Time Management Tips from Beth Azor

“How do you manage your time?”

That is probably the question I am most asked during my bootcamps, workshops, and during individual coaching sessions. My guess is, that since I’m constantly giving a lot of ideas on how to improve skills and habits, people think, “Maybe she knows how to get more done in a day.”?

I’m not an expert in time management by any means but I can provide some tips that have worked for me, and other ideas I have picked up along the way:

Getting Up Early

As of today, I am at day 29 of a 30-day personal challenge. Hal Elrod, author of the book The Miracle Morning, recommends getting up an hour earlier than you normally do every morning and complete six things that will contribute to your personal development and future success. In his book, he recommends we do six things every morning: (1) meditation, (2) affirmation, (3) visualization, (4) exercise, (5) reading positive material, and (6) journaling.

Since I haven’t seen any obvious impactful results yet, I’ve decided I’m going to do it until the end of the year. I want to make sure I give it my all. I don’t want to be like the people who say, “Oh, canvassing doesn’t work,” after doing it only once, so I’m going to double down and look forward to seeing the benefits.
Gary Vaynerchuk said he’s been waking up 30 minutes earlier than normal in the last few months and can’t believe how much more he’s getting done.

When you get an extra 30 minutes to an hour in the day, you want to do something with that time you think would be beneficial to you. I’m not sure the visualization or the affirmations are working for me just yet, so I may substitute it with planning my day or more writing. You can also educate yourself by listening to a podcast or reading a book.

Time Blocking

What is “time blocking”?

If there is a specific time-consuming task I need to get done, I will allot time to it and plow through. For example, if I need to work on Pipedrive (my CRM- which is something you should all have because certainly, that helps with time management!) I will “block time” to input notes. I will set an alarm on my phone for 20 minutes and then you can guess what happens when the 20 minutes is up… Yep! I’m so engaged in the task that I’ll do it for another 30 minutes, which is fabulous. It’s a little mind trick that works for me.

VERY IMPORTANT: While doing tasks, don’t answer phone calls. I put my phone on airplane mode to keep it from ringing while I’m working on something that requires my attention like an LOI or a lease. If you have an office door, close it. Get rid of the distractions. The time you allocate to a task is for that task only.

Top 3

Another trick that works for me is scheduling my top 3. My goal is to get 3 important things done every day. So, the night before, just before I go to sleep, I will put the 3 important things I want to get done the next day on my calendar

9 times out of 10, those things are follow-up phone calls. If they’re on my calendar for 7:30 or 8:00am, I can usually get them done after I drop Mario off at the bus stop. So, by the time I get to the office, either they’re all done, or I’m 2 out of 3. Not bad!

Find More Time

I highly recommend you do this exercise that I lovingly call the “Exercise of Torture” once a year, where you time log all your activities.

Complete a time log of every activity every 15 minutes for one week, starting at 7:00 AM or 8:00 AM on Monday morning until Friday night at 6:00 PM. I’m sure you will see things you shouldn’t be doing, and you should be able to free up an extra 2 to 3 hours in your schedule. If not, send it to me and we can walk through it together and I promise we will find extra time!

Virtual Assistants

We’re presently looking for a Virtual Assistant to log information into Pipedrive for us. When we go to workshops and we collect business cards or postcards from people who want free giveaways, neither Josee nor myself should be doing data entry into Pipedrive. We would rather pay a VA $10.00 per hour to do this. Our hourly rate is too high for that activity.

Are there any tasks that you are doing that you could pay someone a lower hourly rate to do for you?

If you’re washing your car on the weekends and you don’t like it, can you hire someone? Are you still cleaning your house? If your hourly rate is $100 an hour and you can hire a cleaning person for $20 an hour, shouldn’t you be doing that?

If you want to spend more time with your kids, but you’re busy running to the grocery store every other day, then you should be using Shipt or Instacart. I’ve been using Shipt for two years and it literally has saved me 3 hours a week, not to mention the money it saves me from the lack of impulse buying! 😊

So, wake up earlier, list your top 3, do the Exercise of Torture, time block, shut off distractions and leverage your time with other people. Those are my tips for time management. I’d love for you to share your time management tips with me!

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Learn More:

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When Do You Have Leverage in a Deal?

Do Something That Scares You

Market Rent Isn’t What You Think

Forget what your rent roll says. Forget what CoStar or the appraiser says. If you really want to know what the market rent is—get in your car, drive your market, and talk to other leasing agents. When I buy a shopping center, I don’t guess rents. I do the homework:• I identify my competition.• I walk their centers.• I peek inside the vacancies.• I evaluate visibility, parking, signage, frontage, and foot traffic.• I stalk their websites for quoted rents and CAMs.• Then—I talk to the agents. I ask what’s leased, what’s not, and what’s real. Visibility alone can justify a $10 PSF bump! A 1,200 SF endcap on Main Street with 65,000 cars/day? That’s a different animal than a deep-in-the-back space in an 800,000 SF center. Want higher rents? Build the case. Understand the vacancy rates, the comps, the demand, and the foot traffic. Then test the market. Start quoting $26 instead of $22 and see who bites. Own a multimillion-dollar property? Act like it. Be the most informed landlord in your market. And remember—if your tenants are crushing sales and paying 2% in occupancy cost, they can likely afford more rent.

February 23, 2026

Don’t Be the Landlord Who Creates Their Own Vacancy!

Vacancy is expensive—and more often than not, we landlords are the ones causing it. How? By letting tenants pay late… again and again, until suddenly they’re three months behind and it’s easier for them to move out than catch up. That’s not good for them or for us. When I acquire a property, I give tenants a 90-day “habit reset.” I meet them, review their lease terms, and tell them we’re enforcing the rent due date—no more cozy grace periods. We charge late fees. We don’t waive them. Period. And yes, I track delinquencies on the 5th, 10th, and 20th every month. Here’s the Rockstar move: Get your tenants on ACH. The more automatic, the better. And if your tenants are local, pop in! A quick “Hey, haven’t seen the rent yet!” goes a long way. We’re in this business for two things: rent paid and doors open. So be diligent, be firm, and don’t be the landlord who contributes to their own vacancy problem.

February 16, 2026

Stop Giving Away Options!

Let’s get one thing straight: lease options benefit tenants – not landlords. Yet, so many landlords hand them out like candy, locking in below-market rents for years. Right now in South Florida, I have tenants paying $34/SF whose leases are set to roll in 18 months… and guess what? The market rate is nearly $70/SF! But with three five-year options at a measly 3% annual increase? That’s money left on the table—and a serious hit to your property value. If you must give options, here’s the Rockstar way to do it: Be fair, but don’t be foolish. You’re managing a multi-million dollar asset. Start negotiating like it.

February 9, 2026

TI Is Not a Gift – It’s a Deal-Making Tool

Let’s talk about TI — Tenant Improvement dollars. I’m allergic to it. Sure, I’ve given it. But only when it makes strategic sense. Why? Because when a tenant asks for TI, my first question back is: “How much is it going to cost YOU to open?” If a tenant’s total project is $100K and they only have $30K to their name? 🚩 TI is not a gift card. It’s an investment — and I’m not putting in more than you are. If you’re spending $50K and asking me for $50K, we might talk. But if you expect me to turnkey your entire buildout? I’m not your landlord. If I do give TI, I wait until you’ve opened, I’ve got your certificate of occupancy, and you’ve paid your first rent check. No mid-construction draws — I’m not your bank. And if you’re getting TI, you better be giving a strong guarantee. Why? Because if you flake mid-demo and I’m left with a torn-up space, I want recourse. One more thing — I don’t do full free rent. Half base + full CAM at most. Why? Because teaching tenants not to pay rent for months? That’s a habit I’m not in the

February 2, 2026

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