It’s no secret that the property management industry is quite tasking. I can’t say that I’ve ever personally worked in it, but throughout my childhood I watched my dad run his PM company. After a long day at the office, he would arrive home and continue working on his laptop until late in the night.

On the weekends, he loaded four kids into the family’s high-top conversion van, popped a Disney movie in the VCR, and drove us all over town while he answered leasing calls and showed houses. He worked incredibly hard and provided more than enough for our family, but his quality of life was anything but ideal. He was trapped in management mode with the mentality of, “If it’s to be, it’s up to me”. 

Fast-forward about 15 years, and the same man goes into that same office for only 4 hours per week! What changed? To start he realized that 99% of the calls causing him to miss out on family time didn’t make him a dime. Doing all of the bookkeeping and administrative tasks by himself didn’t grow his doors, and half of the time he spent running around town doing property showings was a waste.

Finally, he thought to himself, “There has to be another way,” and for the first time as a business owner he began to delegate.

He started by hiring and training staff to take care of his leasing department and bookkeeping. Next he learned how to use video to make his life easier and quickly mastered how to shoot a video walk-through tour, upload it to YouTube, and send it to a prospect. This allowed the prospect to get a good feel for the property before driving across town to see it. From the comfort of their home, they could determine if the property was or was not what they were looking for. This turned out be a time saver for both my dad and the prospective tenant – a win-win.

These changes significantly transformed his life and the life of our family as he was finding more ways to leave work at the office in order to be completely focused on us while at home. The luxury of a 4-hour workweek came with time. Each new way he found to delegate tasks allowed him to focus more on company growth and freed more time to spend with family. 

Outsourcing became the key. He was actually crazy enough to hand over his leasing calls and tenant screening to a third party in another country! After trying several outsourcing companies, he decided to create one himself. 

Today, he owns a company comprised of quality virtual assistants who not only answer HIS calls and screen HIS tenants but also take care of leasing calls and tenant screening for PM companies all over the world! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting anyone go and start their own outsourcing business, but I do recommend asking yourself these questions: 

What menial tasks are taking up most of your valuable time? 

What growth related tasks could you spend more time on if you delegated those tasks? 

Even further, if you chose to outsource menial tasks, how could you re-purpose your staff for growth?

Megan Breen with VirtuallyinCredible.com

To learn more about outsourcing, click here.

Business Development Manager

Megan is proud to be the 3rd generation of the Breen family to be involved in property management! The daughter of Todd Breen, Megan grew up in a property management family with a dad who went to the office for 4 hours/week – helping her learn the value of family time. More than most, Megan values and appreciates our motto ‘Hire us. Work less. Earn more. Love life’, and has spent the last five years helping others make this their motto, too.

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