Applying Good Books to our Business at Frontier

I enjoy reading, how about you?

Below are a few sections of writing I found interesting taken out of a book I am reading, along with some of my comments sprinkled in as things or ideas come to mind.

This weekend I began reading: The 25 Biblical Laws of Success written by William Douglas, Rubens Teixeira copyright 2017, below are a few quotes from the book that caught my attention.

From the Book - Make yourself so useful and efficient in what you are now doing that you will attract the favorable attention of those who have the power to promote you into more responsible work that is more to your liking. You may discover that you are standing over a rich mine. PG 21 – The 25 Biblical Laws of Success.

From Chad – This quote from the book, reminds me of the importance of having a clear and concise mission statement.  Our company mission statement - We at Frontier Property Mgmt seek to maximize the return on investment for our owners, our residents and team members through sound management practices of 10,000 units in 5 years – CM

How do we plan to fulfill this mission:  Create a culture of continuous improvement, and a environment where we can each use our God given talents to the best of our abilities.

Recently we added another layer of management oversight to our business which is lead by Frontier team members we call - Investment Managers – Their duty is to dig into the financials to identify opportunities to increase net income, and comb through key reports to ensure we've done our best to achieve budget each month.  As another level of oversight, our COO sits down with the Investment Managers the second and last week of the month for 15 to 25 minutes each. Our COO and Investment Managers both keep detailed notes in their investment binders so we can identify trends and share best practices. The investment binders are our visual, management tracking tool, independent of our everyday PM software. We print off budgets, actual income and expense reports and several other important reports that flow into the financials, such as unit vacancy, delinquency, upcoming lease expirations -  CM

As part of our growth plan, our VP of Sales and Marketing will create a written sales plan for achieving 10,000 apartment units under management in 5 years. He should present the plan for unit growth to the COO and CEO by the second week of July. At this stage of planning, he should not be concerned about costs of labor or any other cost constraints at this stage of his development plan for growth. Out of the box ideas are key – CM

From the Book - There is always plenty of capital for those who can create a practical plan for using it – PG 21, The 25 Biblical Laws of Success

To make a long story short, the sun rises for everyone, opportunities come along, but not everyone takes advantage of them. Those who seize opportunities are more likely to fulfill their dreams. – PG 21-22, The 25 Biblical Laws of Success

Wisdom is knowing what to do, not how to do it. PG 27, The 25 Biblical Laws of Success

No one will put up with work badly done, or partially done, or with no regard for technical standards. Nor is it wise to do fruitless work that has no outcome – PG 28, The 25 Biblical Laws of Success

The time when just having the energy and rolling up our sleeves were enough is long gone. We are now in the age of productivity, quality and effectiveness. We need results. What’s the use in giving someone a cake recipe if that person is like a fish out of water in the kitchen? You need someone with baking skills to get that job done.  PG 28, The 25 Biblical Laws of Success

Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank. PG 29, The 25 Biblical Laws of Success

Whether you are a salesperson, carpenter, teacher or business executive, devote yourself to what you do, develop the necessary skills, and you will find yourself among kings, moving up in life.

That’s the rule! It’s quite simple really: be very good at what you do. PG 29, The 25 Biblical Laws of Success

If you know how to do your job well, sooner or later the spotlight will be on you. If not, then nothing will happen. PG 29, The 25 Biblical Laws of Success

Be sure you know the condition of your flocks; give careful attention to your herds. (Prov. 27:23) pg 30. Do you know who and what are the “sheep” that interest you? PG 30, The 25 Biblical Laws of Success

From Chad – Per the above section of “Knowing the condition of your Flocks”, As Investment Managers, do we know the status of how the properties are performing under our care? Are we in recent communication with the residents who are past due, do we know about our upcoming vacancies and have we scheduled a day and time to perform a pre move out inspection of the unit and begin marketing before the vacancy? Are all make ready units as far along as they can be at this present moment? Are all units marketed on the website that can be even if they are not 100% rent ready? Are the expenses in line with budget? Do any of the budget expense categories seem too high as a percent of rent?  - CM

For our properties to perform at their best, we need to visit them at a minimum of every 3-6 months to ensure they are well maintained and have little to no deferred maintenance that could lead to more expensive repairs if not cared for now. We need to place the best tenants we can find, take care of their needs quickly and stay in constant communication with them if they get behind in rent. Should a tenant get 45 days or more behind, with no expressed plan to get caught up, we will gain approval from the owner to send the file to the attorney to begin eviction proceedings. This does not mean the resident cannot stay, but it does mean they need to perform to uphold their side of the lease contract. This starts the process which naturally gives the resident some time, but also ensures the loss of rent does not drag on longer than it needs to.

When doing maintenance, we need to have fully stocked vehicles, be ready to work - fresh at the start of each day and support one another by leveraging each other’s strengths. - CM

As mentioned at the start of this post, I really enjoy reading, learning new ideas from others and really putting to work some of the ideas and concepts from great books into the daily practices of our company.  Thank you for taking the time to read this post!

We sure appreciate our investment property clients, our past, current and future residents and the awesome team at Frontier who gives it their all every single day! You guys are the best and I love to be part of our company and our plan to reach10,000 residents in 5 years!  We are doing great! Thanks Team, Chad