Why Parking is the First and Last Impression in Real Estate

Introduction to John Conway and Paroline

Drew: Welcome back to the Peak Property Performance Podcast. I am your host, Drew Hall, and of course with us as well, hosting Bill Douglas. Welcome, Bill.

Bill: Hey, thanks, Drew. Happy to be back. Today we have John Conway. John, say hi before I read your robust intro.

John Conway: Hello, everybody. It's hello, Drew and Bill. It's great to be on the podcast. Looking forward to having a good conversation.

Drew: Well, today we're joined by somebody, John, who has spent his career rethinking one of the most overlooked assets in commercial real estate, the parking lot. John is the founder of Paroline and a long-time operator in the mobility, compliance, and parking technology space. He brings a fast-paced, results-driven perspective shaped by years of helping owners unlock revenue leakage, modernize field operations, and turn analog parking assets into measurable digital infrastructure. We like those words, digital infrastructure.

Bill: Yes. His work sits right at the intersection of data, automation, and property performance, which we here at PPP believe is exactly where the industry needs more clarity. So, John, again, welcome to the show. Happy to have you.

John Conway: Thank you very much. It's good to be on. I host a podcast as well, so I enjoy podcasts and it's good to be on your show.

The Importance of Parking in Real Estate

Drew: Yeah. Well, yeah. So, John, it's not a secret or hey, maybe it is a secret that parking is an integral part of a digital infrastructure. I know that obviously sometimes ownership doesn't go right to that when they think of parking as being part of the digital infrastructure, but you've spent years rethinking all of that. Like I said, it's being overlooked in so many spaces. Why would, in your estimation or in your analysis, why is this such an underused data source in commercial real estate?

John Conway: Well, I've been parking cars now for 32 years, and most of my career was in the operational side. So, your clientele, office buildings, surface lots, anything related to parking. So, I think over the years, the parking industry struggled with embracing technology. You had manual processes, whether that was the honor boxes. I don't know if you remember those on surface lots where you stuffed the money in. And really, from a class A office building standpoint, we were really the provider of labor, maintenance, and facilities. And the parking structure was, yes, it was a revenue asset. And a lot of large real estate companies understand that, but it was also a liability associated with maintenance, upkeep. And it was more of a looked at as, we have to provide this for our tenants. Obviously, all conversations always lead back to parking. I think it's the same we had for years. It's the first and last impression of a class A office building.

Bill: So, and I think as technology has evolved over the last 10 years in parking, I think it's becoming more obvious and insightful of how critical not only the revenue is, but why there isn't revenue. And I think that's where the data comes into play and certainly the technology that we're offering.

Drew: Yeah, that's good. I hadn't heard that before, the first and last impression. That's a good one. I had heard parking equals PIA, but I've not heard parking is the first and last impression.

John Conway: I mean, it's been a saying. It's not really my saying, but it's been that, when you think about it, if you're visiting somebody in a class A building, you're parking in the garage. It's the first experience you have with that building and the last. And typically, in my experience, at least going back 15 years, some of those exit experiences were not good.

Bill: That is exactly what's in my mind when I was just taking in that comment about first and last impressions was that exit experience.

Technology Transforming Parking Management

John Conway: Yep. Yeah. Yep. It was a roll of the dice. Right. Exactly. Is the sun's position in the correct spot? When you digitize parking management, what kinds of insights or efficiencies start to emerge? I think it's important to set the table a little. Again, most of my career was in operations. In about 24 years, 23 years ago, I started a company that was mainly focused on the compliance side, which back then it was called enforcement. Prior to COVID, the company had grown nationally, and we were really looking at how do we... The labor line item was the biggest line item, right? So we started looking at how do we monetize what we're doing in the compliance space and reduce our biggest line item for labor, which was labor, our biggest cost line item.

Drew: So we started looking at cameras, and that's when we got into what we call now Paraline, which is really a technology company. And so we're still applying the compliance model to all our existing clients. But I think what we started seeing, yes, we were successful at capturing license plate data and data, but then we started realizing, wow, while we're here collecting this data, monitor the actual parking sections, tracking parking sections, collecting all the other data. So really what we've morphed into is more of a data provider and giving people insights into what's actually going on in their location.

John Conway: I mean, it was very eye-opening when you started deploying the vision technology all over the place and realizing a typical enforcement day back in the day with labor component was 12 to 15 hours tops, right? And so once you install our vision and you start seeing the activity, I was floored by the number of cars that come in from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. in the morning, depending on where it's at. And so it really started opening our eyes at how important, how can you run a parking operation without having that insightful data? How long are people, when are people coming? When are your peak times? How long are they staying? All of that data is valuable and we quickly realized it. And so we started taking the company focus, again, it's our core business, being able to provide compliance, but it's a small aspect of what we do now. And the data is just, every day there's something more eye-opening that you just look at and go, you know.

Bill: And I think the biggest challenge now that we have as an organization, and I think as an industry as a whole, is getting people to understand how to look at and analyze the data, right? A lot of our clients are focused on, okay, how many notices did you send? How much non-compliance there was? And it's like, yeah, yeah, we have that, but look at this over here, right? Your traffic is this, your rate is this. It's probably not the right rate, right? This organization is abusing the validations.

John Conway: Again, our technology is not just a license plate recognition camera, we use AI, we're actually an object detection. So we're identifying logos, we're identifying makes, models, vehicles, all kinds of different things. And so I can tell a parking lot owner, you know, that might own a surface lot in a downtown urban environment, you know, UPS is using your lot every day, right? For their business, they're pulling on your lot, Uber's pulling on your lot. These people are, now you can choose whatever you want, to actualize or create an action based on that data. You may choose not to do anything, or you may choose, hey, UPS, you're using our lot. You know, I want a dollar a car every time you come on. Something that nature, but it's this kind of stuff is eye-opening to people.

Drew: About five years ago, people really don't know what's going on on their lots. And that's why it's critical. I love what you guys are doing, because how does that translate into an office building, right? And so they used to utilize, and they still do for all intents and purposes, a parking management company. But, you know, now you can rely on data to tell you what a parking management company can only tell you probably 10 to 15, you know, a percentage of the time, because they're not there all the time. Most parking facilities now are somewhat automated. And so capturing the data and actually knowing what's going on is critical.

Bill: Absolutely. Yeah. It's a total shift of just an after, you know, moving from an afterthought to truly planning. It's an asset, just like any other, you know, asset that you think about in your entire property. So it makes absolute sense.

John Conway: You know, I can tell you one example we have is we have a large multifamily client that develops properties across the country. And so they recognize the value of the data. They started installing the technology not to apply anything other than occupancy. They wanted to understand, you know, I built a 10-story garage 20 times across the country, and I don't believe I needed to build a 10-story garage. I think I needed to build a five-story. And so the data provides that information. So it's no longer a guess game. It's kind of, we're going to develop a new property. Let's look at some of our similar properties. What is the occupancy like? And they believe they can, you know, save hundreds of millions of dollars in

Drew: Overdeveloped parking assets. Right, yeah. Well, in terms of that dynamicness that emerges because of the entry of data and the analysis of that data, it allows you to do so many other things like, ah, this asset was meant to be for residents or tenants. But, hmm, my numbers show me that maybe in that case that you're mentioning, John, like, oh, man, we've overbuilt for that use case. But wait a second, there's surrounding opportunity as well. And so it's just data. If you can get that data and bring people into that ecosystem, you open up a new target audience that you may not have even anticipated before. We'd see that in other assets that are not parking. So it seems to me like it would be the exact same opportunity in parking there as well.

Revenue Opportunities in Modernized Parking

Bill: Absolutely. Yeah, okay, so on the revenue side, in terms of that revenue recovery, when properties do modernize that parking, how much of an opportunity is there?

John Conway: So typically, if you take a traditional manual operation and you digitize it and automate it, you're looking at a four or five X in revenue. And so what'll happen is you'll deploy our technology. And then over time, about 12 to 15 months, you typically, when we deploy the technology, they're at like a 50% compliance rate. Now that depends on where we are in the country. And we'll see that gradually that compliance rate go up as we administer compliance. You'll see that compliance rate go up to high 90s, like 96, which is ultimately where people wanna go. And that's the beauty of Paraline right now. And the technology offering is we're morphed more into a technology company and not so much relying on notices because over time, our job is to increase compliance. And what that does to the old traditional revenue stream is their revenue stream goes up and ours goes down, right? And so now with the technology, we've moved more to a software subscription model where there's a lot of different offerings associated with that.

Drew: So again, as I mentioned, compliance is one thing. Every space, in my opinion, tells a story, right? And so what our vision technology does is we uncover that story. And so in doing that, you have a compliance as a component, but we also have enhanced customer experience, right? So you're hearing that Class A buildings are across the country. I know the Quicken Loan in Detroit has taken away all their gates. So people are trying to get to a frictionless model. And I think slowly but surely, people are embracing it. I know here in Colorado, we have a number of facilities. That's where the technology comes in as well is we're not only issuing compliance, but we're starting and stopping a transaction for a payment provider. We're not a payment provider. I like to think of our technology as kind of a widget that's used to help enhance whatever engine other people are using, like an office building, or we're kind of a widget that parlays in and makes that application stronger.

John Conway: So from a payment perspective, we give that payment provider the tools. We'll tell them when the car entered and we'll tell them when it exited. And if that customer is a user of that payment provider, then they don't have to do anything. They'll basically just pull into a garage, they'll get notified where they're at, and then when they leave, they'll get a receipt by the time they hit the curb. And ultimately, that's what people want. I mean, again, I have another parking saying. I mean, in my opinion, the best parking experience is the one never remembered. We live by that every month, Sean. Our clients trade properties and the new owner will say, never heard of you, and what do you do? Well, here's what we do. It's so frictionless, they forget you're there almost.

Bill: So you talked about compliance there for a second, and then you went into payment. And by payment, I assume that that's in the enforcement category, right? I mean, elaborate a little bit. Tell us how automation is changing how you might manage enforcement and compliance. We touched on compliance.

John Conway: Right, so we administer the tools to apply compliance. And so through the vision, we have our application connects with third-party through APIs, third-party technology providers, which are payment providers. We're not a permit payment provider. So in other words, you may, and we connect to multiple. So a property might use one software for its monthly parking application, right? Or through its leases, you have so many spaces. We'll connect to that. So that tells us whether you're a monthly parker. We have a validation system. Some, you know, there may be a law firm in the building or visitors come to the building. They can use that virtual validation tool, you know? So register their license plate through the validation tool. We'll connect to that. And in some cases, the permit provider is the validation provider as well. And then there's a payment provider who that's somebody who offers a payment platform, right? So Arrive, SpotHero. There may or may not be the actual parking enforcement provider, right? If there are dates, for instance, or a parking operator as well. There, I mean, we have cases where there's no operator. People have embraced the technology and said, look, I'm already doing maintenance in the building. I have maintenance people. What is really, you know, I have a bunch of parking operator clients. So, you know, there is value in parking operators, but there's some owners that have such an infrastructure that, you know, with the technology, they don't see the value because of their infrastructure and their ability to manage the facility and gaining all the insights they may choose. We have owners that choose to manage their parking themselves using the data and the technology.

Drew: Of course, we have clients that are more advanced about hands-on, right, Drew? They do it themselves and they want us for consulting or data or, you know, a subset of what they need. But so this is not speaking to that audience. It's speaking to the other audience that's not willing to take it on themselves. Is there a risk in outsourcing too much of this automation to third parties without owning the underlying infrastructure? Like if you had a parking operator and still needed to find a data solution and a payment provider, like, is there a risk in that? And what is the risk? How do you mitigate that risk?

John Conway: So, you know, I think from a contractual relationship, it all stems there on how you contract with that third party and who owns what and clearly define that. But I think, you know, most of the major larger operators have built their own payment platforms and their own infrastructure. And so again, they utilize our services as that vision component to help that, to enhance that software platform. You know, because before it was kind of like, I have to hang a QR code somewhere, scan somebody. They didn't know who was coming in and out of their garage. And then at that point, you only know who's scanning your QR code. You don't know the people that, if you're truly gateless, you really don't know who's there, whereas we do.

AI and Data in Parking Operations

Bill: So on the topic of AI and real estate operations, how much, how prevalent is the, you know, you just mentioned no parking gates installation and being able to enforce in and out of a parking lot seamlessly, how prevalent is that now? And what do you think that'll be in three years? Give our audience an idea of this trend and how much momentum it has.

John Conway: It's definitely picked up momentum in the last year, year and a half. There's challenges. So there's certain states where data is more challenging to get. And when I say data, that's the vehicle owner data. There's all kinds of sources where the data comes from. So some states are more challenging than others. And so right now our industry is in what I would call a pioneer period, both from a perspective of regulation. And I mean, if you look at some of the ordinances and the parking ordinances across the country, they're antiquated, they're 50, 60 years old. And so technology in parking has, in the last five years has gotten, I mean, it's a windfall. It's unbelievable how far we've come in a short amount of time. And I think regulators are challenged right now with balancing the technology and how quickly it's evolved and being able to regulate, you know, what goes on. So I think, yes, it's spreading, the gateless technology is spreading. There's a missing piece in some of the states where the data is more challenged to get. And I think in the next three years, you'll see the industry is coming together to try to help open that up. Because face it, without gates, you have a greener solution. People aren't stopping, starting, going, you know, it's a smoother, it's from a customer standpoint, it's easier. The easier you make it for somebody to comply, the more likely they are to comply, right? And so I think regulators are realizing that. I think building owners are realizing that. So I think in the next three years, you'll see some of the data open up, but right now it's the way the data is being applied. It was basically being applied in a compliance manner. And that has a lot of people trying to figure out what, you know, do we regulate this? Do we not regulate this? And I would say we're in favor of regulating it. We've gotten together as an industry, created some best practices, because I think with the technology and how it's evolved so quickly, you have startups everywhere, just throwing up a camera, doing compliance. And there's a lot of nuances and complexity to compliance behind the scenes. And especially when you're talking about connecting third-party software platforms to determine compliance. And so the last thing you want to do is send out erroneous notices, if like an API.

John Conway: So how are you identifying an API going down versus issuing a notice right away? So we've maneuvered through those challenges. And because our background was in enforcement for 24 years, we kind of maneuvered around creating best practices and maneuvering around the legal and regulatory environment. So I think as the regulatory environment catches up in the next three years, and we come together and collaborate with a solution, I think you'll see the data open up. And then it's, I mean, gates are gone. And I predicted this five years ago, you would start seeing gates go away.

John Conway: Now, our solution can interact with gates. So there may be some people that don't buy into a complete gateless technology because they think a gate is a barrier to collecting their revenue. And so where our technology interacts is if you, let's say I went to your class A building, I frequent there a lot, and I parked there, I may choose to sign up and be remembered. And so every time I pull in, the gate just automatically goes up because I recognize it. The payment provider has a credit card on file. So I don't do anything. I just show up, the gate goes up, and when I leave, the gate goes up. And so that's called an express lane, kind of. And so there's a lot of express lane being deployed right now with the gates.

Drew: Yeah, I can see why that would be one nice demo to provide to those nervous owners.

John Conway: But there's, you know, the beauty of it is there's still a step in between. It's like, okay, well, deploy the technology, start seeing, you at least get the benefit of the data, seeing what's going on in your facility, and then being able to offer that express solution that allows somebody a true frictionless experience.

Bill: Okay. Yeah. So here we're right in this area here. I'll say like, you know, smart buildings get all the press. We love to always talk about smart buildings, but it's really the things we're talking about here, that smart infrastructure that underlies it. It's not always sexy, but it's required in order to operate this thing we know and love as a smart building.

Drew: So for parking metrics, what are some of those metrics that, where you see the business case being proven, like whether it's reduced leakage, like we were just kind of talking about that, or better asset valuation overall, or the tenant experience, you've mentioned that. Are those the heavy hitters? Is there anything you haven't mentioned? Or like, is there one that's more common than another?

John Conway: I think you touched on some key metrics. I mean, one, it depends on the direction or the priorities of the asset owner, right? So I have some asset owners that their priority is eliminating leakage and creating as much value out of that parking garage as possible. And so they may not be customer service driven. You will typically see that with an asset owner that may own a standalone garage that's not attached to an office building or another asset. They're hyper-focused on revenue generation and not so much customer service, although customer service is always a component.

John Conway: But there are some people that think there's brand loyalty in parking, which is another topic that I could go on for hours. But then there's other people that in a class A office building where the garage is looked at as an asset that provides parking for the true asset, which is it's the tenants of the office building, which is the majority of the revenue for that asset. And so parking probably represents 30%, depending on where it is, of the total revenue generation of that facility. And so it depends on the situation. Every situation is different. And in that environment, customer service is definitely, they balance between customer service, making that experience great for the tenants and easy, but they also balance behind the scenes. We want to make as much revenue as possible.

Drew: Yeah. Yeah, that's great. I mean, the dynamic nature and the possibilities kind of like what we alluded to are fascinating. It makes me think of in Colorado, we know and love express lanes for skiing. And it's just so maddening to be locked up and have to decide like, is it worth whatever the posted rate is right now to ride that lane that is almost entirely empty? And I always think to myself like, why is that price set the way it is right this moment?

Expanding Parking Solutions to New Markets

John Conway: I'm glad you bring that up because ski resorts are becoming a large client base for us. And so there's some resorts that don't have a lot of parking for it, but they have a lot of, so they have carpool programs. And some carpool programs are required by whatever county or municipality they're in. And so what we found is there are some ski resorts that are required to provide a record. They'll sit and count vehicles. So in other words, they may use an app like Liftango. And so if you're, and I'll use Eldora as an example. So if you go up to Eldora as a single passenger car, they don't want you. And if you do go up there, you're going to pay through the nose, right?

John Conway: And so our technology is starting to be deployed in that environment as well. We focus on objects. So we're counting people in the cars and providing that data. So, and then we'll connect with that third party app Liftango or whoever it is. And so this car license plate ABC said they had three people in the car, but they only have one, right? And so now you can look at that and say, okay, you're not really a ride share person. And, but you, you signed up and registered to be the ride share person. So now the ski resort can take action, right? They could choose to send a warning. They can send whatever, Hey, thanks for coming up, but you know, you were required to, you know, you said you were in the carpool program and you're really not, you were a single passenger.

Bill: Is that something you're talking about that's being implemented now or something that's being looked at coming forward?

John Conway: No, that's, that's stuff that we're implementing now. We're also doing vehicle counts on certain roads for certain counties. And, and these, and we're talking ski resort areas, you know, how, how they can plan traffic better. I'll give you another example. So we worked with NASCAR in the event space. And so NASCAR's biggest challenge is TV coverage has gotten so good over the years that a lot of these tracks are located in, you know, in major metropolitan areas, but they're on the outskirts in places that aren't really easy to get to. Right.

John Conway: And so, and then you've got the NASCAR fan base, which after COVID like really NASCAR wants to monetize the parking, right. Because, you know, they're literally taking out seats, making the experience better. You know, TV revenue is a big generation of revenue for them, but really the challenge was, I mean, you still tracks that people can take BYOB so they can take up to a 12 pack of beer into the venue. I mean, that's unheard of, but these are things that are a right of passage for their fans. So the challenge was how are we going to implement paid parking without pissing the fan base off because free parking is part of that.

John Conway: And the other big challenge they have is traffic. A lot of people have to maneuver through the traffic. It's a, in some tracks, it's incredible. I mean, I've been to every one analyzing the traffic. So what we came up with was, look, you can do both. So don't take your free parking away, install the cameras. So free parking is from, so if the venue opens at 6am and the race is at two, come between 6am and 10am and it's free parking. Right. And so, but from 10am to, you know, 1130am it's $50. And if you come just before the race, you're going to pay through the nose. Yeah. You can come, but you're going to pay a hundred dollars to park.

John Conway: So now you've created, you've done two things. You've modernized your parking and you've solved your traffic problem because people are going to change their behavior. So you're going to have a bunch of people that want the free parking. So they're going to come between 6am and 10am and ultimately they're probably going to spend more money because they're going to be at the venue longer. They're going to have a 12 pack under their arm. Don't forget. Yeah. And they're going to be, they're going to be buying merch at those areas and everything else. So, so you've solved the problem. And then the ancillary value that came out of this was I can identify numbers on, you know, t-shirts, jackets, anything, right? So which numbers are more prevalent at which track, right?

John Conway: So then NASCAR could take that information and say, look, you know, Kyle Busch, you're number 18. These are your tracks where you want to, where you probably want to sponsor the most and put your most dollars in bank because this is where the majority of your shirts. I mean, the opportunities were endless. Fascinating. Yeah. From a marketing standpoint. So the use case of our technology is becoming prevalent that it's not just going to be about parking. It's about all kinds of other things just because of that.

Drew: Yeah. It is. Yeah. The value of the data is unlimited is what we keep saying. It's, yeah, we get asked all the time. What's the value of this data? If I collect it, is it give me a dollar figure? And I was like, whatever dollar figure I give you, it's a fraction of what it's actually worth. We simply don't know yet. It just keeps going up.

John Conway: We have a shop that we're starting to be in retail where people don't charge for parking, but they have people that are abusing. They're not shopping at their retail. We have a case study here in Denver of just a retail strip mall that installed the cameras. There was a light rail station that was close by, so people were parking in their center. Their tenants, the actual customers that wanted to utilize the center and shop and do their business, most of the time had nowhere to park. The light rail station was charging throughout a district, and people were parking there and then jumping on and going downtown.

John Conway: We solved that problem, but what came out of that was the trash collection. The property manager was paying X amount of dollars to have the trash picked up four times in a month. Well, they came twice a month. She knew that, but she didn't know that until the data proved that. She had a security patrol that was supposed to hit the property three or four times a night. It would hit the property twice a night and sometimes not at all. Now she's got all that data, and that was really powerful for her. She was able to identify, I'm not paying that $4,000 bill for security because you only came 18 times in a month, and you should have been here 118 times. Those kinds of insights are just all over the place. It's a great place to be.

John Conway: Parkings are certainly our core business, but we're starting to multifamily. We're starting to, as I mentioned earlier, that example, but we're also in the multifamily space now because there's challenges there over the past five years. You have a two bedroom apartment that's got 18 mattresses in it, right? There's 10 people parking in what would normally be a one or two car apartment complex. A lot of suburban markets, even in Denver, you drive around. If you go into an apartment complex at 10 o'clock at night and you see everyone parked on the curb, there's an issue. Somebody is only supposed to have two people in that apartment that are on the lease and you have 10 people.

The Human Factor in Technology Adoption

Drew: Well, John, let's make a little shift here and talk about change relative to technology in commercial real estate and the human factor and not make it just about parking. Because you're on a disk profile, you're a DI, you're a dominant influencer, right? You like movement and measurable wins, but when you're driving change inside of conservative or lagging property organizations or ownership groups, how do you get traction with anything you talk about technology? We're talking about management and change management in this conversation.

John Conway: It's a great question. Our focus has been because our core business and our client base is parking operators, we've relied on parking operators. We've stayed away from marketing directly into the commercial real estate space just because we organically would go there through parking operators. What's become clear and evident with Caroline and the technology is we don't want to just deploy our technology to parking operators because there's real estate asset owners that are technology that they can buy themselves and they may have a different mindset and a different need for the data that a parking operator is not focused on.

Drew: Well, let's talk about that mindset. What do you look for in a prospective client, the ones that are ready to evolve, and how do you spot the ones that aren't?

John Conway: Well, that's just it. In 2026, we will start to really focus on marketing to real estate, the C.B. Richard Ellis, the Brookfields, all of the real estate conglomerates that own these large assets. We're starting to do direct marketing to them. We're starting to get involved with organizations like BOMA. Relative to the individual members of any one of those organizations you just mentioned, what makes you know or be attracted to a prospect that they're actually ready to evolve and change and adopt this data and this technology as a strategy?

John Conway: You can tell probably within the first 10 minutes in talking to somebody if their mindset is open and they want to learn what your technology can do, and I can spot that pretty quickly. On the other side of the coin, if you have somebody that you're talking to and they're building walls on every conversation or every solution that you're bringing up, it's probably an old mindset and they're not in the right mindset. Somewhere in between, can I traverse them across by showing them the case studies that we have and showing them the data, which I love to do, but in some cases, there are certain people that will continue to build the wall and they'll still have doubt, and that's okay. It's okay.

Drew: We ask it a lot on the show, John, because it is a lot. Digital transformation is a change management challenge. Even if we say we want to do it and we fully believe it, we have habits and then our team has habits and our team has fiefdoms and changing in any way in any organization or interpersonal is a challenge. I like to ask the question, what do you spot? I appreciate the candid answer. I was trying to make it about management and change rather than not just parking, but solely on parking.

John Conway: I think, again, you have to identify who you're dealing with and then decide. I think most of the embracement comes from a higher level. A higher level of the organization might have a certain vision of where they want to go. I think getting those people on board and then utilizing them to help you educate downward because different people have different areas and their responsibility and they have their little kingdom. If they open up technology, they might be anxious because they don't know a lot about technology and they might have a fear that maybe the technology, how does that impact my job? We're all aware of that.

Drew: Yeah. John, it's been a great conversation.

John Conway: Yeah, absolutely. I think we could keep going forever, but I don't think we should anymore. We should pick different topics and have you back in a couple of months and discuss those topics as well because I think there's a few that we could go on about.

Drew: Absolutely. I could talk for hours about it's good, but again, thank you for having me on.

Bill: Well, you're not done yet. You're not done yet. We always have a couple of things at the end and Drew's going to start it out here.

Personal Insights and Closing Thoughts

Drew: Yeah. We call this little piece here at the end, John, we call it the extra floor. We like to take our guests up to this extra floor. It's really just a quick set of five questions, gut level responses. First thing that comes to your mind, number one, what's a book or a podcast that has shaped how you think?

John Conway: Oh, man. That's a tough question. Don't be afraid to say this one. If we've really shaped how you think, it's okay. Man. That's a good question. I'm not really sure. I don't even think these have to be confined to, you know, we say book or podcast, but it could be a quote or even something that someone has said that really sticks with you or yeah, just any piece of advice or info.

Drew: Yeah. The next question was the best piece of advice, career or life that you've ever gotten. So they kind of go hand in hand, but put them together.

John Conway: Yeah. Yeah. So I think I love stories of success stories of people and listening to the challenges. And in my podcast, it's called All Things Parking, but really it's not just about parking. It's really about the spirit of success and what it takes. And I try to go into a lot of different industries of successful people, whether it be sports, entertainment. And when you start hearing stories of success, you can start to translate your own self and where you want to go or where you want to be because you start hearing the same things. I don't care what industry, if you're an NFL athlete or you're a Grammy nominated singer or whatever, everyone faces the same challenges along the way. And one of my biggest pieces of advice and the biggest thing that sticks out with me is we're our own worst enemy. Self-doubt is a real thing. And sometimes you have to maneuver. I call it the gate arm. So when you get to that gate arm and it doesn't work, do you turn around and retreat and go back down or back out or wherever you are? Or do you figure out how to get around that gate arm? And I love stories like that. Everybody's got a unique story to their success. I like exposing those because I think it helps people with the same mindset and spirit, but yet they're battling that self-doubt. So you have to have a lot of courage and be able to take risks.

Drew: That's good. Okay, John, what's a small daily habit or a ritual that makes a big difference for you?

John Conway: I like to walk in the morning. I like to get up early. I have dogs and I like to go out and reset the mind. What do I got going on today and what do I want to accomplish today? I think it's really important. Sometimes we get caught up in everyday things and we...

John Conway: Stop and think, you know, why was yesterday great? What's gonna make today great? What do I need to do to make that happen? What's something you've learned to appreciate more with time? It's the extra pour. Patience. Yeah, I've never really had a lot of patience. And I'm a high-strung person. I like to go. And so, over time, I've felt, you know, sometimes having an emotional response right away is not always the best. And so, take a step back from situations and think about how you're gonna handle it. And that's not easy for somebody like me, but I think I've gotten better with time over that. And I've learned some valuable lessons. Is that really how you wanted to react to that situation in the moment? Probably yeah, but probably wasn't a good idea, right? Yeah. So.

Drew: All right, last one. When you're not working, what do you love to do that recharges you?

John Conway: I like spending time with my grandkids. My daughter lives right next door to us, and that's another ritual that I have. I like going over there and eating breakfast and watching him go off to school. That definitely is soothing and therapeutic for me, for sure.

Bill: What a gift. That's cool. Wow. That is cool. Yeah. That's awesome.

John Conway: Yeah. Well, all right, John. People that follow me on social media, they probably know, because I post a lot of stories of my grandkids. That's beautiful. The different things. Yeah, my mom and dad listen to this episode. It's just the time and a shared experience every day, you know?

Drew: Yeah. If my mom and dad listen to this episode, they're going to be, told you, told you.

John Conway: I know. I think my son-in-law was a little leery at first, you know? He's like, we're going to live next door to your dad. I'm sure he was saying that behind the scenes, but you know, we give them their space and it's worked out. And there's times I'll look over and go, hey man, you haven't picked up your leaves. How annoying. I'm sure he doesn't appreciate those moments, but, and sometimes I'll go over and pick them up myself. So, you know, it's fun. It's a blessing for sure.

Bill: Well, John, we're grateful. We'll put all of this contact info in the show notes, of course, but tell us, tell your listeners here, how can people contact you? What's the best way?

John Conway: You, there's a couple of ways. You can contact me at www.parkingtalk.com, which is a real easy way, or you can go to infosales at caroline.com.

Drew: Right on. Well, John, thank you so much for joining us today. And to our listeners, as always, we say, thank you. Thanks for joining us for this episode here. Be sure to follow and like and subscribe. And for now, we'll see you on the next episode of Peak Property Performance.

Bill: Thanks again, everyone.

John Conway: Thank you.

Drew: Thanks, Drew.

John Conway: Yeah. My pleasure. Thanks for your audience.

Bill: Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.