, there's so much on our plates enough that we can't keep up with all the Google changes and all the Facebook changes and things like that.

So, yeah, those are areas that we just outsource, even though we know enough to do them, it's just, it's too hard to stay up every time you open it something's new going on.

Greg Bray: I, I totally feel that. I, I struggle with that too and that's what we do all day long. So, it's still hard to keep up with. Absolutely.

So, tell us a little more than about where digital fits in your overall strategy and plan. Is it, you know, just a little [00:13:00] bit, is it a hundred percent? Where, how, how does that kind of all tie together?

Laura Ownbey: Well, I mean, pre-COVID. You know, of course, the budget, you know, we definitely, was a large chunk and it was a large chunk of the focus because digital is where it's at.

And then also with COVID going on, you know, everybody's shopping from home. You want to make a lot of effort that way, but then when we didn't have anything to sell for a while, of course, you have to back off of that. But definitely, I sensed a change in the last month or two. I sense where, you know, definitely going back into digital ads and going back into online marketing is I feel like there's a need to start picking back up a little bit.

Yeah. So we've become, you know, who knows what 2022 is going to hold, but yeah. It's always the number one thing on the, our focus of where we should put our efforts and energies towards.

Kevin Weitzel: So, being that you come from the tech background, number one, there's a leading question too, because I know that Greg is over there just chomping like a six-year-old kid wanting to open up a present. But, uh, you know, wanting to find out, did you what projects were you involved [00:14:00] with? You know, cause he really geeks out that stuff, but, being that you're so much so heavily versed in the tech side, do you find that you are ahead of the curve and the thought process of what you need to implement or what, what is considered old hat?

Laura Ownbey: I think so at times. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just sometimes figuring out how to marry the two, um, understanding how he UX and UI of something, and understanding how buyers utilize, you know, your website and different things like that and marrying those thought processes with our industry, which sometimes can be behind the curve and so it's weird, huh? 

So it's like, it's very interesting, you know, to how to like, yes, you want to be very tech-heavy or you want to be very innovative, but you're like, hang on, is that going to be overwhelming for people? So, it's kind of this dance of playing with it. And then also getting, you know, your company to buy in budget-wise to be like, hey, we're going to do some crazy stuff. So, there's always those things.

Kevin Weitzel: Are you looking in different directions for inspiration if you will?

Laura Ownbey: Yeah, I'm trying to. You know I hate that we all default. I do [00:15:00] look at it, every other builders' websites in the nation, you know, all the other, my friends and top people to kind of get some ideas, but I have been more and more trying to look at other industries because we, we really needed to look at online reservations. We're having issues with that.

You know, people are trying to reserve, like I said, like those buildings further down the line, but like you have someone walking in the door with a check, you have someone going into a model home with a check, you have someone calling saying, hey, I'm going to, you know, mail a check and you're like, yeah.

This is a crazy, wonderful environment that we all have where everybody's fighting for your homes, but it's not fair either. So, we need to have like one source, you go to our website, you pay your, you know, your fee online and you reserve your lot or your home. So, there's a lot of just smart ways of trying to spin utilizing tech to get us there. It's like problem-solving.

Greg Bray: So, so you mentioned crazy ideas. Can you give us an example of one of those crazy ideas that you had to go sell and, you know, just so we can get a feel for that?

Laura Ownbey: Yeah. Well, I mean like that one, just doing the online reservations because we have heard a lot of online purchasing it's great [00:16:00] in theory, but the execution or having the follow-up and the processes on the backend, um, there are some issues with all of that, but just trying to you know, just trying to figure out the best way online to solve these solutions.

Sometimes you do get a little pushback from maybe a sales team or someone else who are like, no, just let me handle it all. You don't need to, you know, but you're like, no, it's going to be so much smarter and easier and just trying to get the buy-in on that.

Greg Bray: You know, Laura, I think you just nailed one of the biggest challenges I see in the industry as a whole with moving more and more stuff online. It's the back-office processes that can't support it. It really is. It's, it's the data management, it's the flow of information. It's not that hard to put the button on the website, you know. Compared to what happens after somebody submits that, you know, and then, and then we have to do something.

We just got some money. Where does it go? What do we do with it? What happens next? You know, all this and how do we deal with that. I, I, you know, because you can't really do that with sticky notes and spreadsheets very well. It just, it's just not quite gonna, [00:17:00] maybe if you put a whiteboard into the mix, maybe you can handle it, but it really is one of the challenges I see is that, is that back-office data management, that a lot of builders really haven't given a lot of thought to I, and I don't know. All of them have nothing, but it's just, it's just one of those hurdles. So just sorry, you just push that button for me. So set me off on my rant.

Laura Ownbey: It's true.

Kevin Weitzel: I told you, Laura.

Laura Ownbey: I know.

Kevin Weitzel: Greg, all you got to do is mention some nerdy thing and he's like jump on this and just.

Greg Bray: Don't make me call the editor. All right, Kevin.

Well, Laura, when you talk about you seeing it as an easier process for the buyers, do you have the buyer saying, why is this so hard? Can it, wouldn't it be easier if we could just go on the website and do this, you know, do you get feedback there?

Laura Ownbey: Not, not directly that, and not that I've sought it out specifically to even find out those answers, but I've just seen the frustrations. I more just listen to my team, you know.

If they're having to do something or [00:18:00] a process is broken or they're having issues or there's. Yeah. Like I said, like checks coming in from multiple angles and we have three people reserving the same, you know, home and we're like, crap, how did that happen? You know, we're trying to track and make it fair for everybody.

And so, yeah, it's just, I kind of say I'm Vanilla Ice, you know if you have a problem, I'll solve it. We'll just figure out a way to do it. And a lot of times tech sometimes is the way to go. So yeah.

Greg Bray: Awesome. No, I love it. I love it. So what's, if you had just one thing in the digital toolbox that you're like, you can't take it away.

What's what, uh, what comes to mind?

Laura Ownbey: So, this is digital, but it's probably not what you know, most people would think, but this is my personal favorite tool is Grammarly and I'm not sure how many people, it's only because I'm a visual creative, and there are times where you can, you know, verbal is just not my skill.

Believe it or not. It, you know, when you add, you do postings, you know, anything having that little tool, believe it or not, it just, yeah, it's very[00:19:00] helpful. Checks your grammar, checks your spelling, and makes you not sound dumb as much as I can say it when I'm talking verbally and not my brain goes too fast for my mouth.

You know, it does let you kind of check yourself and it's a simple tool, but it's a quality tool.

Greg Bray: And, and I'm going to, I'm going to confess that I got introduced to Grammarly by kids because they're using it at school. And I was like, oh, what are you doing there? And, and now that it, uh, well, actually it's not just like having the word editor because it can do it when you're typing something on, on the website too, or whatever, with the plugins.

So yeah, it is nice. Yeah. And there's, I, I still haven't mastered those commas that were being taught in high school English.

Laura Ownbey: I don't know it's different now. I was never taught the Oxford comma and I had to get it corrected by my child until yeah. She even had a shirt for a while as a team, Oxford comma. So, you know.

Kevin Weitzel: So Laura, one of the things that Greg and I both experience a lot, is that we work in a world with tons of production, people, people that literally like to just hunker down and do work. [00:20:00] They're not known as being talkers. So you mentioned Grammarly around the office they joke around that they would like to install a speakerly on to me.

So I 's stop yapping so much.

Laura Ownbey: That's awesome. Yeah.

Greg Bray: We're gonna go patent that real quick, Kevin. So we can do that again.

Kevin Weitzel: As you talk the voice box has all this splatter that says then it goes, here's the point?

Laura Ownbey: That's actually awesome.

Greg Bray: So Laura, when you're looking ahead, you know, kind of, you know what you're trying to, to anticipate or get ready for what kind of trends are you watching closely?

Laura Ownbey: You know, we, so we just launched a new website in March, so we're definitely, you know, adding in more and more tools to it and things like that. But yeah, I think the future, I mean, I hate to say I really, really, really hope we don't have another shutdown of any kind, but I mean, we just know that like our, and I mean knock on wood, you know, our industry it's so, I don't see it getting normal for awhile.

And I think we're going to be either dealing with prices and, you know, shortages, like every builder is dealing with right now or [00:21:00] another crazy crisis of some sort. So I think being innovative and trying to get in front of options so that if something does happen, we can easily flip the switch and be able to handle the environment that might be coming. Whether it's reservations, whether it's nothing to sell, whether we have a lot to sell. Whether, you know, pricing craziness, whatever it is, being flexible, and being prepared because we do not know what's going to happen next month or next year.

And I think the last couple of years have really, really proven that to us, that we can not be stuck in our ways in any way. Because yeah, what worked last month is not working next month.

Kevin Weitzel: So while you're, cause everybody's got their finger on, you know, various pulses out there, where are you looking at?

Not just for inspiration, but also for guidance.

Laura Ownbey: Definitely the, I mean the industry experts. I'll be honest, you know, there are so many great, all of you guys that are out there that, you know, speak and give us the insight of what's going on and you stay on a lot of the trends and read a lot of the articles and stuff that some of us, I, I don't have time to get to, but just really that.

And then even[00:22:00] similar people like me with other builders. Just to kind of how we're feeling because there is a lot of just feeling it and kind of knowing like something's feeling wonky right now. And then, yeah, I'm feeling wonky too. And so we're like what's going on, you know, that stuff. Just really partnering with other people inside my office.

I mean, you've got to be best friends with purchasing and construction because they will give you some heads up of something coming down the pipeline way sooner than, you know, I would probably even notice it. So.

Greg Bray: Now, now the real question I have is will Grammarly accept the word wonky? 

Laura Ownbey: Probably not. See, that's why I have it. That's why I have it. Words are not my game. Like it's obvious. Like I can draw you beautiful pictures, but don't make me say things, you know.

Kevin Weitzel: I'm loving this and let me ask, let me ask you a question and not to, not to steal the direction whatsoever, but how are you transitioning in your new role of having to manage a sales process in addition to managing the marketing side of the game? Is that creating new headaches that you never thought you'd have to experience?

Laura Ownbey: Yes and [00:23:00] no. Like it's, it's fascinating when they actually presented this role to me, um, I reached out to my network of people, some great people from builders across the United States.

I'm like, is this insane? Because I'll be honest, a lot of the builders I know, the person who overarches over sales and marketing, most of them have come from the sales side.

Kevin Weitzel: Right. 

Laura Ownbey: It's very rare for someone that I don't know if many and I'm sure there are, I just don't know them personally that have come from the marketing side.

And so it's intimidating, but when you have a world of friends and you have a world of knowledge and I've been adjacent to it enough that I know enough, but I think it was Kevin Oakley. I think it was him that told me that basically, you know, marketing people are more process and systems.

And so in a way, if that's, and that's what we're currently needing is someone to come in and, you know, process and system some stuff out that wasn't done before. And we're a little more structured with that kind of stuff and it is, that's exactly what we need and I'm bringing up salespeople around me with that expertise and those, you know, they can speak better than I can, you know, that wonderful [00:24:00] sales, you know, swagger that I just don't have, but that's okay, cause sometimes the best, best salespeople, aren't always the best, you know process and systems and leaders.

Kevin Weitzel: Wait a minute. Shoot from the hip and are, have delicate egos, is that what you're saying? No way.

Laura Ownbey: Not all. No, and honestly, my team is amazing. There are some great people and so it's giving us an opportunity to rise up some of the people in our own team to kind of take on more, which I think is great. And honestly, like I'm in you know my role, but there's four or five of us that are going to be making decisions together and it's kind of like a group effort and it's really actually beautiful.

Like the marketing manager, I'm hiring. I'm going to cross-train and to sales and have them sit and model homes and learn. We're just, uh, we're going to be this, you know, team.

Whereas sales is fully gonna understand marketing and marketing's fully gonna understand sales and support each other and be on the same page. Which I think is really going to be awesome.

Kevin Weitzel: How did that role come about now? I was [00:25:00] a sniper in the Marine Corps for eight years, so was it's murder, murder, murder, murder.  Did somebody murder your predecessor?

Laura Ownbey: No, no. Um, no, no long, long story short we had outside sales.

Kevin Weitzel: Okay.

Laura Ownbey: And so we had a director with outside sales that when we brought it in-house, the role just didn't fit his skillset and he has a new phase of life, a new baby. He's just, you know, there's a different commitment when you're outside realtor land versus inside builder land.

Um, and yeah, he's excited to take on that new pit, the new phase of life, and, um, we're excited for him. And so, yeah, no it wasn't murder. Sorry. Sorry.

Greg Bray: Yeah, that's that's good. We'd have to change the rating on this episode. 

I think it's awesome that you recognize how, how different sales and marketing are, but how critical they are to work together and bridging that gap, you know, and being able to communicate. So, so we'll have to follow up with you in a little bit and see how it's going later, once you've worked through some of these [00:26:00] issues and do that.

Laura Ownbey: Yeah. Yeah. No, it's, it's great. I have such an amazing team of, you know, our purchasing department, our construction teams. Everybody's so behind me to help me through kind of just navigating and restructuring some stuff and, um, yeah. I mean, I will not hide that there are areas I'm not strong in and that's okay.

I, I will, I have people around me that are strong where I'm weak and I'm strong where they're weak, so it's a great balance. And, um, I'm excited.

Greg Bray: Well, we want to be really respectful of your time. We're so grateful for the time you spent with us today, but before we wrap up, is there any, any last advice that you'd like to leave with the folks out there in listener land? Um, today?

Laura Ownbey: Absolutely. One thing I've learned probably in the last three or four years is I even took a role previous to this before I came to Landmark. You know, and it wasn't fully in marketing and sales, but I had learned a lot. I got into a different builder and supported multiple departments and wore many hats.

And it wasn't, you know, it wasn't where my heart was with my [00:27:00] skillset, but I loved it cause it was builder land and so I feel like no matter what you do, even if you're in a role that is not your passion, learn. Because it's all helped me now in my role now. I help with purchasing. I did so many other things in previous lands and that when you get to your sweet spot, all those skills and all those tools that you're brought in from, you know, understanding the homebuilder from inside and out just makes you stronger.

So that never feel like, not that like, the job is beneath you, but you know, if you're just not in your group spot, so what? Learn. Learn. Absorb it all, because it will make you better when you do get to your sweet spot.

Greg Bray: No, that's awesome. Great advice. Great advice. Well, Laura, if there's anybody out there who wants to find out if things are wonky, um, is there a way that they can reach out and connect with you and, and, uh, what's the best way to do that?

Laura Ownbey: Absolutely. I would bet LinkedIn, just look me up on there. Um, cause if I give you my email, it's really long. So, um, but yeah, just, you know, reach out on LinkedIn. I'm more than happy to connect [00:28:00] and um, you know, another passion is I love Rhonda Conger, you know, females in this industry kicking some butt and it's pretty dang awesome.

So I'm always open to chatting with, you know, young girls getting in and stuff like that too. There's a lot of support needed.

Greg Bray: Terrific. Terrific. Well, thanks again so much for participating with us today, and thank you everybody for listening to the Home Builder Digital Marketing Podcast. I'm Greg gray with Blue Tangerine.

Kevin Weitzel: And I'm Kevin White's with OutHouse. Thank you.