How I Did It: Stephanie Gordon Shares the Challenges that Helped her Succeed

On The Property Management Show, we’re starting a new series called How I Did It, which focuses on property management success stories. The goal is to empower property management business owners with success stories from those who have done it. We all have challenges when it comes to running our businesses, and in this series, my guests will share how they overcame those struggles. We’re going to be honest and open, and we hope it will help you build your property management company.  The first guest in this series is Stephanie Gordon. Stephanie is a longtime customer of Fourandhalf, a good friend, and one of the most successful property management entrepreneurs I know. Her company, Gordon Property Management, is the leader in the San Francisco market, and she’s owned her business for 31 years. We asked about the most difficult time she went through and what her biggest challenges were. Managing People Instead of Properties: Becoming an Employer Stephanie is open about the fact that her biggest challenge has revolved around employees and being an employer of people. Like many business owners, she started the company out of her house on her own. She did everything. Then, adding people became necessary. Before too long, you’re no longer managing properties. You’re not managing owners or tenants. You’re managing your employees. That can be a difficult transition. Stephanie believes she stinks at that. It’s not her personality. She wants everyone to get along and do their jobs and be friends. She avoids confrontation. But, that doesn’t work when you’re the boss of people. She has a great team now at Gordon Property Management. But, it wasn’t always so cohesive. The Difficult Maintenance Employee – Let’s Call Him Mark In 2008 or 2009, Stephanie had two maintenance guys working for her. One was great and the other one, we’ll call him Mark, was difficult. They didn’t get along. But, it was more than that; it was making Stephanie unhappy. It was making her so unhappy that she dreaded going into work every day. She considered doing something else with her master’s degree; maybe teaching real estate and property management. She acknowledges now that she waited too long to fire Mark. But, maintenance guys are hard to find in San Francisco, so she was reluctant to let him go because her company had maintenance needs to meet. Mark worked primarily on a large account; an owner who had about 50 units. One day, Stephanie realized she didn’t like Mark. She didn’t like the account he was spending 80 percent of his time on, and something had to change.  So, she fired her client. Then, she fired Mark. It was the first time she ever fired a client, but after that account and the maintenance problem were gone, the whole dynamic in the office changed. Mark had been a drag on everyone, and the client had been demanding all kinds of different things that the team was struggling to provide. Firing a client is a measure of success. When you can fire your clients who aren’t a good fit, you know you have done something pivotal for your business. Remember when we talked about Robert Locke on this podcast? How becoming a Big-A Agent means your owners trust you to make all decisions for their properties? This is in contrast to a little-a agent, who is always asking for approvals from their owners. Stephanie was transitioning from small-a to Big-A at this point, and losing that one account meant losing nearly 10 percent of her overall income. But, Stephanie has learned that when she fires a client, her income dip doesn’t last long. New business is quickly brought in. You also have to remember she was so unhappy that she was willing to give up her whole business. Stephanie’s Story: Becoming a Property Management Entrepreneur