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How to Decrease Stress in Your Rental Business

How to Decrease Stress in Your Rental Business

Your rental business is fulfilling, but you likely run into a lot of stressful situations.

From difficult tenants to juggling many roles while running your business, it’s easy to end up feeling more stressed out than happy about your successful business.

Learning how to identify the factors that increase your stress level, and then limiting them as much as possible, is an essential part of setting yourself up for long-term growth and happiness.

Improve Productivity via Property Management Technology

Scientists haven’t figured out how to extend the day beyond 24 hours, so you only have a certain amount of time to fit in your landlord duties.

Naturally, when you have too many things on your to-do list and not enough time to do them, you’ll get frustrated. Incorporating technology into your landlord workflow is one of the most beneficial ways to get more out of your work hours.

Instead of manually tracking maintenance requests, sorting through your files for tenant applications, or depositing checks for rent payments, you can use property management software to cut down on the tasks you handle directly.

The software brings significant productivity gains so you can focus on the areas that need your direct attention.

Outsource Your Skilled Needs

As a small business owner, you aren’t just the landlord; you’re also the accountant, marketer, bookkeeper, and customer service department.

You may not have the resources to bring on part-time or full-time employees, especially when your needs are sporadic as you start out.

Instead of dealing with the tax and financial overhead that employees bring to your rental business, you can handle any skill gaps by outsourcing specific needs.

Hire a CPA once each year when it’s time to handle your taxes, connect with a marketing company when your properties are available, and have a general handyman on call to handle your smaller maintenance needs.

Creating Work-Life Balance

You have a big adjustment to make if you transition from a typical 9-5 job into the rental business.

Your hours are no longer set in stone, so it’s easy to spend too much time focused on your business and not enough time on your personal life.

If you end up in a workaholic cycle, you won’t get to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Some ways to stop work from spilling over into your personal life is to designate specific days where you handle no work-related tasks, outside of emergencies.

Create separation between your work and living areas.

If you handle the administrative side of your rental business from your home, designate a room as your office or otherwise keep it separate from living areas.

You want to feel like you’re coming home from work, instead of allowing your work to spill over into your home life.

Meditation, exercise and other relaxation methods can help you wind down after a long day handling tenants, contractors and rental properties.

You can also use these techniques to signal the transition from your work hours to your social hours.

Be sure to take vacations (even if they end up being staycations) and reward yourself along the way to building your business, even for small successes.

Managing your stress is a critical part of running a successful rental business.

Focus on working smarter, with technology taking a lot of the administrative load off your shoulders.

When you need access to skill sets you don’t have personally, reach out to professionals so you can focus on your own areas of expertise.

It takes time to learn how to manage stress and create a positive work-life balance, but it’s well worth it.