Success Rule #2 - SOLVE PROBLEMS

By Dan Daugherty

“Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.” - Henry Ford

“We are too busy mopping the floor to turn off the faucet.” - Unknown

When asked, “If you had only one word to describe the day-to-day life of a property manager, what would that word be?”, many property managers mentioned the words “frustrated”, “hectic,” and “chaotic”. These words are echoed by many of the most extraordinary people and companies in the world. These frustrations usually turn into the development and implementation of better services and products.

At Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin were frustrated with the results from search engines. Their response was to develop a more relevant search engine based on the democracy of the Internet. Virgin Airlines was developed because Richard Branson was frustrated with the service he received from other airlines. At Rent Marketer, we were frustrated with posting ads manually to many sites individually - so we built technology to do it more effectively.

When doing research for this project, we received a great deal of feedback about how the art of problem solving is a prerequisite for any property manager. Steve Urie, who has been working in property management for nearly 25 years in Gilbert, Arizona, noted that while he enjoys the fact that no two days are alike in the world of property management, he also embraces the reality that the business demands an ability to solve problems. Melissa Prandi, author of “The Unofficial Guide to Managing Rental Property,” shares a similar view: “There is never a dull moment in property management, as there is always an opportunity to resolve/solve so many problems”.

A byproduct of solving difficult problems and creating value is innovation.

For those who want to change things and become more productive, it has been found that frustration acts as the catalyst for innovation. Many successful property managers not only come up with new processes, procedures and products when they become frustrated, but they also know that an idea is just a thought that needs to be set into action.

Final thoughts:
Transform frustration into new ideas
Implement and take action with these new ideas
Create value when determining new ideas to implement
Share your ideas and successes