HOW DO YOU ACHIEVE YOUR PROPERTY GOALS EASIER AND FASTER?

This is one of the founding questions of our business, Devenir Plus, that we started five years ago with a simple belief:

that every property entrepreneur has the potential to, and deserves to, make the impact they want and live in alignment with their highest values…IF they turn themselves into an execution powerhouse

To hit big property goals easier and faster, property entrepreneurs just need structure and accountability so they can execute faster on the right activities. 

Fast execution on the right things means learning from real world feedback sooner. 

Learning sooner means better execution on your next go….which makes winning easier. 

It sounds so obvious, but it isn’t to many people in property. 

Taking action on clear priorities isn’t easy. Learning and iterating isn’t either. 

Our DP Mastermind exists because it’s ten times easier to do these things with the support of a mentor led peer group – a board of advisors whose sole focus is to create the operating structure and accountability that keeps you ‘in the zone’.

Here we are in mastermind action this month, living out our belief. 

What property goal would you want to achieve easier and faster?

PS. Interested to find out about one of our upcoming mastermind taster events? Email us at info@devenirplus.co.uk to request details

WHAT COMES FIRST IN ORDER TO GET RESULTS?

Is it motivation or action?

When I was completing my quarterly review I looked over all the notes and learns I’d captured from the last 90 days. Below is one of my favourite little wisdom bombs from Darren Hardy that I have filtered through the context of property entrepreneurs.

To get the results you want in property, does it come from being motivated first and then you take action? 

Or is it the other way round?

One might argue that at the very very beginning of the journey, we are inspired by someone or something to get started in property. For me, like many,  that was thanks to the book Rich Dad Poor Dad. 

But what does it really take to get started…what about to keep going? What does it take to get to the bit where you actually experience the results? What are the sequence of events required?

Many people start out thinking, believing even that the sequence of steps looks like this:

MOTIVATION > ACTION > RESULTS

Counter to what we might believe, the journey to results in property doesn’t come from motivation. Motivation, or the dream of what might be can feel good, but motivation is a feeling that comes and goes. It’s not what’s going to get the income, the equity, the freedom we want. 

Instead the sequence of events looks like this:

ACTION > RESULTS > MOTIVATION

We have to break inertia – we have to act, often without motivation to gain motivation. Here’s the key-  we are motivated when we see evidence of progress.

We know you want the results. If you want to get that sense of motivation, go out and take some meaningful action in the direction of your property goals. When you see the small but visual evidence of your progress (the mini result)  it will provide the dopamine hit you need to feed the virtuous cycle you need to get up and take more action, again and again. And when you do keep working this simple little cycle, those bigger results will be yours. 

What mini results are you measuring this week?

MID YEAR CHECK POINT- YOUR STEP BY STEP GUIDE FOR REVIEWING Q2 AND CREATING AN IMPLEMENTATION PLAN TO SMASH YOUR GOALS IN Q3

In the week ahead we will hit the end of quarter two and the half year mark for 2023. Will you use this marker for strategic reflection and planning? 

In this post I’ll share 6 POWERFUL STEPS TO REVIEW THE MID YEAR POINT IN 30 MINS OR LESS. Not only that, I’ve also included a guide for creating your implementation plan for Q3. [There’s a link further down to access an instant download of the guide, no email address required.]

 At the beginning of the year Chris  and I always set some Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs), both to grow ourselves and our property businesses. Our goals tie together our ambitions across our SA business, our resi and commercial assets, development projects and our training and mentoring. Reflecting on where we are, there has been a great deal of progress in our businesses and growth in ourselves. Whilst it can sometimes feel like taking a 6 month snapshot right now doesn’t equate to half of what we want to achieve in 2023, we recognise the importance of measuring the progress and gains. Measuring progress is such an important part of the property journey, and any endeavour for that matter. To borrow the words of big Tony Robbins, he said that “Progress equals happiness”, and I definitely believe in the psychology behind that. 

That’s why every quarter end I invest 30-60 minutes to review the past 3 months, predominantly focusing on our property business but also reflecting across other key areas of life. 

Whether you set big hairy audacious annual goals, half year goals or 90 day goals, this mid-way point in the year prompts a great opportunity to check in on where we stand with things.

This kind of exercise holds multiple rewards for you and is a goldmine of learning and ideas if you’ll just take the time to do it. Benefits include, taking time to acknowledge your incremental progress, course correcting, checking in on alignment to your highest values, identifying patterns or insights you can learn from….and so much more, you get the idea.

If you’re up for investing some high value time on yourself, here’s the full 6 step process I originally got from entrepreneur Peter Voogd several years ago and I continue to complete this every quarter. 

For those serious about their growth, I’ve made this into a worksheet with a few prompts that you can download and complete – you’ll find that here. 

As an added bonus I’ve also included a step by step guide for crafting your implementation plan for the next quarter. Taking the time to DECIDE your priorities and craft your implementation plan in this way will see you executing at the level of your best self.

You can quickly download the full pdf guide here, and no email address is required 😊

Section #1 – OVERVIEW

What went well, what didn’t?

When was I in my zone, when wasn’t I?

When was I at my emotional energy peak?

What caused me peace of mind?

What frustrated me? Did I do what I said I was going to do?

What systems have I put in place?

Section #2 – PSYCHOLOGICAL

What have been my biggest breakthroughs?

What have been my biggest frustrations?

What have been my mind-shifts?

What have been my biggest disappointments?

Section #3 – TACTICS

This section looks at what were my top 5 wins from last month/quarter; financial, family, adventure…?

Getting down to business metrics ask yourself:

Did I hit my property business income goal last month/quarter?

What were the top three marketing campaigns or sources of income last month/quarter?

What were my top income producing activities?

What are the biggest ways I’ll be producing income this next month/quarter?

How did I add value to the marketplace, could I have added more?

Did I leverage technology?

Did I maximise my reach?

What will exponentially grow my reach this next month/quarter? [you need to define this for the context of your property business ie for your SA market, or rent to buy market for example]

What did I do to stay adventurous and feel fully alive?

To help keep you from the nitty gritty march of each day it’s important to mix it with the things that energise you. It might be something small ie for me it’s getting in a game of tennis once a week, or maybe you had planned a mini break with your loved one. For those with freedom in their highest values this will be particularly important. Can you mix your passion and profession and link up travel to fun destinations with your work?

If you aren’t consciously making a decision to put things in your diary that will keep you alive and vibrant, you will become complacent and procrastinate on the big work needed for your goal.

 

Section #4 – RELATIONSHIPS

I love this one:

Who did I connect with and reach out to last month/quarter?

Did I take care of my current relationships and did I reach out to people who can cut my learning curve in half- i.e. people who I can partner with in some way that’s relevant to your business?

Did I leverage partnerships?

Section #5 – TEAM

Think about questions that will help with your team review:

How was my team engagement?

How was my speed of communication?

What feedback can I give them?

What do they need in terms of skill development?

Section #6 – LEGACY

What did I work on that was legacy focused? In other words something that you work on now but won’t get paid until long into the future, or something that you don’t reap the benefits for until way later, ie it can be creating things that you value but that you get paid 6 months or more down the road for. Note that if you just do this kind of work for the rewards/benefits you will lose steam, it’s important to engage in legacy work for other reasons, for something bigger than you.

And there you have it. With the gold mined from your previous 90 days you are primed to set yourself up for success by planning out Q3. You can do that quickly by completing the step by step guide that you’ll find here: 

Now it’s all about taking action consistently each week, measuring the progress and feeling good about showing up to put the effort in

I’d love to know if you complete this exercise, tag me with a post on Facebook and you will massively increase the likelihood of following through 😁.

THE END OF QUARTER BOOST ALL PROPERTY ENTREPRENEURS NEED

Psychologists will tell you that what really makes us happy, what really gives us confidence is seeing the evidence of progress. 

So, let’s not miss the opportunity that comes with an end of quarter review. As property entrepreneurs it’s essential for our sanity and motivation to acknowledge and celebrate our progress. Some of our goals are so big they may take years to achieve, but we CAN make massive progress every 90 days.

Breaking down your goals into 90 day increments is good for focus and motivation. By chunking down your goals into smaller steps you can focus more directly on what’s right in front of you. Not only that, it makes it a whole lot easier to track and measure progress.

You can make tangible progress week over week and then by taking time to reflect on the quarter you can measure that tangible progress to give yourself a sense of movement, satisfaction and from that, momentum. Reflecting on the quarter will also highlight a goldmine of learns that you’ll want to take forwards with you. 

Reviewing each quarter is about investing past experience into future preparation and focus – ie your past decisions, successes, failures, lessons. That’s where the good stuff comes from.

HOW TO REVIEW YOUR LAST 90 DAYS

Here are a selection of questions, I learned from Peter Voogd, that I’ve been using for a few years now to help reflect on the previous quarter and carry momentum into the next. Use these prompt questions to help you reflect and free flow write for 30 mins or so each quarter about the previous 90 days. [By the way, I use the accountability of writing this post to get my own review done and it only takes about 30 mins].

Section #1 – OVERVIEW

  • What went well, what didn’t?
  • When was I in my zone, when wasn’t I?
  • When was I at my emotional energy peak?
  • What caused me peace of mind?
  • What frustrated me?
  • Did I do what I said I was going to do?
  • What systems have I put in place?

Section #2 – PSYCHOLOGICAL

  • What have been my biggest breakthroughs?
  • What have been my biggest frustrations?
  • What have been my mind-shifts?
  • What have been my biggest disappointments?

Section #3 – TACTICS

This section looks at what were my top 5 wins from last quarter: financial, family, adventure…?

Getting down to business metrics ask yourself:

  • Did I hit my business income goal last quarter?
  • What were the top three marketing campaigns or sources of income last month?
  • What were my top income producing activities?
  • What are the biggest ways I’ll be producing income this next month?
  • How did I add value to the marketplace, could I have added more? 
  • Did I leverage technology?
  • Did I maximise my reach?
  • What will exponentially grow my reach this next quarter?
  • What did I do to stay adventurous and feel fully alive?

To help keep you going with the nitty gritty march of each day it’s important to mix it with the things that energise you. Whilst we can’t have meals out or mini breaks just yet, hopefully that’s not too far away. But in the meantime there are still plenty of things you can access from home or on your doorstep as a fun treat. Whatever it is, choose something and schedule it.   

If you aren’t consciously making a decision to put things in your diary that will keep you alive and vibrant, you will become complacent.

Section #4 – RELATIONSHIPS

I love this one:

  • Who did I connect with and reach out to last quarter?
  • Did I take care of my current relationships and did I reach out to people who can cut my learning curve in half- i.e. people who I can partner with in some way that’s relevant to your business?
  • Did I leverage partnerships?

Section #5 – TEAM

Think about questions that will help with your team review:

  • How was my team engagement?
  • How was my speed of communication?
  • What feedback can I give them?
  • What do they need in terms of skill development?
  • Am I consistently demonstrating the attributes I want my team to embody?

Section #6 – LEGACY

  • What did I work on that was legacy focused? In other words something that you work on now but won’t get paid until long into the future, or something that you don’t reap the benefits for until way later, ie creating things that you value but that you get paid 6 months or more down the road. Note that if you just do this kind of work for the rewards/benefits you will lose steam, it’s important to engage in legacy work for other reasons, for something bigger than you. As a side example, part of my family legacy work the last few years, and ongoing, is taking conscious time with my boys to teach them one key life value each month.

Peter Voogd recommends spending 80% of your time on profit making activity, creating systems etc that makes sure you have the money coming in for you and your family now. Then 20% of your time on legacy focused things. Eventually when you have built the business you want you can switch focus to investing 80% of your time on the legacy side of things. Isn’t that an exciting prospect? To spend 80% of your time on something that helps a cause you believe in or adds value to the world in some way, and not worry whether it pays you or not.

Conclusion

I challenge you to invest 30 mins each quarter to do this. WHY? Firstly, so that you can give yourself the gift of seeing evidence of progress. Secondly, because high achievers always ask better questions, and they are always investing their past mistakes/lessons into their future preparation.

Looking back over the last quarter, what is something that you initiated and achieved, that has made you the proudest?

WHAT’S YOUR NORTH STAR FOR THE YEAR?

Do you have an overarching, guiding theme or headline for the year?

My 2023 year is encapsulated in two special words – Devenir Plus, or DP for short, which translates to Become More. These 2 words capture my highest value, which is essentially growth, and I like to see that as the continuous journey of becoming more of who I know I can be, in each area of life. It’s the thing I want most, and the thing I feel drawn to help others with who want the same. 

Whilst Devenir Plus is the name of one of our companies, the DP and the enso circle means so much more to me than just a logo –  it represents a life and business philosophy that I choose to embody this year, and always. 

The story behind our logo is possibly one for another day but suffice to say it serves as a powerful metaphor that all strivers out there can relate to – striving to become more of the person they know they can be…as a property entrepreneur, as a parent, a spouse, an athlete….that next level version of you. 

I’m curious, what word or words capture your north star for the year?

4 STEPS FOR IMPLEMENTING YOUR BIG 2023 GOALS

If you followed my post last week on ‘Intelligent Reflection’ then you will have neatly put a metaphorical ‘bow’ on 2022. In other words, the point of last week’s post was to highlight the fact that there is so much value in what you have done, experienced and accomplished in the last 12 months that you need to go harvest that gold through intelligent reflection. 

If you missed that post and want to go back you can find it here: 

WARNING: This post requires some heavy mental lifting but if you’re serious about your growth this year then read it to the end, and more importantly, take action on it. 

So, with the reflection bit done, the natural next step is to follow up with some deep thinking around setting the right kind of goals for YOU, and creating an implementation plan for them. That’s what I’m going to outline here.

So, what do I mean by the ‘right kind of goals for YOU?” Well, before jumping in to write out your goals, please be clear in your mind that they are psychologically optimised goals that are congruent ie your conscious and unconscious mind are aligned in relation to the goals you set. Getting this right at the beginning is essential!

By way of quick explanation, if you were to set the goal of doubling the revenue of your business, on the face of it that sounds great but what would the reality of that mean, and what would be the secondary and tertiary consequences of pursuing it? Eg. would it mean working twice as many hours, sacrificing weekends with your family, less sleep, more stress? Or can you genuinely see how to accomplish the outcome on your terms. 

All I’m saying is just be careful to choose goals that are aligned with what you really want. This quote from Stephen Covey captures my point perfectly:

“If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step gets us to the wrong place faster.”

In the goal setting process it’s easy to get excited in the now by writing down a big goal but the science of achievement requires us to connect the dots between a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) and what exactly we need to be working on quarter to quarter, month on month and how we’re using our time each day.

The big rationale behind artful implementation is to take the time to do strategic planning now so that at no time during the quarter are you at the desk on a Monday morning wondering what to do to get started (or at least it will be significantly minimised).

An implementation plan prevents that brain fog, but sadly investing the time to create such a plan is the most common part of goal setting that people skip. But not YOU, and not this year! It’s often looked at as too much like hard work-  and you know what, it is hard mental work! Most good things do require some uphill struggle, but it’s also where we can get most clarity. I heard a brilliant quote a while back from one of the greats that ties into this point, it goes;

“People have uphill hopes, but downhill habits”

– John C Maxwell

In other words, we all want the things that require ‘uphill’ efforts, but are we willing to put in the work that builds the ‘uphill habits’ that will get us there?

You need to take your big 2023 goals and translate them into a project plan. This part of the process is uncomfortable, which is why people skip it but having a well thought through plan will keep you aligned, in the zone and knowing what you have to do next. BHAGs don’t manifest on their own, it takes real intentional work to dream them up, plan the road map, and then of course execute on that plan.

Here’s a quick summary of the process for artful goal implementation that I’ve been taught and continue to use each year. (Chris and I do invest multiple hours in goal planning in the opening days of Jan)

IT’S TIME TO BUILD THE FOUNDATION OF YOUR YEAR!

[ Jumping in here with an important question – How good are you at implementing your property goals? Take the quick test and find out the answer now – CLICK HERE ]

STEP #1: List your key projects

Taking everything into account, list 5-20 projects that would have an immediate impact on your property business. With this list you are thinking up all the growth driving activities that move you closer to achieving the BHAG (ie various strategies and tactics you want to try that would/could result in a net positive to your property business).

STEP #2: Now eliminate all but 3, and ask yourself:

– are you able to complete each of those shortlisted 3 in a 12 week period if you focused on one at a time (ie allocate each project a full 12 week sprint)?

– can you complete these with your current resources ie time, people, money?

– prioritise those projects that can feasibly meet the above

STEP #3: BUILD THE OUTLINE PLAN

Now for each project, build the outline for your implementation plan by completing a handful of answers to these 4 foundational productivity questions:

For project 1

#1 What specifically needs to happen…to get started? To continue? To finish? Can you specify now what your completion point will look like (really push yourself to do that)?

#2 How can you measure progress along the way? (ie no. of viewings/offers per week. Booking revenue, occupancy by month..) When answering these questions think about what can be ritualised/repeated by you and/or your team. Think about the input activity required to achieve the desired property outcome.

#3 What deadlines need to happen within 12 weeks? Think it through and allocate deadlines you can put into your diary (and physically PUT those deadlines into your diary). These will serve as milestones and checkpoints towards your completion point and get your mind clear on hitting them by certain dates.

#4 How can you stack multiple layers of accountability onto this project. In other words, who all can you inform, involve, make a pledge to etc that will help you follow through on your promise. Think mentors, family, advisors, peers. It’s a fact that getting things done is a social phenomenon so enlist the power of public declaration. 

Do the same for Projects 2 and 3. It’s a good idea to have no more than 3 projects in a quarter, and if one is particularly all consuming then stick with just that one project for the entire 90 days.

STEP #4: 12 WEEK PROJECT PLAN

The final stage to this is creating your 12 week project plan where you literally create a grid with 84 days and then populate it with dates, specifics and deadlines (as per your answers to the Q’s above) to work to each day and week. Schedule this stuff in using the mechanisms that work for you, phone, outlook calendar, a wall chart or whatever. Allocate sufficient time and protect it in your diary.

And there you have it. With clarity on what your goals are and your planning complete, now its all about taking action consistently each week, measuring the progress and feeling good about showing up to put the effort in. [HINT – one of the keys to sustained productivity is feeling good about what you do. So please don’t look at what didn’t get done or how far your dream lies in the distance, instead show up, put the effort in each week and celebrate that step of effort input and the progress it creates]. 

I’d love to know if you complete this exercise, let me know if you do and you will massively increase the likelihood of following through. 

To your growth and progress in 2023!

PS. IMPORTANT QUESTION FOR YOU – How good are you really at getting sh#t done and hitting your property goals? Take the test and find out the answer today – CLICK HERE

THIS 6 PART REFLECTION PROCESS WILL SUPERCHARGE YOUR ANNUAL GOAL SETTING

I hope you’ve enjoyed some quality family Christmas time, making memories with loved ones and replenishing yourself to sprint out of the gates for Q1 2023.

I love the magic that Christmas brings, but also the quiet space from the busy-ness of a typical week. Those final few days of the year and the first week of the new year offer us the time to pause for reflection and design, with intention. I hope you can look back on your 2022 and acknowledge all of the incremental progress that has been made on your journey in property investing. It is so important to think about the past year intelligently because past performance is the best predictor of the future.

Reflection is one of the most important things an action oriented entrepreneur can do – why is it so important to reflect and acknowledge progress? We tend to unconsciously discount the progress we have made and be painfully conscious of the shortcomings in the immediate future. 

If that sounds like you, then this quote may be helpful, “Things are never as bad or as good as they seem”. It’s been attributed to a few different people so not sure who originally said it. 

So, this instructional post is building on a mini tradition for me to share at this time of year – and it contains absolute gold for you, if you choose to invest the time to work through the following 6 sections and answer the questions for yourself and your own last 12 months in property. 

This intelligent reflection forms the most important part of the year end review – a powerful way to reconcile the last 12 months and transition into planning the next 12. In my humble opinion it’s essential to punctuate this time of year with such a process. I completed mine before Christmas and it forms the first part of the overall review and goal setting process that I invest significant time in each year. I will follow up this with my summary on the actual goal setting process next week.

Happy New Year and wishing you health, wealth and good times in 2023!

Below are the 6 phases of the intelligent reflection process with all the questions for you to answer. 

PART 1 – GRATITUDE REFLECTION

*What new capabilities did I master?

*What behaviours really caused me to win?

*What are my personal current strengths?

*What are the business’ current strengths?

*What were your biggest accomplishments this last year?

*What marketing or business development won this year?

*What was the best thing your property business created for you?

*What was the most extraordinary value or customer experience that you created? (who did we really move the dial for?)

PART 2 – CONSTRUCTIVE REFLECTION

*What were the most important lessons learned?

*What were your weak points, what do you need to improve?

*Are there any threats to your business or market?

*Any missed opportunities?

*What are the current weaknesses of your business?

*Were there any ways to improve customer service in the last year?

PART 3 – GETTING REAL

*Specific metrics for your business this last year (what was it you were focussing on? What were you trying to grow? What were the conversion rates you were trying to improve?)

*Products/services I sold in 2022?

*2022 gross revenue?

*2022 Expenses?

*Split expenses into 3 categories- what percentages were:

Marketing _

Operations _

Income/Salaries/dividends _

*2022 net profit or net take home

*Property Equity Added

PART 4 – MEASUREMENT (need to compare year on year, power of measurement)

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your:

[assess all those that are relevant to your property business. NB, even if you don’t think you are marketing there is a good chance you are ie your version of lead generation may be networking to identify potential JV partners]

*Lead Gen/Deal flow –

*Lead conversion/offers accepted –

*Customer fulfilment (following through on the promise)-*Human resources (are they the best people in their roles)-

*Financial Systems (how clear on numbers month on month, and the management of costs)-

*Satisfaction of the people in the business –

*Satisfaction with your work life balance –

PART 5 – LETTER TO YOURSELF

Write a  letter to yourself (having reflected on each section). Write it as if you’ve gone back in time and are writing the letter on 1st Jan 2022 explaining the bumps, scrapes, wisdom to come. So to give you some guidance notes, you could be writing to yourself about what you will face (in the year that was), where you will despair, where you will draw strength, what beliefs will be tested, what capabilities will be gained, don’t forget all the good stuff to come. 

Why do this? This exercise helps you examine the past with a present perspective. It works on the idea of reconciling expectations from a year ago with where you really are today. Essentially, this puts a proverbial ‘bow’ on the last 12 months and who we have become. 

PART 6 – NAME IT

What single word would put a name to your 2022? (look to be constructive with this). 

See you next week with part 2 on the goal setting process. 😁

[P.S I’d love to hear if you actually do this]

PPS – Want to discover how effective you are at implementing your property goals? Complete this short test to find out and received a customised report with insights on how to execute your property goals like a pro!. CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT

MY TOP 10 LESSONS FROM THE LAST 12 MONTHS

Every year I go through a process of intelligent reflection to review the year that was and draw out the top lessons to carry into the next year. 

Over a multiple reflective ‘cave time’ sessions (including a few on holiday) with my journals and previous quarterly reviews I have written out my top ten lessons. 

I thought I’d share them here so they might benefit others, and to hold myself accountable to heeding these lessons going forwards

1. Don’t short change my morning routine

-I know my morning routine and my first focus session are my competitive advantage so I must guard and respect it by not letting in reactive things, starting it on time and not cutting short my learning session short- it makes me feel I’m not starting the day right since growth is my top value.

2. My actions vote for future me

-This concept came from James Clear and resonated deeply with my philosophy of becoming the best version of me. I must hold myself accountable to be clear on my future self and take consistent action towards that version of me. To borrow the wise words of James Clear, ‘Every action I take is like a vote for the person I want to become’.

3. Don’t make a noisy business more noisy

-I learned this from Dan’s Property Entrepreneur podcast and it helped me decide to strategically NOT grow our SA business because when a cash flowing business is doing what it should ie providing the cash flow we don’t need to add more noise by adding more properties, instead can shift focus to profit and asset plays.

4. I don’t need to be an admin superhero

-I’ve been wrestling with admin for years, swaying between the desire to have it all done yet not wanting to be distracted from growth activities by doing it. I came to the realisation that I don’t need to get it all done each day, it’s about being ok with not having it all done because I have a system in place that makes me confident I haven’t dropped anything (now to find that system, still experimenting🤣)

5. Lighten the cognitive load

-I heard this from Darren Hardy and loved the concept- this is what I want from my team ie them shortlisting solutions and just taking action to lighten my ‘cognitive load’ (ie the need for doing the research, considering the options and making too many operational decisions), and it’s what I want our business offerings to help our clients with wherever possible.

6. Life is great in the Freezone Frontier

This is an awesome mindset shift from the book of the same name by Dan Sullivan. It helped me see there is a place where there is no competition, only collaboration. In most industries we will find similar yet subtly different value propositions that don’t actually compete with one another, but actually compliment one another. This is an abundance mindset replacing a scarcity mindset 

7. On holidays change gear and change focus

-Instead of always feeling like I need to ambitiously chase growth through my learning and progressing work things whilst away, switch focus to being ambitious about creating experiences and being the best father and husband I can be.

8. Trust but verify

-Another mantra from Dan that deeply resonates having made a huge mistake in appointing a main contractor for my home renovation last year. I trusted the salesmanship of the main guy, did one level of reference checking and then paid for my lack of further diligence in stress and excess cost for poor workmanship. So, trust the salesman but go much further to verify their work.

9. Be careful not to over optimise

-My lesson is to curb back on trying to overiptimsie what I can squeeze in i.e. before leaving my desk to go somewhere as it will only cause me to rush, potentially be late and put stress on my family. Instead, see it as investing 10 minutes to stop earlier so I can be calmer and less stressed rather than getting 10 more minutes of some work done.

10. See the stress as positive

-This is a reminder and a reframe that when I’m feeling stress and pressure, if it’s a problem arising from something I chose and definitely want ie a certain project I have thoroughly sense checked to be aligned what I want and who I want to become,  then I can acknowledge that I want to figure out how to solve it so I can get better. Therefore the reframe is that the stress is a good feeling to have because I’m growing.

I can’t recommend enough how powerful intelligent reflection is for your growth as a property entrepreneur. 

What is one of your key lessons from the last 12 months?

FINDING FINANCIAL CLARITY

I have financial clarity over our property businesses and I can’t tell you how great that feels. 

Since 2016 Chris and I have run a serviced accommodation business. We have made our fair share of mistakes but have used them as key lessons to pivot or improve. I can now genuinely say that we have an awesome cash flow business with a brilliant team, great clients and most importantly it’s highly profitable. 

I used to dread month end – a laborious process consuming hours of my time to input figures across my 52 column spreadsheet. 

In my mind I could envisage some kind of system or tool that could handle the complexities of our business – multiple holding entities some of which are VAT registered, leased and owned properties, varying management fees, multiple different suppliers and outgoings…..- Yes there are some complexities but surely there was something and someone out there who could help us! All I wanted was the ability to accurately see how profitable each property is each month and to know exactly how much net proceeds to distribute to each entity or client from our client account where all the booking revenue is received. And I wanted all of this without hours of my time and the risk of human error. 

I had tried several times to find a solution with our previous accountant but none of those attempts had delivered a result better than my spreadsheet. We had quickbooks but it was nothing more than an invoicing tool because we didn’t know how to use the other functions with the complexities of our business. 

I had resigned myself to the fact that me and my giant spreadsheet would have just keep on plodding on. 

However, my hope for a solution returned when I heard a guy on a property podcast who seemed to have figured things out when it came to finance. So I tracked him down and engaged his help. 

With a huge thanks to Josh Keegan, The Ultimate FD, I’ve transitioned from spending hours updating spreadsheets myself to working ‘ON’ the business and just signing off the numbers produced by my world class team. You can hear all about my journey to financial clarity in the podcast (link below). The results really have been phenomenal, and to have a qualified Management Accountant look under the ‘hood’ of our business and confirm it’s one of the ‘best he’s seen’ is just incredible.  

If you are looking to gain total financial clarity and control in your business, and move from managing on spreadsheets to signing off a set of professional monthly accounts, then have a listen to this podcast with the Ultimate FD as you’ll get loads of ideas.

https://www.ultimatefd.co.uk/podcast-episodes/i-have-a-spreadsheet-for-that

ONE OF YOUR BEST INVESTMENTS AT QUARTER END

It’s incredible to know that with a few days of strategically guided thinking one can emerge from a sea of overwhelm and chaos into a place of clarity and direction. 

Every property entrepreneur needs time away from the weeds of their business for strategic thinking- time to reflect and to plan. It’s something I consciously do at the end of every quarter without fail. On a bigger and much deeper scale, once or twice a year Chris and I guide a small group through a 5 step process to create a 12 month vision and craft the implementation plan behind it. 

This is what we were away in the lakes working on with an incredible group of property entrepreneurs last weekend. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the end of the summer and tee up a strong finish to the year. 💪😎

Time was invested in carefully designed exercises and group masterminding sessions to do the heavy lifting of decision making – something that is very difficult to do in isolation. But with a mastermind group and structured exercises, decisions can be arrived at with conviction so you can then pivot into action taking mode in the quarter ahead. 

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO SET UP A STRONG FINISH TO THE YEAR?

Even if you don’t have a mastermind group to work through this stuff with, there are some simple exercises I’ve shared in previous quarter ends that you can follow simply by journaling answers to the question prompts. 

You can download a copy of my complete quarterly review process and the steps for planning your next quarter here:

Now is the time to do this, don’t let the end of the year close in with a feeling of regret that you wished you’d invested some time to plan things out. In 2 sittings of 30-40 mins you can review the last 3 months to acknowledge your progress, and create an implementation plan for this quarter. 

Who’s committed to a small investment of time to review their quarter and plan the next?