Accidental Business While Carlson always nurtured a passion for protecting the environment and the health of her friends and family, she never thought she would end up as an executive in the multifamily housing industry. It happened almost by accident.
When she graduated from college in 1981, she had trouble finding a job. Her friend’s father, a developer, gave her a part-time summer job. While there, she decided to get her real estate license.
It was a time when the tax laws allowed people to invest in real estate for a negative cash flow, Carlson explains. Her boss was selling some smaller properties at the time and there was no management firm in place to run them.
Carlson believed she would be able to handle it, even though she knew nothing about property management. Within six months, she had 50 units under management, and she was starting a small business.
In 1986, she realized there were industry associations that she could join and learn from. She started taking classes to obtain her certified property manager designation.
“When I first started my business, something amazing happened,” she says. “Larger management firms referred business to me.” She took on the smaller properties that they didn’t want to deal with, and her business grew. “Now I’m bigger than they are, because they kept feeding me things,” she says.
While Carlson has maintained an interest in environmental issues since she was 10, the 41-year-old CEO does not see herself as an environmentalist. “I don’t think that is a fair label,” she says. “It’s way too narrow.” Carlson prefers a wide view of environmental consciousness, rooted in lifestyle.
The impetus for Carlson’s healthy building management initiative came from the death of her favorite grandmother in 1992. “That gets you thinking about life, and what you’re doing with your life. I decided my life should be more meaningful than about just making money,” she explains. To Carlson, implementing this initiative meant a healthier way of living for the residents, her employees and their families.
“The key is to reduce the use of very toxic products,” she says. “There’s a thing out there called cancer and it’s happening to more people. Certain chemicals cause cancer and we don’t know how. This is a way we can control certain chemicals in our lives. It’s a healthier way of living.”