August 29th, 2023
5 Side hustles to enhance your performance and wellbeing
Property Management
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As cheesy as it sounds, you’re the master of your own destiny. We understand that as Property Managers you’re extremely busy, in a competitive industry, making it difficult to set aside time for personal development and career growth. However, the time is now, 2024 is the year to take the reigns and strive for what you want. So how do you get there? That’s where we come in, we’ve curated a list of the top 10 tips to level up your property management career this year, making it more achievable than ever. Whether you’re an industry rookie or a seasoned team leader, we’ve got something for everyone!
1. Connect with a style of learning that works for you
From coffee orders to phone cases, workouts to wardrobes; your learning style is as unique as you are! Luckily there are a myriad of options to support your preference. Whether it’s a podcast, blog, newsletter subscription, webinar, event, coach or mentor, there is an option to suit you. We recommend trialling different learning styles and noting what feels best and what has led to the most success. You may be wondering, where can I find different learning materials and resources? Online, whether that’s a quick Google search or a post in an industry community group, which leads us to our second tip.
2. Join or create a community for professionals
Amy Poehler beautifully poses it in her statement, “As you navigate the rest of your life, be open to collaboration. Other people and other people’s ideas are often better than your own. Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.”
This rings true in your social life, but even more importantly in your professional life. The ideas and attitudes of those around you rub off onto you, so if you surround yourself with uplifting, hardworking and positive people you will begin to reap the benefits. Beyond this, being part of a community provides you with opportunities to grow and develop in your career, that you may not have had previously. Notably, some of our favourite community groups include the Australian Property Managers Community and the PropertyMe Official User Group.
3. Set targets and reviews
What gets measured gets managed! You’re 42% more likely to achieve your targets and goals if you write them down. So get the pen and paper out and not only write out your professional goals but also how they fit into your life holistically. If you factor in how you can work towards your goals, dedicating certain times in your busy day to focus on them, you can ensure that you’re chipping away at them. One of the most popular goal-setting methods is Tony Robbin’s Road Map Method, whereby you plan out tangible ways you achieve your goals today, tomorrow, next month and so forth. We also spoke to Michael Furlong from Rent Roll Maximiser who stressed the importance of creating clearly defined goals, that are written and measurable!
Top tip: Also carve out time to review your goals, setting aside time monthly or quarterly to check in with yourself and your progress!
4. Ask for feedback from those you trust
There’s a lot of discourse surrounding whether or not you should share your goals with others, and ask for feedback and advice. While we believe it’s valuable to be selective about whom you share information in your professional life, we do think it’s important to seek feedback from trusted individuals such as your manager or direct team members. So often when we’re in the rat race, going through the daily motions we can find it difficult to identify which parts of our work process may be hindering our professional growth. Therefore, we recommend having a comfortable conversation with those you trust, to help you find ways to improve from a neutral perspective.
5. Implement an hour of power
Whether it’s a daily, weekly or fortnightly hour, set aside non-negotiable time that’s completely focused on achieving your goals. Those daily mundane tasks will come and go, however, you’re in charge of your own career and destiny, so make sure the way you structure your day reflects that. Begin thinking about which part of the day you find yourself having the most motivation, and carve out an hour to work on yourself and your professional growth. What does this hour actually entail? Well, it depends on your goals however it may include working on an online learning course, reaching out to new prospective clients, or building your industry relationships on LinkedIn or a community group.
6. Master your tools
“We become what we behold. We shape our tools and then our tools shape us” – Marshall McLuhan
As stated by Marshall McLuhan, the tools we use can help or hinder our work and career. Therefore, it’s important that you invest time in learning about the platforms and products you use in your day-to-day operations. Here at PropertyMe, we have a self-paced training program, TrainMe that allows you to extract the most out of our platform. You can access and complete the modules at any time or search for specific features that you might be more unfamiliar with. Alternatively, we’ve also written a guide to spring-clean your portfolio!
7. Make sure you’re on the same page as your team
Communication is the key to success, with miscommunications not only hindering your productivity but also preventing you from getting the results you desire. But how do you ensure that nothing between you and your team gets misconstrued? If internal emails are getting lost, we suggest moving your team communications to a chat platform like Slack to create immediate and succinct conversations. If you already have an internal chat platform but you’re struggling to locate messages within that, why not set a weekly team meeting to discuss any major talking points? Lastly, if you’re finding that your team is communicating over too many platforms and steps in your workflow are getting missed, create a designated workflow that everyone can follow. When all else fails, have an open and honest conversation with your team, to get realigned.
8. Establish routines
Consistency creates results, as you chip away at your goals a little bit each day! As James Clear, Author of Atomic Habits states, “Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement”. It’s so important to create routines that support your goals whilst also being harmonious with your work environment and daily responsibilities. The best way to establish healthy routines that reduce stress and increase productivity is to look at your current weekly routine. Take stock of when you have recurring meetings, what your daily tasks look like and what activities you’ve committed to outside of the workday to better understand where you can improve your productivity or insert personal development activities.
9. Set accurate deadlines and deliver on them
In a world where everything moves so quickly, it’s easy to overpromise and underdeliver, with the pressure of tight deadlines making it impossible to say no. However, overpromising not only affects our team, as our work is delayed or unfinished, but it also affects our mental health as we are wrought with anxiety and stress. So we recommend being mindful when speaking to your manager about upcoming deadlines or new projects, giving yourself a second to think before saying yes or agreeing to an unfeasible timeline. From there you can ensure that your workload is manageable and you don’t overcommit yourself!
10. Put yourself outside of your comfort zone
This step is typically the hardest to achieve, particularly for those who are more introverted. With 95% of people staying inside their comfort zone regularly, you could give yourself a massive edge over others in your industry by taking the leap. Small ways to begin getting yourself out of your comfort zone include booking a meeting to discuss the possibility of a promotion with your manager, enrolling in a public speaking course or attending an industry event alone. These small yet slightly daunting tasks can get the ball rolling and allow you to embrace confidence and courage as part of your daily life.
So there you have it, our top ten tips to level up your property management career. Let us know your thoughts on our top ways to level up your property management career by emailing [email protected]
