@mbrewer
Apartment Motivation
Listening to Michael Tolcher tonight and thinking hard about a the lead stanza of his song – Sooner or Later. Under the premise of motivation – give this a read/listen:
Pull the hair back from your eyes
Let the people see your pretty face
Try not to say anything weird
Save your questions without answers
‘Til your old enough to know that things ain’t as they appeared
Before you go out in the sun
Cover your skin and don’t get burned
Beware the cancer, it might kill you when you’re old
Be first in line, raise your hand
Remember everything you hear
And playing in the rain is worth catching cold
Apartment Maniacs – The Point Is
The apartment management world is plenty full of people who will tell you what to do. And it is plenty full of people who will sit back and take it. Are you one of the sit back and wait for what people have to say kind? Are you one that learns the hard way. Or are you one of the try like hell, never sit still, over the top, drive everyone around you crazy to the point that they finally believe in the flavor of the punch you are drinking types?
The multifamily space is no different from any other business in the world. And odds are pretty good that the person tasked with leading you is no more sure of him or herself than you are. They just have a higher level of responsibility. But lead they will not if they don’t know what they are doing. It the best parts of those who think they are leading with no one following are only taking a walk kind of stuff.
I will never forget the day (thumb and first finger held millimeters away from each other) that I was that close to my supervisor having to make a tough call. A call that would have put me on the downside of my career. Why? He and I did not view the world the same way.It was the proverbial butting of heads. In his mind it was a defining moment. In mine – (youthful arrogance included) it was a wild waste of time.
Did I shift? No way on gods green earth. I knew in my heart of hearts what I was after. No deviation. No compromise. And no chance did I run down a road that I didn’t believe in.
What happened? We took 750+ units to 98.8% occupancy and less than 2 percent left to lease. And rent bumps of $100+ in some cases. Some would posit that the economy took over and I would posit back that someone had to lead the team.
Now I am under no illusion that I did that myself. But what I’m aware of is that I was relentless in drawing that team together under a premise that was larger than all of us combined. And they believed it. What I smile about to this day is that the other guy didn’t.
That Guy
He was that guy in Michael’s song that worried about me saying something weird or not putting my sunblock on before I went outside.
My lead for him and for you – playing in the rain is worth getting wet! Do it often Do it tomorrow.
Make this year your #gameon year – exclamation points included (for those that rest on the proper use of such endings – a life based on emotion and expressing is it liberating)!
Your encouraging and granting you permission to speak freely multifamily maniac,
M
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We Care
How can we show that – We Care:
1. Sweep your crib lines – every curb line
2. Paint your curbs – all cribs that have or need paint
3. Blow off your sidewalks and entry ways daily – all sidewalks
4. Power wash sidewalks and entry ways weekly – except in the winter months where there is a chance for freezing (don’t want to create a slip and fall situation)
5. Vacuum all common area carpets daily
6. Use smell good stuff in the common areas – daily
7. Conduct a ‘road map’ meeting every morning
8. Answer on the third ring – every time
9. Stand and greet everyone – vendors included
10. Smile
Your remembering that the smallest details have the biggest impacts multifamily maniac,
M
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Apartment Budget Time Suck
Ah! With budget season coming to an end, it will feel good to ease my way back into the blogging world. It’s been way too long. So, if I am rusty with words and concepts bear with me.
To kick it off, I have decided to start and ongoing series dedicated to questions that I ask myself throughout the course of any given year.
The subject matter will be all over the place but central to the ongoing operations of an apartment management business.
I hope to keep the posts brief and to the point [200 words+/-].
With that, let’s see how it goes…
To start: What do you do to streamline your budget process?
Every year from September until the later parts of December we nearly stall our home office operation to write our property operating budgets. To me it is one of those necessary evils of doing business. That is to suggest that the end product is a well thought through playbook for not only the year to come but the ten to twelve years beyond that. As such, it demands prudence in its preparation. But, what suffers?
Nearly all the fundamentals get the semi-thoughtful but certainly not mindful once over review. Everything is surface and there is little time to dig in to the really important stuff. In all fairness this year was the best one on record. That said, we are always looking to approve.
Would love to hear your feedback on the subject.
Trusting you will have an amazing 2012.
M
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#apartmentmarketing: Clarity
Mike Brewer · · 1 Comment
I have written about the subjects of brevity and clarity on a number of occasions. The concept came to me from a senior leader at Equity Residential some years ago and has stuck with me ever since. At the time I had the propensity to provide reports that were beyond the time necessary to digest them and I had the knack of going on and on in my descriptions of strategies and results. That is despite all the customary body language queues that would have guided me otherwise; had I been paying attention to them.
Principle: Brevity and Clarity
When thinking about apartment marketing, exercise the principle of brevity and clarity in your print ad copy, website copy, brochure offerings [if you still do this sort of thing], Facebook posting, blog posting and the such.
It’s not sage or unique advice but nevertheless a good reminder; we live in an attention economy. As such, we have to be compelling in our remarks and mindful of the clarity in our brevity.
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#apartmentmarketing: Blog Format Question
Short and sweet today –
One of my favorite blogs, one I read everyday without fail, is Valeria Maltoni’s – Conversation Agent. First rate content always.
Apartment Blog Trunk
I gave up on RSS feed reading about a year ago as I spend more time in my inbox. Nearly every blog I read is done through Outlook now and as such I give more time and attention to the things I read. In other words, I generally do not skim the headline and move on.
About a month ago Valeria made the decision to truncate her email subscription delivery meaning we only see a portion of the message and are forced to click on a link to see the rest.
Result: I read fewer of Valeria’s material to the end. Sorry Valeria.
I understand the reasons for cited in her Saying it in 200 Characters post back on Aug 10, 2011.
My question – should apartment marketers truncate their blog post offerings? We are trying it a Mills [Shameless plug – the Mills Blogging Team is Putting a Dent in the #STL market place].
Would love to hear this communities thoughts? And, thank you in advance for taking the time.
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