In this episode of the How We Grow: The Vacation Rental Show, Lynell Gordon is joined by Brian Olson, Owner of Beachcomber Vacation Homes and President of Northwest Vacation Rental Professionals (NWVRP), to discuss Brian’s best strategies for growing your vacation rental business. Join them as they dive into the inner workings of property management agencies, and highlight property management strategies to add to your playbook
Focus on What’s Right!
It’s true, you will come across a lot of people in the vacation rental industry who will want to work with you, who will do their utmost to schmooze and convince you that they’re the ones you want to work with. You will come across an almost overabundance of homeowners who, at first glance, will appear like the dream partner in crime; you’ll make all these plans, get all these ideas stacked up in your head. But it’s ever so easy to get sucked into it all, to get tunnel visioned and single minded as to what you think the best thing to do is.
After a while, you may have so many options available to you that it all feels overwhelming – and that’s when the pressure really hits. That’s when you’ll have to start making decisions, accepting and declining a handful of different things. The vacation rental business is fun and exciting, but with that excitement comes hard work and tough decisions.
The best thing to do is take a step back every once in a while and ask yourself ‘Do I need to work with this person?’ or ‘is this really the right thing to do?’ As Brian says in his interview with Lynell, you don’t have to do business with everyone that comes your way to be successful. At a point in your growth as an agency when doing business with a property owner, if you are not comfortable with their approach, you can decide not to do business with them. It’s that simple.
Don’t do anything you’re not comfortable with – profit doesn’t mean anything if you’re not happy, and sometimes profit can’t even be achieved if you’re not happy in the first place. Your own personal and professional growth is determined by how much you’re taking on, whether or not you can handle it and how close you’re bringing yourself to burnout.
But whilst looking after yourself is important, there are others who need support and guidance just as much…
Look After Your Team
As well as looking after yourself and doing what’s right for the business, you also have to look after your vacation rental team and get to know the community you’ve set up shop in! Brian believes that getting to know your community is a massive help, it brings a sense of belonging and welcomeness to where you are, especially if for the guests who come to stay. No one wants to have a vacation where the locals don’t want them there!
“Take care of your team. Build a team and take care of them,” says Brian with real passion. “In eight and a half years, we’ve lost three employees. Our turnover rate doesn’t happen. People come to work with us, and they want to stay there. Take care of your employees, take care of your homeowners, and just be good.” Their happiness and satisfaction in your company is an integral part of your success, as well as theirs. Are you treating them with enough respect? Are you paying them enough? You need to build a culture that they enjoy being around and tell other people about!
We could learn an awful lot from Brian about what it takes to lead a happy, satisfied and talented team; about how to manage our own workload; about getting to know the communities we become a part of.
Think about what you’re doing in your vacation rental business – are you doing your best to create an environment that you, your employees and your homeowners are happy with? Can you leave work everyday knowing that your team is satisfied and happy with their work?
To listen to the full conversation between Lynell and Brian on How We Grow: The Vacation Rental Show, follow the links here:
