Omnifique was built by a diverse team of leaders. Kate George is our CEO, a proud Boulder native. After graduating from CU, Kate took her advertising and marketing mettle to NYC. There she got a crash course in global firm endeavors, followed by a decade in advertising strategy and relations. She then began her entrepreneurial career founding Omnifique.
Pam Brewington, our company’s COO’s, is originally from Chile. She has 20+ years of strategic planning experience, working for big brands around the world like P&G, Walmart, and McDonald’s, among many others. Right now she owns two companies and continues to educate herself at Ivy League universities. One of her many traits is turning plans into tangible success. She’s called “wonder woman” for a reason.
So, what led them to create Omnifique? How do they get things done? Find out below:
What was the driving force that led you to create Omnifique?
Kate George (KG): I left my job in 2015 after over a decade in Marketing and Advertising at gigantic and tiny firms in NYC and Colorado. I represented some of the world’s best-known brands to small natural food product start-ups. I have an extremely entrepreneurial spirit, and I knew I wanted to create an outstanding and world-impacting company. I never wanted a local Boulder business. I always knew I would create a global company. But I didn’t know in what area. So I took some time off to be strategic about my next move. I wanted to make sure I didn’t lose all the knowledge I had from my marketing background too.
I had heard of this “Airbnb/VRBO thing,” and I thought – hmmm – maybe I can make a little cash while I’m taking time off. I took the same approach I did with all my advertising projects, and of course, I did it all to perfection – and my listing took off! I was able to afford to stay at a nice hotel in Aspen while renting my downtown Boulder bungalow. But I was still searching for my next adventure – at this point not at all thinking, it would be in hospitality and luxury travel.
I would share my success story with friends and family in Boulder, who then asked me to “represent” their properties. I said sure, again, not thinking much of it.
I was making them so much money that they wouldn’t have earned without me. And that felt really immeasurable. I felt like I was helping my community and also making stays amazing for guests in “my” town.
And then the AH-HA moment: a lightbulb went off, and I realized this could be my company idea!
Pam Brewington (PB): I have always been attracted to perfection: to be the best, work with the best, and for the best. It doesn’t matter the industry – there is always an exceptional internal satisfaction when something is perfectly done.
For a couple of years, I was able to observe the vacation rental industry – an old model – and the evolution of the booming Airbnb model. I realized guest experience in both was poorly delivered, so I was eager to put my hands in this industry. My goal was to elevate it with the process, systems, top-notch logistics, and all my knowledge from the corporate world. All this mixed with wild creativity that leads us to think outside of the box and create something that doesn’t exist. I’m totally in love with the idea of creating something new and making it happen!
What are some of the challenges you faced along the way, and how did you overcome them?
KG: There are SOOOO many! I’ll list a few just for fun, but I’ve faced every challenge large or small with the same approach – I GOT THIS.
-Creating blackout blinds in an entire 10,000 sq ft house in a day for a guest.
-Being summoned to court by the City because they thought we were breaking the STR rules (which we weren’t, and I won!)
-Not planning ahead appropriately and having to lay off my Boulder staff (which was everyone!) when winter came, and there were no rentals. This was the hardest thing in my entire career.
-Having a client call me and another senior manager “girls” (this just happened).
-Generally, for the first few years (and even today a bit), having my family and friends doubt this decision. Telling me to get a “real job” without any understanding of what I am creating and how hard I am working to do it.
-Sleepless nights. Many sleepless nights.
But the absolute biggest thing I’ve faced is what has made and will continue to make this company so great. There is no manual. Nobody has done this before. And we are creating everything – not from scratch – but from our team’s collective knowledge. We are PIONEERS. Paving the way for ourselves and others that will follow.
My biggest takeaway is to always have Unwavering Faith that if I give Extraordinary Effort (Hal Elrod – Miracle Equation), I will accomplish my dreams.
PB: The big challenge for me is education. When you create something that doesn’t exist, you need to permanently educate your clients, vendors, and staff. You need to make them realize that they are part of something that doesn’t have a manual or a template: that doesn’t have a formula. A lot of people need that rigid structure. I didn’t realize that before. Omnifique is for the visionaries, for the leaders, not the followers, for the ones that have a solid understanding of their personal added value to our organization. Omnifique is for the ones that live life at the maximum expression.
What lessons did you learn these years at Omnifique that other people would be interested to know about?
KG: I have learned substantially more in the past few years than I ever have in my life. And I am so grateful for this knowledge and excited to continue learning every day. I believe tomorrow will be better than today, and the only person in control over that is ME. Pam introduced me to a Latin phrase that I absolutely love: Quantuvis – which translates to “as great as you please.” You are the only person in control over your destiny.
My biggest takeaway is to always have Unwavering Faith that if I give Extraordinary Effort (Hal Hagdon – Miracle Equation), I can accomplish my dreams.
PB: I read a long time ago that you can judge where people are in their life’s journey by the way they talk about their past or future. Older people talk about their past and younger people about their future. I’m still young (LOL), but I’ve had a very successful professional career for more than half of my life. Omnifique is my future. My biggest lesson is, I realized that no matter how experienced you are, there is always room for growth, improvement. There is always room to keep moving forward and for new challenges.
I wake up everyday planning my next educational adventure so I can collect more knowledge and broaden my horizons, or I come up with a new area in the company to be in charge of. Omnifique as a whole motivates me to be even better and conquer areas that I had never thought of being involved in before. I wake up thinking beyond Omnifique: this is not the end, this is the beginning. Where am I going to bring this team of people next? Someone asked me about retirement, and I said that I’m already retired: I’m doing what I want to do when I want to do it and with the people that I want to do it with.