Peter Lohmann's Newsletter - Issue #195

Reclaiming the Present Moment by Shunning my iPhone

About a month ago, I left my office to meet someone for lunch. Five minutes into the drive, I realized I had left my phone back at the office. There was no time to go back.

I knew how to get there without directions and had already confirmed with him that I would be there, so there wasn’t technically anything I needed my phone for. But damned if I didn’t feel like I had left a limb back on my desk.

Those two hours without my phone felt incredibly unsettling. I felt aimless, anxious, and disconnected. Then as I acknowledged those feelings and realized how silly it was to be feeling that way after being without a small glass rectangle for two hours, I became extremely unsettled. Did that explain why I rarely felt truly present anymore?

I’ve struggled for years to feel present in large swaths of day-to-day life. As a business owner it’s very difficult “turn it off” when work is over for the day. The hyper-connected always-available work culture of modern-day America makes all that worse. Then throw an internet-connected dopamine machine into your pocket, and it’s a total disaster for one’s ability to focus, be present, and actually relax.

I really thought I was doing this right, because I’ve had notifications turned off for everything except calls and texts for over a decade! Not only that, but years ago I deleted the worst of the addictive apps (Twitter, Insta, Facebook and TikTok). And I’ve been on a total news blackout for over a year. Nevertheless I was reaching for my phone every couple of minutes or so for MOST OF MY WAKING HOURS. Stopping the incoming beeps and boops wasn’t enough. I would just refresh Slack. Check LinkedIn. Look at texts. Delete spam voicemail. Check email. Clear my unread call log. Repeat. Clearly aggressive action was needed.

So I’m fighting back. After a couple weeks of reflecting on that experience of leaving my phone behind, I decided it was time to sever the absurd connection my brain had built to an Apple iPhone. After a bunch of experimentation, I landed on two high-impact but straightforward changes that have cut my casual phone use by more than half (so far):

1. Created a new “Focus” mode that is on 24/7. Set to “Only allow calls from contacts.” That stops ALL the spam calls. “Silence unknown callers” is garbage by the way. You end up with notifications to clear and red badges on your Phone icon. To that Focus mode, I added short hand-picked list of people whose text messages would actually punch through and notify me.

2. Phone goes IN A DRAWER when I’m at home. Drawers are impulse kryptonite. They both hide it from your view, and force you to take a physical action to access the phone. It really makes your brain stop and think “Do I REALLY need to look at my phone right now?”

So that’s where I am so far (this is a work in progress.)

I’d like to put even more distance between myself and my phone, but if you try to do this, you’ll quickly realize some issues. First, most people need to be reachable in case of emergency. Especially parents. The destruction of the office lines and home phones (everyone just uses their cell now) has really made this challenging. One possible solution is a cellular-connected, locked-down apple watch. I’ve yet to try this though. Second, you don’t realize how much you use (and need) your phone. Think: GPS, 2FA, etc. You’re CONSTANTLY forced to reach for it just to handle basic life tasks. That’s why the Focus mode is needed; at times you just really need your phone at hand.

Basically, I’m sick of my phone. I don’t want it anymore. I want to enjoy the people I’m with, and if I’m alone, I want to enjoy the solitude and be able to fully immerse myself in whatever I’m doing—even if that’s doing nothing at all.

-Peter

The PM Insurance Model No One Talks About

I've owned rental property since 2008 and never once questioned whether there was an alternative to just writing a check to a traditional insurance carrier every year. Turns out there is, and the big multifamily operators have known about it for a while.

This week’s podcast is with Nicolas Lares of Insur3Tech, and we go deep on captive insurance - a structure where policyholders co-own the insurance company and share in the underwriting profit.

We get into how it works for scattered-site PM companies, what renters insurance captives actually look like in practice, and what questions you should be asking if you're shopping these programs.

Also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

Property Management Companies For Sale This Week

• 24-year HOA and condo management company in Worcester County, MA (asking $350k, ~300 doors under management)

• STR management portfolio generating ~$1.26M annually in North Carolina (asking $2M)

• 278-door property management franchise in West Palm Beach, FL (asking $1.2M, ~$1.53M annual sales)

• Technology-enabled property management company in Utah (asking $750k, ~$1.28M gross revenue, established 2022)

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Industry News & Events

• AppFolio has connected their Realm-X AI to Claude.

• Todd Ortscheid is doing a live vibe-coding session on June 24th. I don’t recommend skipping this.

• I’m on vacation this week, so forgive the light news section! Trying to stay off socials and email.

Closing Thought

A few quick things before you go…

• Last week’s issue went to 21,876 readers (51.7% opened, 4.8% clicked)

• The most popular link was the The 2026 State of Financial Performance in Property Management (218 clicks)

• Property managers: Your professional trade association is NARPM. You need to join if you’re not already a member.

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Software I’m using to scale my 700+ door property management company:

Note: These are affiliate links, but I’ve been recommending all these companies long before any financial arrangements came into place.

The content of this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. I may have consulting agreements with, or financial interests in, companies mentioned in this newsletter. Additionally, some of the links included in this newsletter are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a commission if you make a purchase through these links. Always perform your own due diligence before making any financial or business decisions.