"It feels like a lifetime ago."
That's what Emir Dukic, co-founder of Charlotte startup Rabbu, said about the daily work grind and home-life balance he was used to before Covid-19 tore through the country.
Rabbu, founded in 2017 by Dukic, Trent Hawthone and James Strong, is a technology and operations company in the short-term rental market that provides guests with travel experiences and accommodations through its tech-enabled homes, while providing property owners with higher returns on their investments. Essentially, Rabbu helps property owners manage their Airbnb rentals---taking care of everything from revenue management to toilet cleaning.
Pivot - when, why, how?
Rabbu's pivot began on March 12, when Dukic said he instructed his team to begin working remotely.
"We were closely following what was happening, and based on that we decided to tell the team to work from home," he said. "We were trying to be proactive, and we figured it was coming anyway."
"That weekend we lost six figures in booking revenue."
The next day, Dukic said, Airbnb issued an extenuating circumstances policy that allowed customers to request full refunds for spaces booked after March 13.
"That weekend we lost six figures in booking revenue," he said. "We immediately got together and began brainstorming what we could do and what the future could look like."
Dukic and team knew the likelihood of out-of-towners booking spaces in the coming months was low, so they shifted gears to those already in town.
"Our idea was to market to local Charlotteans, those people who need a place to stay to self-quarantine or to give themselves more privacy," he said. "Our mindset was, let's be flexible and test various scenarios to get heads in beds."
Out of those brainstorming sessions came Rabbu Cares, an option for locals needing a place to stay at a discounted rate. Dukic said the pivot, which took some extra marketing effort, was a success and put Rabbu back on track after the initial financial hit.
"We were able to achieve about 90 percent occupancy in April. Based on that shift we actually exceeded our budget for the month of March," he said. "We started strong based on regular activity and were able to recover and surpass what we projected before Covid hit."
Settling in
Dukic said while Rabbu's eight-person team did take a moment to celebrate the win, they knew they weren't out of the water.
"We’re still in the middle of a fight, so we immediately started working on how to repeat this again in April and determine what other challenges we might see," he said.
In April, Rabbu lowered its projected revenue by about 30 percent, but Dukic said they were able to finish the month strong and surpass that amount.
Rabbu hasn't gone unscathed through the crisis, however. Dukic said they made the decision to lay off a sales rep who was hired in 2018 to help expand the portfolio.
"When the pandemic happened and we started working from home, we did make the decision to move on from our sales team member," he said. "We didn’t see the opportunity to grow our portfolio and had to make the decision to most efficiently use the cash we had on hand."
And while the company spent March and April understanding the "new normal," May has been about growth. Rabbu is preparing to to move into properties in Miami and is finalizing expansion plans in Fort Worth, Austin and Nashville.
Currently, Rabbu operates in Charlotte, Savannah and Atlanta.
"A business is just a business. The human connection is what's going to matter through time."
The company was able to push into a new growth phase thanks, in part, to a $140,000 Paycheck Protection Program loan.
"That gave us the opportunity to extend our runway and not take any other cost cutting measures with our team," he said. "They’re integral to what we do and it made some of those decision significantly easier."
And to ensure operations continue to run smoothly, Dukic said he, Strong and Hawthone have a call every morning, followed by a virtual team meeting.
"Trent, James and myself meet every morning at 7:30 a.m. to discuss the most high priority topics, then we have a team standup to discuss goals and roadblocks," he said. "We communicate via Zoom, phone, Slack and email daily."
Dukic said it's not all work for the Rabbu team. On Fridays they do a virtual happy hour, where they have the opportunity to chat and keep up with the human side of life.
"In a time like this, there’s so much uncertainty that it's important to create a support system," he said. "It's not all work all of the time. A business is just a business. The human connection is what's going to matter through time."
Personal impacts and mindset shift
Having to work remotely posed a challenge for Dukic, who was also on dad-duty for his three sons, ages 7, 5 and one-and-a-half, but he said it's also changed his outlook on balancing work and family.
"It's been interesting. When I'm working, that gets my full attention. And when I’m around my kids, I give them all the attention," he said. "Now I'm home 24/7 and having to balance that.
"I’ve loved that extra time with them though. I’d love to find a medium between giving my family love and getting work done when possible and shift to a more healthy balance."
But Dukic hasn't been the only Rabbu team member to face obstacles. Strong and his fiancée were supposed to leave at the end of March for a trip to Vietnam where he would meet her family.
"They got engaged right before they were supposed to leave, and the trip was to meet with her family about the wedding," Dukic said. "For him, it was a really hard decision to go or not. That was really emotional and impactful for him because he was limited in what he could do because of (Covid.)"
One of the most stressful times had nothing to do with business operations, Dukic said. It was after the company's field operations manager began exhibiting symptoms of the virus in early April.
Dukic said because she is visiting properties and coordinating cleanings, she is most at risk. When he, Strong and Hawthrone realized she'd been sick, they immediately took action to find out what was going on.
"We started hearing rumblings that she wasn’t feeling well but was going to push through it," Dukic said. "We told her we wanted her to take time off, no work until she could go get tested, and we researched for her instructions on what she needed to do to get tested ASAP."
Dukic said she had a virtual call with a doctor, who determined her symptoms were severe enough for a Covid-19 test. In the end, the test determined she was sick with the flu.
"It was a relief for all of us. We celebrated that probably more than we did after exceeding the March budget," he said. "Those were a couple stressful days because you hear so many horror stories about how people were dealing with Covid."
Naturally, Dukic said he's looking forward to returning to some semblance of normalcy, but even when Rabbu's offices reopen, he won't be there every day.
"My wife will be in the office for her job Monday and Wednesday, so on those days I’ll have to stay home with my kids," he said. "Until we establish a new process and understand the implications for daycares, camps and schools, we’re going to leave our policy as flexible as possible."
"The team trusts us to do what’s best for them first."
Prior to Covid, Dukic said the management team had discussed work-from-home options but decided against it. Now, however, he expects many employees will continue to work remotely, at least in-part.
"There was some internal debate where other team members didn’t think it was a good idea, but I think that has changed. I think it’ll be a holistic mindset change for a lot of people," he said. "The option will be a permanent thing. For us, it's always been about, if you do what you're supposed to do, we don't really care if you're not physically here."
Over the last two weeks or so, Dukic said the management team has begun planning how to reopen Rabbu in a way that will make employees feel safer and more comfortable.
One step they plan to take is restructuring the office. Currently, Dukic said the office is an open workspace with desks in the middle like an island. When employees return to the office, the desks will be moved apart and spaced according to proper social distancing regulations.
"The team trusts us to do what’s best for them first, and they haven’t expressed any discomfort about going back to the office," he said. "If at any point they do, we will obviously more than support their ability to work from home. There’s no need to add additional stress to the situation."
