Passive Investing: Real estate can be more hands-on, especially if you're managing properties yourself.

House hacking will also give you some personal "property management" experience.

Property Manager in that geographical area had a father that was a handyman.   35K into it and the property was somewhat pretty  and we converted it from a two bedroom to a four bedroom.It appraised for 160 so I did a cash out refi.

Any experience with Buckeye Northwest Realty and Epic Property Management in Toledo?

That comes from personal experience as a landlord and working in professional property management lol

In an effort to generate new business, I'm looking for help/ideas on promoting our commercial property management company

Usually, 20 to 30 units is the tipping point for self-management, so you might want to keep expanding your doors until you feel the benefits of that cash flow (as well as the pain of the management).  

We self manage 2. 

Employee Management: Given the absentee nature of the business, how do you ensure quality staff performance and customer service in your absence?

If you're a person who likes to overcome challenges, create and manage projects, building could be for you.I personally go into each project looking to build it out, yet many times I've decided to simply just sell the property and move on the next project.