From Beauty to Buildings: What I've Learned in My First Six Months as an Assistant Property Manager
A career change, a steep learning curve, and why starting over was worth it
If you had told me a year ago that I would be working in commercial real estate, reading leases, coordinating roof repairs, talking to vendors, and noticing every pothole in every parking lot I drove through, I probably wouldn't have believed you.
But here we are.
Before commercial real estate, I spent close to 10 years in the beauty industry. I started as a service provider with my Master Esthetics license. I moved into location and people management, where I was responsible for running the business and leading the team that kept it running. My last title even had "Director" in it.
Then I reached a point where I realized the beauty industry just wasn't aligning with my values anymore.
That was a difficult thing to admit after investing almost a decade of my life into one industry. I had built experience, worked my way up, and reached a point where I was comfortable in what I knew. Changing careers meant giving a lot of that comfort up.
But I decided to go out on a limb anyway.
I jumped industries completely and landed in commercial real estate as an Assistant Property Manager.
Yes, I went from having "Director" in my title to having "Assistant" in it. Yes, I took a pretty significant pay cut knowing it would take time to make the kind of money I was used to making.
On paper, you could probably make the argument that I took a step backward.
Six months later, I don't see it that way at all.
I took a chance hoping I would find a new career that I could grow into, and I can genuinely say I have never liked a job this much before.
Starting Over Doesn't Mean Starting From Zero
One of the biggest things I've realized during this career change is that starting over in a new industry doesn't mean everything you did before suddenly becomes irrelevant.
I knew almost nothing about commercial property management when I started. What I did know was people.
Nearly 10 years in the beauty industry and location/people management taught me how to communicate with different personalities, handle difficult conversations, solve problems, manage expectations, make the business money, prioritize competing demands, and stay calm when someone else definitely isn't.
Those skills followed me into property management.
Now the people and the problems are just different.
Instead of managing employees and the businesses KPI to ensure we are bringing in revenue, I'm communicating with tenants, property owners, vendors, utility companies, property managers, accountants, and everyone in between.
And yes, property management has its share of after-hours calls.
The power might go out at a property. A roof might start leaking into a tenant's space on a weekend. Something breaks. Something floods. Something that has been working perfectly fine for the last 15 years suddenly decides that Saturday at 8:00 p.m. is its time to shine.
But after years of people management, being "on call" doesn't feel entirely foreign.
I'll take the call about a building issue over the 3:00 a.m. call from an employee telling me they can't come in for their shift the next day.
Been there. Done that.
Drinking From the Commercial Real Estate Firehose
Commercial real estate has probably added to my skill set faster than any other job I've had.
That's not to say I didn't learn invaluable lessons during my previous career-I absolutely did. But property management has challenged me in completely different ways.
One of the biggest is attention to detail.
Let me tell you about reading the same section of a lease 10 times because you're trying to make absolutely sure you're interpreting it correctly.
Who is responsible for this repair?
When is this payment actually considered late?
What does the lease say about HVAC?
Does the landlord pay for this, or does the tenant?
When does rent commence?
Where exactly is the notice supposed to be sent?
You quickly learn that "I think" isn't always a good enough answer.
You have to find it.
And somewhere in that very long lease is usually the answer-possibly written in a sentence that seems like it was specifically designed to make you question your reading comprehension.
Six months ago, so many commercial real estate terms sounded like a different language to me. CAM, COI, rent commencement, lease abstract, estoppel, NTE, TI allowance, true-up-the list goes on.
Slowly, those words start becoming part of your everyday vocabulary and I’m still adding to the list.
I am continuing to learn, and I'm certainly not going to pretend that six months in commercial real estate makes me an expert. I’m still like, wait say that again? But that's actually one of my favorite things about this job.
I'm constantly learning.
Sometimes the answer is in the lease. Sometimes it's in an old email. Sometimes it's asking someone who has been doing this much longer than I have.
And sometimes the most valuable thing you can say is, "I don't know, but I'll find out."
Organization or Chaos-You Choose
If you're considering property management, I hope you like lists.
I LOVE a good task list.
Actually, I love a good SOP too.
There are so many moving pieces when you're helping manage multiple commercial properties that you either find a way to stay organized or accept that chaos is going to win.
Every property has its own running list.
One tenant needs something repaired. Another owes you paperwork. A vendor is supposed to send a proposal. You're waiting for an invoice from someone else. A lease has a date you need to track. Someone needs a follow-up email. Another person said they'd call you back Tuesday.
Then Tuesday comes, they don't call, and you've accumulated 12 new tasks since then.
So you follow up.
And follow up again.
Property management has taught me that following up might actually be a professional skill all by itself. Haha!
I am a huge believer in creating processes. If I know I'm going to have to do something again, I want instructions for it. What are the steps? Where does everything get saved? Who needs to receive it? What needs to be checked?
Give me an SOP and a running task list and I'm happy.
The job also requires you to communicate in just about every way imaginable. Email, text, phone calls, Zoom meetings, in-person conversations-you have to be able to adjust depending on who you're working with and what's happening.
Sometimes you need to be firm. Sometimes you need to soften your approach. Sometimes something is urgent. Sometimes the best thing you can do is listen.
My previous career taught me a lot about that, and I'm grateful I brought those skills with me.
Property Management Has Ruined Parking Lots for Me
You know what's funny?
Once you work in property management, you start noticing properties everywhere.
I can't unsee them now.
I'll pull into a parking lot and notice the potholes.
I'll notice faded parking stripes.
I'll notice landscaping that needs attention.
I'll notice a dumpster area that's overflowing.
I'll notice something on the exterior of a building and think, "Someone should probably get that looked at."
I remember being at the dentist and looking at the parking lot thinking, "Wow, this is looking rough."
Who thinks about that while they're at the dentist?
Apparently property managers do.
Before this job, I could walk into a business without thinking twice about everything that has to happen behind the scenes to keep that property functioning.
Now I know.
Someone is coordinating that landscaping.
Someone is dealing with that roof leak.
Someone is calling about the power.
Someone is scheduling the parking lot work.
Someone is trying to figure out why a contractor hasn't sent the proposal they promised three days ago.
And somewhere, there is probably a property manager staring at a task list and chipping away at it one item at a time.
It Really Is a Relationship Business
I've really enjoyed building relationships with the vendors I work with.
Roofers, electricians, HVAC technicians, landscapers, plumbers, pressure washers, fire safety companies-the list goes on.
You start building relationships with people you trust, and those relationships have real value.
A great vendor isn't just someone who sends you a bid.
It's someone who answers the phone.
It's someone who communicates.
It's someone who shows up when they say they will.
It's someone you can call when something goes wrong and know they're going to help you figure it out.
Those relationships can follow you from one property to another and potentially from one job to the next. It starts to feel like one giant network of people helping each other keep these properties looking good, operating properly, and staying safe.
At the end of the day, they're a business. We're a business. Our tenants are businesses. And ideally, everyone gets what they need.
Of course, that's when you find a vendor who meets the needs of what you're looking for.
Sometimes they don't.
And I've learned that breaking up with someone doesn't just happen in your personal life.
Sometimes you need to have a vendor breakup too.
"It's not you...actually, it might be you."
Business relationships still have to work for both sides.
The Owner Is the Client, But the Tenant Matters Too
Another part of property management I've really enjoyed is learning how to balance relationships between the property owner and the tenants.
The owner or landlord is our client. We have a responsibility to protect their investment, manage their property, control expenses, enforce leases, and keep the property operating the way it should.
At the same time, there are real people running businesses inside those properties.
A lot of the tenants in the portfolio I work with are local businesses, and I'm all about supporting the little guy.
These aren't just names on a rent roll.
There are people who go to work every day trying to build their businesses, take care of their employees, serve their customers, and make a living.
Sometimes what the tenant wants and what the owner needs line up perfectly.
Sometimes they don't.
That's when communication becomes incredibly important.
You have to understand what the lease says, understand your client's needs, listen to the tenant, and figure out how to move forward professionally.
I've realized that commercial property management isn't only about managing buildings.
You're managing relationships.
Six Months Later
I'm only six months into this career.
There is still SO much I don't know.
But that's also what excites me.
I've learned more in six months than I expected to, and every week there seems to be something new.
A new lease question.
A new vendor.
A new property issue.
A new process.
A new term I've never heard before.
A new problem that makes me think, "Well, haven't dealt with this one yet."
And then you figure it out.
That's probably one of the biggest reasons I've enjoyed this career so much. There is something satisfying about solving tangible problems and seeing the results of your work.
Something was broken, and now it's fixed.
Something looked terrible, and now it looks great.
A tenant had a problem, and you helped solve it.
A process was confusing, and now there's an SOP for it.
Six months ago, I walked into commercial real estate knowing I was taking a risk.
I left an industry where I had nearly 10 years of experience. I left a leadership title. I accepted less money. I went from knowing my industry inside and out to asking a LOT of questions.
But sometimes moving forward in your career doesn't look like moving forward on paper.
Sometimes you have to be willing to be new at something again.
I'm glad I was.
So, shoutout to the vendors who help keep our properties looking good and safe.
Shoutout to the tenants building businesses inside them.
Shoutout to the owners who trust us to take care of their investments.
Shoutout to the accountants keeping the numbers straight and all of us on track.
And shoutout to the property managers chipping away at that never-ending task list.
Because of all of you, I get to have a job I genuinely enjoy—and six months in, I’m pretty grateful I took the leap.
As for me?
I'll keep learning, keep asking questions, keep reading lease sections 10 times when I need to, and keep building a career in an industry I never expected to be in.
And if you're sitting at the dentist one day, look out the window and think, "Wow, that parking lot is looking a little rough," maybe you'll start noticing properties a little differently too.
And if that parking lot happens to be yours, hit up Forza Management.
We're boots on the ground, walking our properties, paying attention to the details, and helping keep them looking good and running smoothly.
Angela Tuttle is a property manager for Forza Management in Salt Lake City, UT atuttle@forzacommercial.com
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