Set SMART New Year’s resolutions for a successful year ahead

As we near the end of 2025, it’s a great time to reflect on the past year’s accomplishments and challenges, and to set your sights on a new year brimming with potential.

Remember, New Year's resolutions aren't just for personal development – they can also help guide your business toward bigger success, growth, and service quality.

Resolutions are like deals you make with yourself and your team. At best they come with clear duties, unmistakable responsibilities, and a real sense of collective purpose, which all lead to improved motivation and overall performance.

There’s just one trick to actually sticking to them: It’s to make them SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

Specific: Your resolutions should be clear and well-defined. Without details, it can be easy to lose track of what needs doing. Instead of a vague goal like "increase business growth," specify that you aim to "expand market share by 10% within the next six months."

Measurable: Ensure you can track your progress. In the example above, the 10% increase is a quantifiable metric that allows you to gauge your success and make necessary adjustments as you move forward.

Achievable: While it’s great to dream big sometimes, make sure your goals are realistic and that you can reach them with the resources and capacity available. Don't strive to convince current clients to acquire a dozen new properties each if it's beyond your control – you'll only set yourself up for disappointment and risk a business relationship with unrealistic demands.

Relevant: Your resolutions should make a meaningful difference to your business. For example, if you think your current growth rate is acceptable as is, why spend time and effort trying to accelerate it when you could focus on other goals instead, such as cost reduction?

Time-bound: Establish a clear timeframe for achieving your goals. Set deadlines to create urgency and prevent procrastination. And remember to acknowledge and reward yourself and your team for reaching a milestone along the way!

Now that you know the secret to keeping your New Year’s resolutions, take it one step further with these property management-specific success strategies:

1. Scale up

Grow your property management portfolio by a specific number of units, properties, or investors within the year.

2. Improve rent collection

Achieve a higher on-time rent payment rate by using more effective rent collection strategies, such as automation, and reducing delinquencies by a certain percentage.

3. Optimize maintenance response times

Pledge to respond to maintenance requests within a shorter, but still reasonable, time frame (e.g. 24 or 48 hours).

You can start by providing tenants with a convenient means to report maintenance issues 24/7, whether through an easy-to-check online portal, a dedicated phone line, or a mobile app. Then, prioritize requests by urgent and non-urgent matters.

Finally, report on the measurable business impact this has had on tenant retention, tenancy duration, and tenant satisfaction, and market those successes to new landlords.

4. Improve your online reputation

Increase the amount of four- and five-star ratings and reviews for your business. Your goal could be five to 10 reviews every three months, or you could strive for numbers closer to 20, 30, or 50.

5. Reduce vacancy rates

With more effective marketing, a streamlined process for filling vacant units, and a comprehensive tenant retention strategy, you could cut the average vacancy rate of your managed properties significantly within the next 12 months.

6. Maintain a healthy work-life balance

Property management can be demanding, so prioritize your wellbeing by managing stress more effectively. Explore new mindfulness techniques, delegate select tasks to capable team members, or limit after-hours work to a certain number of hours per week.

Reflect, renew, thrive

All businesses are different, so you should tailor these goals to fit your needs.

Setting SMART New Year's resolutions and focusing on goals that make sense for YOUR business will help you navigate the challenges of property management with confidence. Embrace the new year as an opportunity to elevate your business, and make a positive impact on your owners, tenants, team, and your career!