Alex Johnson’s introduction as Casago’s VP of Franchise Operations
Download MP3Hey. Welcome to Costcast. I'm your host, Steve Schwab. Today, sitting with Alex Johnson, the new VP of franchise operations. Alex, so glad to have you here.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the show. Thank you. Sitting here at Classic Con. Yeah. Just coming out of it, and you've gotten to meet all of the people, that you haven't got to meet yet.
Speaker 1:What's your takeaway from it?
Speaker 2:Just such amazing people. Everything has been all about the relationships, and it's amazing to get to know them and talk to them and understand their operations and what's unique about what they do and really seeing that the local heroes perspective of what they're doing on the ground and how their operations work and what's going well and maybe where they need support. And I mean, through all of that, they're all just amazing human beings.
Speaker 1:It's been a great CASACON, and I was so excited to get you into the mix with everybody. But before we get into what the future looks like with you, I wanna talk a little about how we got here. You know, after the merger, I was talking to a lot of people over at Vacasa about who would be good for this role. And everyone from Bob Milne to JB to even Rob Graeber had mentioned your name and talked about not only your work ethic and intelligence, but also just your ability to fit into a situation and really care a lot about the people that you're working with and those connections you made. I thought that was really important.
Speaker 1:And with some of the interactions I'd had with you before we put this job out, I'd watch you stand on principles of what you believed was right or wrong to people who you reported to or outranked you. And I was so impressed with that. And I think that was one of the first times I sat up and took notice and thought, you know, this is somebody who really fits well into what we're doing and making sure that she's going to do what she believes. And as you've come on into this position, you've been living by that every single day, obviously, a woman of principle. And I think that really fits well into what we're trying to do here.
Speaker 1:Maybe if you don't mind, could you tell everybody a little bit about and your background? I know you've got a couple of really great kids who love leaf blowers. Yes. And a husband who's into construction, but maybe just tell everybody about your education and your background and all the cool things you've done up to this point.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I went to school in Colorado. My family is from Colorado. My grandparents both went to CSU, so I wanted to leave Oregon, and that was my choice, was to go and follow in their footsteps. So did that and then eventually came back to Oregon because my mom was there taking care of my grandpa.
Speaker 2:And my I grew up with just my mom. She's been talked about a woman, a principal. She's amazing. Put herself through law school, and my sister and I were young kids, and started my family. And so, as I was looking at that, I was trying to determine what I wanted to do post college and find a big girl job and do all of those pieces.
Speaker 2:So I ended up working for a company called Rentrak, which is now Comscore, and it was big data. But we were kind of a startup within a very established company. So I was working in new media and got the opportunity to work with television studios and movie studios and their research teams, and it was incredibly fascinating. But I was traveling all over, so probably, like, 80% of my time. And I started looking at, you know, different, companies within Portland.
Speaker 2:It was known as the Silicon Forest at the time. And so I was looking at different tech startups because I that was my background, and so I was looking for that. And this company called Vacasa kept popping up, and I kept researching and going, well, what like, what does the company actually do?
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And so I ended up meeting with Kimberly White, who is an amazing human being, and ended up taking a role that I expected to be a lot of project management and doing that, and it ended up being helping really scale the business. And how do we do that? And it was supposed to be my break. I was gonna just take a take a beat, work a job that I wasn't taking home with me, and I ended up falling in love with all of the people and the industry and really working in the hospitality sector, but taking all of my knowledge of business processes and business. So then ten years later, I was still there.
Speaker 1:And so within those ten years of working at Vacasa, you filled a lot of different roles and positions and led a lot of pretty interesting initiatives. Can you maybe tell us
Speaker 2:a little about Talk about all of those? Yeah. Yes, so I really ended up being the person who was running anything that wasn't field operations. So most of my time at Vacasa was working side by side with Bob Milne, who I would say is a friend and a mentor and just an overall amazing human being, again, that I got to learn from. But we I had a whole team that was because of the project management that I did, we would end up launching new initiatives.
Speaker 2:So we stood up a supply chain team because we really felt like we needed to be doing better at that and helping our local teams and really negotiating that. So I set up supply chain and ended up running damage claims, everyone's favorite topic. But we implemented the program, and then I ended up running it. So, you know, at a startup, that's the piece that they get you on is you help launch something, and then you just run it.
Speaker 1:And then you're in charge of Yes.
Speaker 2:You're in charge of it. Yes. Same thing with onboarding. So we saw an issue between who is in charge of actually launching homeowners and making sure that that's smooth, and is that a sales function? Is that an operations function?
Speaker 2:So we tested out having a person who was actually doing onboarding, which became our onboarding department. So wore a lot of different hats. And then as we grew, I know what I don't know. So like supply chain did not make sense for me to run. I always told Bob that I don't know supply chain, I just know enough about business not to make a bad decision.
Speaker 2:So started moving those to the places that they should go, and I ended up running onboarding for several years got to know our sales team through that, which eventually became my most recent role, which was vice president of homeowner sales and marketing, and really working with our very cool sales team who are just excellent at what they do, with our marketing team who also is excellent at what they do, and determining how to grow our markets, which was just a lot of fun, a really high energy team to work with.
Speaker 1:In the entire industry, I think the Vacasa sales team is like no other team in the world.
Speaker 2:They're just doing And what we full of talent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah and you know nobody recruits and brings on homes like the Casa. You know just the amazing amount of talent and their ability to do that is unparalleled.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I totally agree. And being able to work directly with them and know that not only are they really good at what they do, they're trying to do the right thing for the homeowner always of, does this make sense? And how can we be your partner? And really understanding the value of property management and short term rentals and being that expert.
Speaker 2:And they're just, again, amazing humans. It's the theme throughout my entire time in this industry has been that I've been able to work with really amazing people.
Speaker 1:So great. So I'm actually excited a about some of those experiences you've had being able to bring over to Kosago. I think there's just a vast amount of experience you bring that we can learn from and integrate with and discover and find ways to improve our franchise operations, support our franchisees, you know, methodologies, these sort of things. Maybe describe what your current role is and then we'll talk a little bit about maybe some of the plans you have into the future. Yeah,
Speaker 2:So many plans. As I, you know, am what eight weeks in?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you get your feet under you,
Speaker 2:I totally know what I'm doing. So I am working, I get the pleasure of working with Jackie Nord and her team, and they are the heroes to the franchisees. I mean, hear nothing but amazing things about the support that they give. And so really pouring into that team with knowledge and ways for us to bring more information to our franchise partners and in their regularly scheduled meetings, making sure that we're bringing value in and helping them with what's unique to what their needs are in their business, what's going well, and where we can help flex in on on things. I think the piece that I really want to bring is that I've seen Vacasa from, like, 800 units to 40,000 units, and so that means we run a lot of different processes.
Speaker 2:And it's not always that the process is broken, it's that the scale changes. And I can take that knowledge to the different sized franchisees and say, well, have you tried this? And taking all of those. Because I think we're not always changing processes because they're broken, but they might just not be the right fit for, you know, maybe it's a dense market, maybe it's a geographically dispersed market, maybe there's a 100 homes, maybe there's 20 homes, you're going to have a different solution for that. Yeah.
Speaker 2:We've always joked about standardized flexibility, so I love a good oxymoron. But it's true, right? We have to try and find some standards that we can give, but then be willing to adjust those and adapt them and help the teams that are really running their businesses adapt those processes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I see it time and time again and that's why I think the franchise model works is because the truth is you can't run San Diego the same way you run Snowshoe Scottsdale the same way you run Porta Penasco, Mexico or Cabo compared to Miami. There's just night and day differences. I think there's the universal principles that we talk about, you know, being owner centric, know, making sure we're taking care of the guests, transparency, honesty, safety, you know, these sort of items. But when we get into, you know, SOP and needs of the homeowners and guests and community, you know, you're inflexible, you end up destroying your own portfolio.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yeah. You can lose trust so easily, and then you're digging from out of that and building back your reputation because it didn't go well. And so I think when you have standard principles that you're going by, and then that gives you kind of your guardrails or your sandbox, if you will, of where how you're gonna make those decisions and how you're going to build out your SOPs.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So as we're transitioning, you know, Vacasa inventory over to Casago franchisees, it's a big process and there's so many complexities at work and so many different teammates at work. Huge. It's just, it's unfathomable the amount of work that's going into this and resources to make sure we do it well, make sure we honor, you know, Vacasa homeowners and teammates bringing them over to Kosago, making sure that we're putting the right process in place and that we're not messing up things like data or phone work statements or operations, you know, there's so much that goes into this. Maybe you can talk a little bit about once a franchisee has moved over, how we're going to be supporting them and how operations and your oversight, you know, as VP of franchise ops, we're making sure that we're really doing the right thing by our franchise partners.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that there's a lot where you have to adapt it to what that unique situation is. Is it an existing franchisee who is now suddenly growing their portfolio? They need a little bit different support than someone who is really excited about the opportunity in short term rentals and coming in brand new, fresh, brand new business. What do they need and what do they need to learn? And I think the way I look at, my role and my team is being their partner and their guide, call it a business consultant if you want to, but to sit with them and talk about their business and make sure that they're supported at every corner.
Speaker 2:We get making sure that, you know, we're the consistent person that they can come to from the time they sign all the way through the life of the relationship. I think given that there are so many big pieces of this and there's these all these little tactical things that have to be done all the way up to big things, like making sure you have the right insurance and you're hiring a team that can support it. And my team is the team that's there for them through all of that to really learn how they're setting up their business and then continuing to support them. And sometimes that might be let's come up with a growth strategy and work with, you know, homeowner marketing, or it might be, hey. I'm struggling on the accounting side and determining how we've helped find them resources in order to have the experts come in and help them with that piece.
Speaker 1:That's right. When you recently came from Costco University down in Rocky Point, Tell us a little bit about your experience there and maybe some of your takeaways and maybe how it helped you integrate into Kosago both culturally and just, you know, knowledge wise.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I mean, first and foremost, going to repetitive, but the people and just the pride that they have in their work and the love they have of what they do and just the way they treat each other and the respect and the kindness and knowing that they're going to show up and they're going to do the right thing, I think that stood out to me. And really learning the history and where the company came from and your vision for it, because I look at my role as a counterpart to you to make sure that that continues, right? As we scale, that that continues and that we continue to bring that culture forward. And so just seeing how that was built and, all of the operations there and the care that's gone into it, I think speaks to the care that will go into the growth as well.
Speaker 2:So I think that was just amazing to get to know everyone.
Speaker 1:Makes me happy. Alex, as you start to wind down, maybe you could share what your favorite pillar of the orange crudo is and how you're thinking about applying it to your job going forward.
Speaker 2:Yeah, nurture is my favorite and I think that that is the key to successful relationships, be it partnering with the amazing vendors that we have to provide resources, to our franchisees, partnering with the franchisees, building my team mean to me the respect and the trust and doing what you're saying you're going to do, that is hugely important to me. And I think calling back to what you said you saw of me, you know, standing up for what I believe in, I think that's the part that it has to be done in a way where there's mutual trust and respect to have that back and forth, to find your way to the right thing. And so that is what I will have instilled in all of the teams I've built. And I think that's the thing I'm most proud of of my career is building these teams who truly care about each other. They care about the business, and they're willing to do the right thing.
Speaker 2:You know, characters, what you're doing when no one's watching. And I have these teams I've built that I have the utmost trust in. I don't have to be in the weeds. I can go and work on big strategic meaty things and know that they're doing the right thing and they're running the business how I would run the business if I was the one in their shoes.
Speaker 1:Alex, I'm so looking forward to working with you over the next, you know, multiple years. You know, people talk about how Costco is like Hotel California that you can check out, but you never leave. Maybe one of the complaints a few of them have about this, But thank you so much for coming along and I know that our franchise partners and teammates are going to really benefit from your expertise and your character and the way you see the world and integrating that into and contributing that to Casio. Thank you again so much for accepting the position and coming along on this ride. Really appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Well thank you. I will say that kind of the same thing back to you. I mentioned it like I've worked for Bob for so long and he's a mentor and a friend. And so it takes a lot to have someone who can step into those shoes, and at every corner and working with you and getting to know you and talking with you, even just initially talking to you about the role. I felt just so good about where I've landed and the integrity in my leadership.
Speaker 2:So thank you for that.
Speaker 1:Thanks, Alex.
