How to manage your real estate empire from anywhere- Part Duex
So as most of you saw in Charlie’s most recent post he was running our company from all over Taiwan. I am sure the question you are all asking is how is this possible? I am going to tell you, here are the top tips to managing your rental property empire from anywhere in the world!
Have a plan for when the worst happens
It is going to happen! When is it going to happen? Murphy ’s Law will tell you that it will happen exactly at the worst point possible (i.e. in the middle of a 13 hour flight to china with no internet) You need to make sure your staff knows who to contact when bad things happen. A major water leak? Call the maintenance guy. A house burned down? Call the insurance company. Allow your staff to make decisions on your behalf. You need to empower them to make decisions. Remember at the end of the day we are all adults, we wanted to be treated this way. You will be surprised at how your folks will respond when given trust! Give them a list all of all possible contacts of easy reference.
Train your troops
There is a reason the military puts you under large amounts of physical and mental pressure. They want you to perform your duty under the most difficult of circumstances flawlessly. This might seem a little extreme but you need to take the time to answer questions from your team, encourage creativity and innovation, and coach them as needed. At the end of the day remember everyone wants to learn something new to push themselves.
Have the right systems
Systems go along with people as being the post important items in your real estate empire just remember though you need the right type of person controlling the levers. Technology has automated many mundane tasks (taking payments from tenants), allows you to route calls to whoever is available (google voice), or even allow potential tenants to setup appointments themselves online. All of these systems play a role in streamlining your business.
Don’t be a bean counter (or a minute minder)
Give your staff the flexibility to do their work when they want, obviously they are responsible for answering the phone or emails from tenants for issues but in most cases this takes a few moments. Don’t micro manage, delegate authority and allow your team to figure out how to solve the problem. If they get stuck give them a nudge but let them finish it up. Be frugal, but don’t be cheap pay your people what they are worth or what you can pay if you are a growing company. Your employees will thank you for it.
Ask what are your thoughts on this (ask for input)?
Many business owners get ‘super hero syndrome’ this term was made famous by Chris Ducker. www.chrisducker.com They basically try to do everything themselves and never give the chance for someone else to try. An easy way to start releasing your workload to other is to ask their opinion on a task you are wrestling with. Even better, delegate some of your work and give your employee a few hours with it and tell them you want them to come back with questions. They will value this opportunity to learn and grow.
Do a dry run
Tell your staff you are going to be gone for 2 weeks on a trip and will not be available by phone or email unless it is an absolutely emergency ( ie. Donald trump wants to buy your business) Let your team run the company, on your return sit down and ask them what worked what didn’t work and where you need additional training or input. Do not hold the responsible for mistakes they made in your absence, you want them to learn not be fearful in reporting issues in the future.
Get a partner
When Charles was out of the country I was still around to manage the company so it was not like Rome was going to burn in a day. This did not help when I was getting married in China and Charles and I were both gone and it was our ‘dry run’ Having another business owner is a nice way to put your mind at ease while you train up your staff to perform as needed. I consider myself fortunate that Charlie and I work so well together and general don’t disagree on too much.
Work on your business not in it
This goes back to Chris Ducker, Michael Gerber, and Tim Ferris. You need to get out of your own way or in some cases get out of your staffs way. Let them take on more and more responsibility while focusing on the big picture items….. the direction of your business adding more sales or clients.
So I think you can see the common theme it is all about delegation and training. It is a no surprise why Charlie is successful at running our business from anywhere. These are two skills that I admire about Charlie more than any other. Unless he is delegating stuff to me…
