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How focused are you on the needs of your community?
When launching a new business venture or even growing an existing one, this is perhaps the most impactful question you can ask about yourself and your company. It’s our duty as leaders to dig in, identify hidden needs and discover new ways to better serve our local communities.
For my business, this meant understanding how our local communities across the U.S. felt about short-term rentals and identifying any missing pieces of the puzzle. From countless conversations with homeowners to meetings with city council members and local business leaders and research into community-specific issues, we found the hidden need: Short-term-rental homeowners wanted the ability to provide a consistent experience for guests, manage properties ethically, be good neighbors and benefit the local economy. Guests wanted a consistent, reliable vacation rental experience to enjoy communities across the country. We built our solution for a vacation rental property management company that invests in local communities from there.
Companies that identify their communities’ hidden needs will ultimately generate positive ripple effects that impact different groups and areas within those communities. Of course, just like other companies pushing forward new offerings addressing community needs, our commitment to promoting short-term rental activity has not been without pushback or opposition. This is par for the course. There will always be those who don’t believe in what your business is doing, and that’s OK. Even if you disagree with someone about their stance on your business and your mission, you can still stand to learn from their perspective. Ensuring your mission is focused on the needs of your community will ultimately lead to more positive conversations and proactive solutions.
From the moment our idea was iterated, to now having built and run this company for seven years, there are a few key practices our team has relied on to stay connected to our community and our mission.
First, surround yourself and your business with folks who are as passionate about your mission and your community as you are. A business is only as strong as its people. Finding and hiring those who are as committed to providing for your community as you are will help ground you, and it’s easiest to move forward when everyone is facing in the same direction.
Next, solicit feedback when the opportunity presents itself, and create opportunities for feedback to be given. At TurnKey, we rely heavily on feedback from our homeowners and guests, who are the reasons the company exists. We regularly check in to ensure we’re not only meeting expectations, but exceeding them. It’s also important to regularly communicate with people not closely tied to the business, but who otherwise have a stake in the community it serves. Listening to your community will help you make strides in your business.
Finally, stay involved in your community. Each and every day, remember why you do what you do and who you’re doing it for. Whether it’s lobbying at city hall for property rights, penning opinion pieces for local newspapers or spending time in each market you operate in, keep your finger on the pulse of every community you are involved in. That also means partnering with other local vendors, not competing with them. This helps enrich the local economy and builds a natural base of local support. It keeps you in tune with your community and helps you focus on the mission of giving your customers and community members what they want.
We think daily about the impact we’re able to make on homeowners, travelers and communities across the U.S. As community leaders, you must make choices for your businesses that benefit the communities you’re serving. If a business is engaging in activities that detract from the people they’re asking to do business with, it’s time to step back and evaluate what can be done to make the company an enabler of sustained economic growth, rather than instability.
Taking actions with your customers and community in mind — even if it adjusts your ultimate business plan — is a crucial step to promoting growth in your community for years to come.