Picture this…
It’s my honeymoon, and I’m sitting in the car in the dark, at the top of a hill trying to get internet reception, and I’m receipting the rent.
And I’m doing every single night of my honeymoon.
Not exactly how I imagined my honeymoon would be.
So, that’s how my very first holiday went, about 12 months after starting my rent roll.
But that’s NOT how my second holiday went…
No way was I doing it that way again.
The next holiday I took, I actually switched off.
Someone else receipted the rent.
Someone else answered the phones.
Someone else handled the maintenance.
And I’m guessing that if you own a rent roll, you’re probably due for a holiday right now.
Actually, if you own a rent roll, you were probably due for a holiday about 12 months ago, right?
And even if you’re the only person working in your rent roll, you can take holidays!
So here’s how to do it:
Embrace Outsourcing
There are so many tasks you can outsource in your rent roll.
So, if you’re gearing up for a holiday, now is the time to start embracing outsourcing!
And you can do it in 3 easy steps:
- Start by getting someone else to answer your phones.
For me, this was the easiest thing to let go of.
I hired a virtual receptionist service (Silent Partner – based in Sydney, but servicing all of Australia) who would answer my phones for me, transfer calls or take messages.
They’ll get to know your business, and learn how to take messages, or how to instruct tenants to report maintenance via your website or how to teach landlords to download their own statement from the landlord portal.
A good virtual receptionist will act as though they’re sitting in the office right next to you and will look after your clients as though they’re employed by your office.
It’s worthwhile getting your virtual receptionist in place a good couple of months before you take your holidays, because, like any new member of your team, it takes time for them to get to know your business, your clients and your processes.
If you’ve had your virtual receptionist in place for a couple of months before you take your holidays, you’ll feel relaxed and confident knowing that all inbound phone calls are being taken care of when you’re taking a break.
- Next, hand over your admin tasks
Think about all the different tasks that exist in your business that could be completed virtually.
Think:
- Trust accounting
- Rent arrears management
- Lease preparation paperwork
- Maintenance coordination
- Lease renewal communications
- Book keeping
- Responding to tenant enquiries
Just anything that can be completed “in the cloud” from anywhere in the world.
Start finding ways to hand over these tasks. Now, you might want to hand over these tasks permanently, or you might just want to hand them over for the period you’re taking a holiday.
Look into outsourcing services, like Agency Services Group who can help you with short term outsourcing (just while you’re on holidays) or long term (if you’re not quite ready to hire staff yet).
- Get a little help from a friend
Without doubt, while you’re on holidays, there are going to be times when you need a “person on the ground”.
It might be to allow a tenant to collect keys, or to do a routine inspection, or to run an open home for you.
There are a couple of ways you can facilitate these appointments, but here are my two favourites:
- Ask a friend.
You might have a fellow rent roll owner you know in real life OR someone you know via social media. You might be able to partner with them to help each other run these “in person” appointments while the other takes a holiday.
If you genuinely don’t know anyone else who owns a rent roll (within driving distance to your properties, of course), then get involved in a group of rent roll owners going through training together (like, inside the Rent Roll Owner’s Marketing School) and reach out to your friends and colleagues inside those memberships. - Hire a locum or temp.
There are amazing services out there who you can hire for a week or two to cover the in-person appointments for you while you take a holiday.
Some of my favourite services out there are:
Agency Services Group – Sydney based outsourcing company
Melbourne Property Agents – a Melbourne based temping company
And you can also find recruitment services who also offer temps who can over your office while you’re away.
Once you’ve embraced outsourcing, it’s time to
Educate your clients
This is something that you do in the weeks and months leading up to your holidays.
In fact, you need to be doing this constantly.
Educating your clients about what they need to do when you’re on holidays, is very similar to educating them on what they need to do after 5pm and on the weekends, when you should be spending time with your family.
So, what this means is, having a strong after hours policy, a team of tradespeople who can manage emergency repairs, and even looking at artificial intelligence (like the Property Realm program or a Real Estate Assistant Chat Bot)
In fact, as I prepared to take Christmas holidays, I used to send a letter to my clients to tell them what to do while my office was closed. If you’d like a copy of that letter, click here to download it
And finally…
The truth of the matter is, as the owner of your rent roll, you need to be taking regular breaks, weekends, holidays and downtime.
If you don’t, you’ll just burn out.
So, plan for time off and set yourself up in a way that allows you to return to your business with everything running like clockwork!
And when you’re back from your holiday, and you’re motivated to start growing again, join my free mini-course: The 5 Step Action Plan for Rent Roll Growth and get back into your growth again!
And if you haven’t seen my last blog titled 3 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Me be sure to check that out next!
