Dear Pro,
I'm Glen. I'm a property manager. I have ten units across Denver and Boulder. I have a wife and four kids and a side business and a brain that doesn't stop.
For years, my vacations weren't actually vacations. Three days in, the call would come — water heater out at unit 4B, locked-out tenant at 7C. I'd spend the rest of the trip on my phone coordinating with vendors, while my family did vacation things without me. By the time I came home, I was more tired than when I left.
I tried answering services. Hundreds of dollars a month, three properties at a time, scripted operators who'd call me anyway. I tried just turning off my phone — twice. Both times, a real emergency I should have known about happened. I went back to picking up.
Last spring I built this page. Just for me. The next vacation, the calls came — but they came to the page, not to me. The page did the routing. The tenant picked the issue type — roof leak, plumbing burst, lockout — and got connected to the right vendor. Acme Roofing got the leak call. Best Plumbing got the burst pipe. Front Range Locksmith got the lockout.
I got a digest when I came home: twelve dispatches, all handled, no follow-up required.
I didn't pick up my phone for six days. I came back rested.
If you're a pro who hasn't really logged off in years — a property manager, an attorney, a CPA, an agency owner, anyone whose clients can't seem to wait — this is for you. The page handles the emergencies. You handle the vacation. The whole trick is that your client does the routing — they self-triage to the right person — instead of you fielding every call yourself.
Take the time off. Actually take it.
— Glen
Founder, OutOfOfficePro
Owner, Mohegan Capital · Property Manager · Father of four