We recently connected with Madeline Yankee and have shared our conversation below.

Madeline, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

As a small business in an industry that is seasonal as well as flexes with tourism, one of my biggest challenges is how unpredictable the market is. Not only do we see a massive decrease in revenue during the slow season, but year over year it’s hard to predict how the high season will perform. It creates a big challenge in trying to maintain the right amount of staff and pay them well knowing we have significant slumps in revenue. I am trying to create new facets of our business to better sustain through the slow seasons, by producing services that are not reliant on the tourism part of our business.

Madeline, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Woodfield Properties has been Owned and operated by Frank and Cynthia Wood since 1983. They are my parents. My mother started the business and it was the first vacation rental company in the Sonoma Valley. In 2013 the company was taken over by myself and my husband, Alex, who has been has been acting Broker since 2016. Alex has since shifted into sales with Sotheby’s and I now run the business myself with 3 full time employees, Ella, Natalia and Nichole.

Woodfield properties does residential property management, estate management and vacation rental management full time. We are available in the office Monday – Friday and on call Saturday and Sunday. Woodfield properties has an emergency pager which gives tenants and guests 24 hour a day access to us. To complete our team, we work with a variety of professional independent contractors, such as plumbers, gardeners, electricians and housekeepers.

For our Vacation rentals, we offer full concierge services and a high standard of quality across all our rentals. We often see guests return to us year after year because they know the quality they will get in any of our homes as well and the hands on service for any of their needs. For owners, they know that we are “boots on the ground” and walk their properties before and after every guest making sure their homes are well cared for. As you may know vacation rentals sometimes get a bad rap with neighbors. As a small business in the town which I was born and raised, it is critical to me that our homes are not a source of nuisance for our community. The neighbors are all offered my personal cell phone and can call anytime if there’s an issue which we will immediately handle personally. This really sets us apart from bigger companies that don’t have the same local approach to this industry.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Having a team of incredible women makes managing things very easy! But, as an employer I think it is critical to maintain a healthy work life balance for all of us. I try to have lunch or dinner periodically with each of my team members individually as well as a whole group. We also try to do fun team building events. I also have a moto that runs strong for me and goes for the whole team. Our families and own mental health is our first priority, If any of us need time to attend to those things, we all step in for each other so that we can take the time needed to be our best selves as well as take care of our families.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

We have had quite a few of these moments! Between the fires we have experienced in our area, to the pandemic, to the recent massive decline in travelers, I have had very real fears of having to close our doors or lay off employee’s. Due to this we have had numerous times where I do not pay myself or used my personal savings to ensure we meet payroll and keep moving forward. Those scary moments have helped us learn how to better prepare for larger scale issues and create a backup plan so that we can survive this ever changing economic climate.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.woodfieldproperties.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/winecountryrentals/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodfieldproperties/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/woodfield-properties-inc-8a6648232
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/woodfieldproper