Why You Need to Fire Yourself & Hire a Property Management Operator

As a property management entrepreneur, you’re probably used to wearing many hats. From handling sales and client onboarding to scheduling showings and generating financial reports, far too many property managers handle just about everything in their businesses. Then, they wonder why they’re facing intense burnout and feel like closing up shop.

If you’ve been in these shoes before, you’re not alone.

Stop trying to be a hero. You’re not that great at it.

The simple truth is you aren’t supposed to run your company alone; not only is handling all of your business’ needs near impossible on your own, but you probably aren’t handing things as well as you think.

The most profitable, successful business visionaries have the support of a property management operator on their side and if you don’t already have one, it’s time to take a serious look at hiring someone to fill the role.

How are Property Management Operators & Owners Different?

Entrepreneurs are a unique breed, but then again, you probably already know that.

Business owners are typically dreamers who love to think about ways to take ground and grow their bottom line. Give you five minutes & a pad and paper and you’re ready to change the world, with ideas overflowing about incredible things you can do within your business.

You probably dislike sitting in long meetings and working out the finer details of how to delivery specific products to your clients. In other words, the nitty gritty of how to run the business is not your strong suit.

Property management operators are the secret weapon that change all of that. The right operator takes your vision and turns it into reality, with all of the organizational checks and balances necessary to ensure the job gets done.

Seven Reasons You Need an Operator

Sure, it would be great to have some extra manpower on your team, but do you really need a property management operator? If you’re on the fence about whether it’s worth bringing an operator into your business, consider whether any of the following reasons apply to your situation.

1. 1. You’re Overwhelmed

      Overwhelm is a classic symptom of not having the support you need in your property management business. When you don’t have the right team around you, the buck ultimately stops with you. This can be fine when you’re initially starting out, but as your business begins to grow, you can’t be the only one keeping things afloat.

      A property management operator acts as your right-hand man, taking care of big issues and challenges with ease. You don’t have to worry that things won’t get done or try to squeeze one more thing into your long workday. An operator does the hard work for you.

   2. You Don’t Have Enough Capacity

      Does it feel like you never manage to get every item on your todo list completed? Are you routinely putting in long nights at the office, just to ensure you don’t fall behind? Do you often pull fifty, sixty, or seventy hour weeks?

      Overwhelmed entrepreneurs are no longer effective; like a hamster racing frantically on a wheel, if you don’t have the right support, you’ll ultimately run aimlessly until your legs give out.  Hiring a property management operator will create additional capacity and help you take back time you’re currently wasting trying to keep your property management company profitable.

   3. Your Operations are a Mess

      Nobody sets out to run a failing business, but property management companies often find themselves hanging on by a thread. You may have heard the criticisms from your own clients or perhaps you’re looking at a house of cards and continually hoping it doesn’t fall over.

      When the day-to-day running of your company is a mess, it’s time to ask who is running the ship. Are maintenance requests languishing, with tenants waiting several days to hear back from your team? Good luck building a good reputation with that sort of response time. Do you have a clearly defined application process for new tenants, or are you winging it every time a property comes onto the market?

      There are countless examples that might be relevant in your company, but be honest with yourself. If things are messy behind the scenes, you need extra support to get your company back onto the right track.

   4. You’re Facing Too Much Pressure

      Your phone rings on a Saturday night. Is your first response panic? Does the idea of looking at your profit and loss statements send you into a cold sweat? Are you scared about how you’re going to make payroll or worried that if one more client jumps ship you’ll be facing bankruptcy?

      When entrepreneurs get pushed to their limit, the pressure becomes too much bear. Living with that kind of pressure is not only inconducive to running a successful business, but it will take a serious toll on your mental health, your social life, and your family.

      Don’t let running your business suck the life out of you. If the pressure has reached a fever pitch, you owe it to yourself to consider hiring a property management operator who can help you to take back your freedom.

   5. Stuff isn’t Getting Done

      Are critical operating tasks being regularly missed in your business, leaving you with angry clients and additional noise? Even worse, maybe you have put expansion plans on hold or neglected to revisit your pricing. Perhaps your branding is in desperate need of an overhaul and you’re too busy to even think about taking another look.

      When stuff in a property management company simply isn’t getting done, the cycle of being overwhelmed and stress only gets increasingly worse.If you continue on this path, you’ll find yourself desperate for a way out.

   6. Your Profits are Shrinking

      What does your revenue look like? Are you financially healthy or are you spending all of your energy trying to keep your company out of the weeds? Have sales dropped or evaporated completely?

      Being a visionary is one of the things entrepreneurs do best, but when you don’t have the time to dedicate to bringing those dreams to reality, your business suffers the consequences. If revenue keeps falling and you don’t know how to plug the holes, consider whether you’re shooting yourself in the foot by continually putting your big goals on the back burner.

   7. You Hate Your Job

      Very few people start a property management company solely because they think it’s a quick way to riches. Most people enter the industry because they find they’re able to think outside the box, enjoy the personal contact of being a property manager, and have plenty of ideas about how to increase efficiency and drive profits.

      Have you ever heard the old adage, “Find a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life?” The property management industry is teeming with professionals who outright hate their jobs. If you’re one of them, it’s time to take a serious step back and reevaluate why you got into property management in the first place.

      Time and time again, our Mastermind clients thank us for helping them to fall back in love with property management. Any job has its hard days, but if your days are consistently bad, do yourself a favor and spend some time thinking about the last time you truly enjoyed what you were doing. If you can’t seem to come up with an answer, something has to change.

So You’re Ready for an Operator

Whether it’s been a long time coming or this article has sparked something new, if you’re ready for a property management operator, it’s important to tackle this challenge with the right approach. Hiring the wrong person for your business can cost you thousands in lost revenue, and you don’t have the time to time to waste trying to screen hundreds of applications from the wrong sort of job hunters.

We offer a wide assortment of tools designed to help property managers in your shoes to get over the hiring hurdle; from DoorGrow Hiring, which helps you harness the power of AI assessments to qualify potential hires to our Mastermind training resources that cover all of the ins and outs of successful operations, learn today how DoorGrow can help you to achieve your full earning potential with a property management operator.

Take a look at our Mastermind program to get started.