Peter Lohmann's Newsletter - Issue #89

The Visionary/Integrator Dynamic

We just wrapped up our Q2 leadership planning offsite, and it was very productive. We bring in an outside facilitator / EOS implementer every quarter to run these. It’s eye-wateringly expensive, but worth it.

If you’re not familiar with EOS, it stands for entrepreneurial operating system. It’s based on the book Traction by Gino Wickman. Basically it’s a framework for running a small business. Over the past several years it’s become extremely popular with property management companies. My own PM company has been running on EOS for years now. We’ll return to EOS in a moment, but first I want to tell you a story.

I was talking with my friend the other night and he was discussing plans to place someone in the CEO role later this year at his fast-growing company. I was curious why he wasn’t planning to stay in the role himself, given his track record and success thus far. He replied that he was concerned about losing focus and felt his unique ability was more of outward-facing hype-man or evangelist; spending time outside the company talking with potential customers, looking for partners, keeping his finger on the pulse of the market, etc. Being very self-aware, he felt that someone else would probably do a better job taking the company to the next level after he got it up and running with some initial momentum. He loves starting new things, but not the day-to-day managerial grind of running an enterprise.

I can only think of one other person I’ve ever heard discussing plans to replace themselves as CEO. This particular person was happy to sit in a sales role and hired someone to be his boss.

My friend is not super familiar with EOS, but those of you who are instantly recognized him as a classic Visionary. What’s a Visionary? In EOS parlance, the top 2 executives at the company should fill the roles of Visionary and Integrator (you can loosely think of them as CEO and COO).

The Visionary has big ideas, grand plans, is charismatic and motivating, and has a clear picture of where the company should go. They tend to face “outward” from the company and interface with key customers, partners, investors, lenders, etc.

Integrators turn Visionary ideas into reality. They work across multiple departments (sales/marketing, finance, ops, etc). Think "President" or "GM". An integrator is “inwardly” facing, spending most of their time with the team. As the saying goes:

Personally, I am a visionary and found my integrator in the form of a great COO, who has been with the company for 2+ years. I highly recommend getting clear on who you are and leaning into that, rather than fretting about trying to do everything. EOS has published a short quiz to help you determine this; here are my results:

Are you an integrator or a visionary? Have you found your counterpart?

THIS ISSUE PRESENTED BY LENDING ONE

Last week’s mystery sponsor is… LendingOne!

As a nationwide lender that caters solely to real estate investors, LendingOne helps you AND your investors by (1) making it easy for your property owners to obtain financing (with their investor-focused loan products) and (2) providing your clients the resources, information and training needed for them to think like professional investors.

Join LendingOne’s No-Cost Growth Program and gain access to:

• White labeled marketing materials, including a regular newsletter, exclusive webinars, tutorials and more.

• An Investor Resource Hub that gives your clients 24/7 access to tools, resources and information (makes you look awesome).

• A referral bonus that puts cash in your pocket when your property owner client uses LendingOne to purchase an investment property.

Next week at Broker/Owner, LendingOne is teaming up with my friends at Blanket to give away a two person, 5-night cruise! I’m grabbing dinner at the conference with both companies … And I’m a busy guy, so you know they’re cooking up something exciting if I’m making time for it.

Will you be there too? Stop by their booth for a chance to win a free cruise.

Not attending the conference? Book a call with Josh Heintz to learn more about LendingOne and their PM Growth Program available to select property managers:

The Business Runs Itself with Brad Larsen

Special guest Brad Larsen joined me for Season 3, Episode 7 of my podcast!

We discussed:

• The future of NARPM

• How to evaluate potential business opportunities

• The possibility of a self-running PM Company

• How to spin up a brokerage company within your PM firm

• “Home Property Management”

• Struggles in dealing with customers as a property manager

Check out the full episode below, on YouTube for the first time:

Mastermind for 100+ Door PM Owners

I don’t talk about it much, but I run a private community & mastermind for PM company owners 100+ doors under management. It’s not for beginners, but experienced operators who want to take their business to the next level.

Next week I’m hosting a members-only dinner cruise around Amelia Island at NARPM’s broker/owner conference in Florida. Want in on cool events like this? Join the waitlist to be notified when applications for Crane re-open later this year.

Industry News and Events

• Here’s a PM company for sale in Wisconsin (1350 units, asking 1.85M).

• Here’s an association management company for sale in Colorado (21 HOAs, asking 1.28M)

• Property Meld has launched “Vendor Nexus”, designed to help property managers find quality vendors. Many a “vendor matchmaking service” has tried to make a go of it in PM, but none of them had anywhere near the preexisting vendor and PM relationships that Meld has. I predict this will be successful.

• The LA Times recently published a story about this guy Flash Shelton who removes squatters. He simply moves in with them, and apparently they leave almost instantly. Genius!

• See you NEXT WEEK at NARPM’s Broker/Owner conference! Say hi and catch my live podcast recording onstage, Tuesday at 10:20am!

Closing Thought

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Stats from last week’s issue:

Valid Recipients: 7,921

Open Rate: 60.8%

Clickthrough Rate: 7.2%

Most Popular Link (58 clicks): Peter & The Wolf Webinar Registration

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That’s all for this week! Have a great weekend. -Peter