Ambling Properties is a real estate development and property management company that has been in business for 25 years.
Their team of three executives — Cynamon Willis, Kevin King and Thompson Gooding — balance a team of 150 employees who develop and manage multifamily, senior and conventional market rate properties, while also managing consulting services for affordable and workforce housing developer clients.
The values of Ambling Properties are to enrich lives, build community and create home.
The Challenge
“My calendar [and] email [were] out of control,” Cynamon says. “Nobody was really managing my days for me and I was always late to meetings. I was missing conference calls or calling in 15 minutes after they started.”
“My calendar was too stacked with no margin and I did not have time to focus on the strategic business goals. I was more responsive than proactive to have time to really focus on what’s next or what’s ahead of us.”
When Cynamon and Kevin realized they were having similar struggles in managing their calendars and their time, they knew they needed help.
They had just completed a large sales transaction disposition and were buying out capital partners and bringing on new partners, which caused them to revamp their business strategy and the pipeline of business moving forward.
“We really needed assistance to make sure that we were doing all the things we needed to, but we also needed help with specific projects as it related to strategic planning, follow up and agendas, along with structuring executive and team meetings,” Cynamon says.
Enter BELAY Virtual Assistant L’Tanya Miles.
The Solution
“In our opinion, it was a perfect match,” Cynamon says. “I have been very surprised — because the match went so well — how quickly we all started working together. The transition of having L’Tanya taking over these things and helping us implement was not even painful at all.”
“She guided us and helped us walk through it.”
“I’m able to guide [each of them] because they’re ready to unveil,” L’Tanya says. “With each of these executives, it was very easy to make the trust connection. I appreciated that they as executives were able to open up [so that I could] run with it.”
And because of that trust, L’Tanya is able to help Cynamon, Kevin and Thompson with calendars that allow room for their professional productivity but also their personal lives, research on various areas, including recruiting efforts, and a plethora of ongoing personal and professional tasks.
“They [each] have a huge personal life going on with a family, so I am really [honored] that they have already reached the level of trust where I can handle family matters for them,” L’Tanya says.
“We had an annual company meeting back in April, and L’Tanya was able to come and my son was so excited to meet her face-to-face because he had heard so much about her,” Cynamon laughs.
The Result
“We’ve gone from me being over-calendared and over-subscribed to appointments to [L’Tanya] helping me work into having one day a week that is a productivity day,” Cynamon says. “And what that has done for me is — I don’t even know if I can measure it really. It’s taken so much stress out of my work week because I know that day is protected.”
“It’s been almost five months now that I’ve had a Wednesday productivity day with no meetings and that’s huge. I’ve not had that my whole career.”
“That is something that I thought was impossible. L’Tanya helped me get everything lined up to where she found me a day a week.”
L’Tanya has been a good fit for not only Cynamon but also Kevin, Thompson and all of Ambling Properties.
“She delivers,” Cynamon says. “She delivers on the things that we ask of her. She cares and she genuinely responds in a manner that you forget that she’s a BELAY employee.”
“She’s part of the Ambling family, and any time that we work with her, I don’t think about BELAY. She operates as if she’s an Ambling employee.”
“For me, the win is the relationship and the results of the things we’ve worked on together that have made all of us better. I’m positioned to be better, not only for the company but for my family because of [L’Tanya].”
“We’re looking forward to continuing to work with L’Tanya in as much capacity as she desires. We have a lot of growth in front of us for our company as we embark on this strategic plan, and we want her to grow with us.”
Meet the Specialist
L'TANYA MILES
Virtual Assistant