It’s been over two months since we signed on the dotted line with a property manager for our rental house. I could sum up the experience by saying So Far, So Good! However, I think what might be more accurate is So Far…Pretty Good. Here’s the story…
Back in May we called four property managers in the Kansas City area after doing quite a bit of research online. From those calls, we set up an interview with our top choice. Let’s call her Cathy. I met Cathy at the rental house, explained our situation, briefly walked her around the property, and asked her a few questions. She was kind, prompt, and informative.
Great!
During this interview, I was the one asking the majority of the questions, reminding Cathy that we were serious about our investment but that we were appreciative of guidance and assistance with the process, as this was our first solo property. The fact that she didn’t immediately launch into a reassuring and educational speech about how she would help and why we should hire her to manage our first baby, should have raised a red flag.
Not so great.
We signed with Cathy and immediately made a few changes to the house based on her recommendations. For example, we neglected to realize during remodeling that there wasn’t a mailbox on the outside of the house, obviously something a tenant would require. The initial appliance package we purchased didn’t include a fridge, also necessary. Per the lease, the tenant would be expected to keep the landscaping in the “same condition that they found it,” so it was apparent to us that we wanted to spend a few hours sprucing it up, which we did. Finally, the contractors had kindly left the extra paint, caulk, and tile that they had used in the house, in the basement, which we wanted to document. We took photos, left the paint, and loaded up the tile to store in our own home for safekeeping.
All of these things would NOT have been brought up if it weren’t for our own doing. Cathy didn’t really mention, or didn’t seem to care, about any of them except for the mailbox.
Not so great with the proactive recommendations for a new landlord? Perhaps.
Anyway, Cathy got to work in marketing the property for rent and, miraculously, found a tenant within two days. Within four days she had done the background check on the potential tenant, informally presented us with the details on their job status, employment history, credit history, criminal history, and pets, and how much rent the tenant had agreed to pay. We gave our go ahead and the lease was signed.
Very, very great!
We rushed to complete the tasks before the first day of the lease arrived. Would it have been nice to have a bit more communication with Cathy about how much work we had to do and when we would have preferred the lease to begin compared to that work’s completion, etc, etc, etc? Yes. She got a tenant for us, which was great, but she didn’t really seem to care about…us.
The day the tenant moved in, Cathy emailed requesting our thoughts on two things: purchasing a cover for the large, basement window well in the back of the house, and supplying inside window coverings for all the windows in the house.
Huh? Really?
Should we, as the owners of the property, probably realized these two things were necessary? Yes. Had we just completed a massive remodel and, while completing everything else, overlooked a couple details? Yup. Were we new at this and still ironing out the process? YES.
Would Cathy have noticed these two things if she took even a few seconds to look over the property when she came for the initial interview, saving us the headache of rushing around at the last second to complete them? YES, YES, YES.
Not so great, Cathy. Not so great.
She offered to have her handyman price out and install the basement window well cover and cheap blinds for every window in the house, which we immediately took her up on. The labor and materials charges appeared a week later in the lovely, online account software that Cathy’s company offers her property owners.
Great.
The only way we knew that the work had been completed, though, was when the charges posted to our account. There was no communication from Cathy that they had been taken care of.
Not so great.
Two weeks into the lease, the tenant submitted an urgent request for maintenance – apparently there was sewage leaking into the basement. Cathy immediately contacted us, asked for our permission for her to call the 24/7 plumber, which we of course gave right away.
Great! (Also: eww!)
We waited four days, hearing no word about if our rental property had floated away in a river of sewage. I texted Cathy after the fourth day, she replied that it had been taken care of the first day. Two days after that, the charges from the plumber appeared in our account.
Umm, not so great. Not so great at all. Where was the communication there, Cath?
I could go on and on, so let’s wrap this up. After just two months we’ve already had our share of adventures with the property. Ups and downs, the good and the bad. Our advance planning in being able to pay for a property manager and still collect a worthwhile cashflow every month has already come in handy – taking care of safety issues, finding the tenant, performing background checks, responding to maintenance requests – of that we will absolutely NOT deny.
However, we could be more satisfied with the experience, and especially the communication, of our property manager.
She does her job well. She does not do customer service well.
Big difference, don’t you think?
What about you, do you have any thoughts on property managers?
Horror stories? Hero stories?
I wish-like-hell-that-I-would-have-hired-one stories? We’d love to hear ’em.
More to come!
Oh, well hello there! How are you?
You’re good? Great.
You’re hot? Yeah, I know. I don’t want to talk about it.
I’m kind of excited this afternoon. Well, and kinda nervous. I’m excitedly nervous. Or nervously excited.
I’ll stop now.
I’ve just created a permanent home for my oddball, selfish, embarrassing, little life list. Yay! See also: Yikes!
I wrote a blog post about my life list back in, umm, back in…crap, lemme look it up…oh here it is, back in October 2009.
(Wha? October 2009? Seriously?! The fact that I have been posting here on AS.com since, well, before October 2009 is astonishing. Where does the time go?)
Ok! The list! Instead of hiding out forever in a fifty-five year-old blog post, it now lives, here:
So neat and tidy, huh? There is now a permanent link on my About page to this list, too, so anytime you need a good laugh or someone to poke fun of, it’s there for you.
By the way, as I mention on its main page, I publicize this list in the hopes that somehow, in some way, it will inspire someone.
Maybe you know that someone?
Maybe, perhaps, possibly that someone? Could be? You?
If me admitting to my list of dreams and silly aspirations encourages just one person to create a list of their own, or to live their life with a smidgen more joy or laughter or curiosity, then I think it’s worth it.
I hope you think so too.
We have a friend who frequently asks for our opinion on personal development books. Which one he should read next, specifically, and unlike many others who never make it to this step, he actually picks up what we recommend and reads them. Go him!
However, the accolades, sadly, end there. He reads them, we ask what he thought, and his response usually centers around, “It was ok, but I knew all of that stuff already.”
After completing the book, he doesn’t live his life any different than he did before.
He doesn’t grow.
He doesn’t admit to himself that he could grow.
He doesn’t take any action based on what he read.
In essence, he’s just reading. Entertaining himself.
Reading books for entertainment is fine. Great, even. I do it all of the time.
Personal development, though? If you want to improve the circumstances in your life, you have to not only make the decision to read (or listen) and follow through with it, but you have to accept the knowledge you gain and allow it to change you.
Don’t forget the difference, ok?
I was washing a few dishes the other night when, out of the blue, that “Never Lose Your Sense of Wonder” song popped into my head.
Or the “I Hope You Dance” song, whatever you want to call it. Know which one I’m talking about?
I wish I knew why certain songs chose certain moments to pop into our heads, you know? I mean, did I hear that one without realizing it while running past a restaurant’s open door earlier in the day? Or had I breezed over it while flipping through radio channels? Did I pass someone at a stoplight humming a few of its notes?
It’s fascinating to think about. Who knows.
Anyway, it popped into my head, and maybe because I had been evaluating my writing and my purpose a little more than usual this week, or because I was reading The Book of Awesome which celebrates the oft-overlooked, wonderful things in life, or maybe I was just in a sentimental mood, but when it popped up, it really got me thinking.
I’ve never really paid close attention to the lyrics, so I looked them up. And…oh my. If there’s ever a set of words and sentences that when put together perfectly describe my passion and what I want to inspire in others, it’s this set of lyrics.
Self-education.
Perception.
Small joys.
Not taking life too seriously.
Curiosity.
Blazing new trails.
Courage.
It’s perfect.
Here is the version of the song I like best, Lee Ann Womack’s I Hope You Dance. The video is very year-2000, and the song is obviously meant as a love letter to her children. However! Listen to it, and perhaps think about it for yourself.
(Can’t see the video? Click here.)
I hope you like it.
I hope it makes you think.
And see.
And smile.
And enjoy.
In sappy sappiness,
AS
This one:
I read so much non-fiction that when I’m away from home on vacay, I crave nothing but fluffy, daydream-inducing novels. The couple that I stashed away in my suitcase for our recent trip to Mexico didn’t disappoint.
First, Grisham. Now just you wait. Don’t judge me yet! Don’t. Don’t. Don’t.
Was this written by John Grisham? Yes.
Is it anything like his most recent, fulfilling-contractual-obligation- esque books? Not in the least.
I typically don’t enjoy short stories, as I find that I don’t like the feeling of having to remotivate myself to start the same book a dozen times. I start the story, I quickly finish the story, and then I have to start over. Ugh.
So perhaps it was the fact that I was on vacation that that didn’t bother me this time. Or perhaps I just enjoyed Grisham’s stories.
Either way, this is a great read. Seven short stories, each centering around fictional events and characters in Ford County, Mississippi. They’re very Grisham.
They are all very A Time to Kill. You follow? Yeah. That.
Bonus: At 40-50 pages a story, they’re individually perfect for that short plane ride or an evening in the hotel room or the first hour sitting in the poolside lounge chair when you still contain the ability to sit still.
Ford County: Stories, Rating: 4 (out of 5) stars
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Second, Life As We Knew It. I stole this one from my Mom’s bookshelf the week before we left. It caught my eye because a) it had an enormous moon on the cover, b) the physical book was square, and…huh?, and c) flipping it open, the font was well-spaced and visually pleasing, a huge factor in my fluffiness determination.
I know. All awful reasons to pick up a book, but ’tis the truth, my friends.
I didn’t know this until after I had read it, but this is the first book in a series of three. If you’re like me and simultaneously get excited and frustrated when you realize you’ve read a book that’s a part of a series – frustrated because that means the remaining members of the series are immediately and automatically added to your Must Read list, hanging over your head until you complete them, and excited because, well, the book’s not over! THERE’S MORE! – consider yourself warned.
The plot centers around the improbable (but strangely not completely unbelievable) possibility of a massive meteor crashing into the moon, altering its orbit, and sending Earth into a horrible, life-altering chain of events. Weather, economics, disease, etc.
It’s told from the point of view of a sixteen year old girl in diary-entry fashion, which lends itself to most of the comical lines in the book. Teenagers are weird, man.
The audience for this one might be tipped a bit in the direction of female readers, but barely. If you enjoy light, sci-fi novels, it’s one for your list.
Life As We Knew It, Rating: 3.5 (out of 5) stars
—
Happy vacay reading! Here are the Amazonian details on both:
Ford County: Stories, by John Grisham
Life As We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer
(All links are Amazon affiliates. Cool? Cool. Over and out.)
Friday, 7/1/11, 11am?
Living It
Balcony vantage point
The best views
Without warning, the sky opens
Clear one minute, downpour the next
Everyone winces
Bearing it
An imaginary timer
Ten seconds
Fifteen
They all scramble, giving up to it
His arm around hers, under a palm
Groundskeeper, texting, huddled under the thatched-roof
Bags and belongings tossed under chairs
One, she stands
Near the surf, she walks towards it
It hits her feet
She turns, back to the water
Hands, arms stretch wide
Eyes close, head tips up
Middle-aged, no modesty
They all scramble
She stays
Living it
Balcony vantage point
The best views
Can’t help but watch
And smile
And live it with her
—
Whenever I tell people what I do – run a few small businesses out of my home – they always ask me how I got the guts to quit my full-time job and start a business, and I can never answer their question.
I can’t answer it because I didn’t quit my job and then start a business.
I built businesses around my full-time job and then, when the timing was right, quit that job for good.
I never recommend people flat-out quitting their jobs without any successful business already built and generating consistent income. Talk about scary! I know there are some folks out there that might be able to do it, but I was not one of them.
And I believe the vast majority of folks out there wanting to do something similar fall into the same camp I did.
So how do you build a business around your full-time job? In general, here are a few things that might help:
1. Change your productivity mindset If you want to build a business in your spare time, you must revaluate your “wasted” time.
Do you realize how many seconds, minutes, even hours of the day go we waste? Shrugging and giving them up to the “well, I can’t get anything done in this small amount of time, so I just won’t do anything” mindset?
Answer: A lot. Way more than you think.
Most of us aren’t sitting around with extra time during the day, hoping and wishing we could just gosh darn find a way to fill it! We’re busy.
So you want to start a business, but your days as they are now, pre-business, are already full. You have to change your mindset on productivity. Change your mindset on productive time.
Challenge yourself to see how much you can get done in periods of time you would have otherwise dismissed.
Sitting in the pick-up line at the elementary school? Send two emails. No wait, three.
Boarded a plane, waiting for it to take off? Turn on those electronics. You have at least fifteen minutes to use them, if not twenty.
Pull up for a noon meeting at 11:58? Listen to those four, waiting voice messages, jot down who needs a quick call back. Can you send a text to respond one of them? Answer one of the questions with a thirty second call instead of an email that would take you five minutes to type on your phone? Do it.
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2. Simplify You’re holding down your full-time job, getting a part-time business off the ground, and still supporting all of your other personal responsibilities. You don’t have time for fluff.
Business-wise, if it’s not a direct, income-producing activity, get rid of it.
Income-producing activities are just what they sound – activities that are directly affecting your growth and bottom line…your income. Making prospect calls, setting up appointments to present to new potential clients, creating and developing your product, etc.
It’s been a busy Tuesday, and you carved out 25 uninterrupted minutes to work on your business this evening. That’s awesome! Better 25 than none at all. You sit down at your desk in your little home office and get to work on…organizing receipts.
Or updating the banner image on your website.
Or ordering new business cards.
Don’t devalue your time! You worked hard for those extra minutes. Set the fluff aside for your extra, extra time (you’ll know when that is).
Simplify the time you’re carving out for your business by only allowing yourself to work on direct, business-building, income-producing activities.
Simplify your activities, and it will suddenly feel like you have more time. I promise.
–
3. Make it a habit If you’re used to “relaxing” for three hours a day on the couch, it’s going to hurt for a while after giving part (or all) of that up.
I went through a Grey’s Anatomy streak a couple years ago. There were reruns on every day that I DVR’d and watched most evenings. After a few months it started driving me crazy, my prioritizing Grey’s time over other things, so I cut myself off.
I broke up with the Grey’s reruns.
It hurt.
I almost faltered a couple times. But I held strong. I said no. I said no not to never watching a single episode of Grey’s for the rest of my life (tradegy!), but to consistently, habitually, dedicating 45 minutes every evening to it.
After a couple weeks, a month at most, it hurt no more. That long lost love was forgotten. Just like that I got back 45 minutes from an “obligation” that I had inserted into my schedule every weekday evening.
Where was I going with this? Grey’s can be very McDistracting. Oh yeah, habits!
Yes, it will hurt at first, changing your ways a little bit. Giving up a few things here and there to dedicate some time to your new business isn’t going to be easy.
But stick with it. Make the changes a habit, and before you know it you won’t remember ever not having the business time you now have.
Remind yourself that productivity is a habit.
–
4. Pick a residual income business model Time is at a minimum. If every minute worked has the potential to pay you back multiple times in the future, you’re making that much better use of your time.
You will get tired, you will get worn out. Focusing on being productive all the time is great, but boy oh boy can it be exhausting at times. Frustrating at others. When will it ever end, you know? Once in a while, you just need a short break.
An evening off.
A week off from your full-time job and your part-time business without guilt.
And that’s ok. You have the discipline now to get right back into it with gusto and confidence. But wouldn’t it be cool if your part-time gig still paid you, even when you took a moment off? That’s residual.
And powerful.
(Some sales companies pay the salesperson in this manner. Additionally, both real estate rentals and network marketing are classic residual-income model businesses. Do you know of more? If so, I’d love to hear about them in the comments!)
If you’re selling a product or a service for time, that’s great. But know that after weeks, months, even years of being in business, if you don’t work, you don’t earn. From an encouragement and productivity standpoint, consider if you’re ok with that.
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5. Get organized You have to get a grip on your organization. Specifically, your mental organization.
If you’re upping your productivity mindset, simplifying and working primarily on income-producing activities, and making productivity a habit, you have to have a strong hold on when you’re doing what and how and for how long and who needs who and what needs to happen first and who has what and do I need to go on?
Keep a notebook with you at all times. Electronic or paper, doesn’t matter. But you need a nerve center. And you need one that’s NOT your lovely, little head.
No offense. I’m sure your brain is lovely. And I’m sure you do have a great memory, it’s just…it’s just…it’s just better if you don’t rely on it all the time.
Trust me.
Take that weight off your shoulders. Allow your non-business moments to be spent thinking about your full-time job, or your children, or your golf game, instead of constantly forcing yourself to remember all of your tiny business dealings for the week.
It gives me anxiety just thinking about it.
Create reminders on your calendar to call Bob back on Monday morning, as you promised him you would when he called right before you ran into a meeting on Thursday afternoon.
When the reminder pops up Monday morning, and you can’t get to his call that minute, don’t dismiss it! Or, dismiss it, and immediately write “CALL BOB” in your notebook.
You get the picture. There’s no point in wasting so many brain cells trying to have a perfect memory. Let yourself relax a little. Get organized by writing everything down.
Plus, once organized, hen you pull up for that noon appointment at 11:58 and wonder, hmm, who can I call back in these two minutes?, your answer is right there.
Organization and productivity go hand-in-hand.
———
Can you build a business around your fill-time job? You bet. Resolve yourself to making it happen and then…make it happen. It’s not as difficult as it’s made out to be.
What do you think? Are the five things listed above possible for you?
If someone asked you how they should build a business around their full-time job, what would you recommend to them?
I'm an author, marketer, and mommy who loves to read, write, and drink coffee. My husband and I live in suburban Kansas City with our two little girls. This site chronicles my world. Thanks for stopping by!
For more, check out my About page.
