Month: March 2017

This week saw in the one year anniversary with Progressive VIP for Chris and I (we posted some topline results a couple of days ago).  It’s been a very reflective week in terms of looking at the ground we have covered, the things we’ve learned, the actions taken and people we’ve connected with. It was great to read Kenneth’s post earlier and congratulate him on an awesome VIP year. We have such a phenomenal VIP community and we are now really getting into how we can support and work with our fellow VIPs – both exciting and powerful to be in this journey with you all.

It has also been a natural reflection point as we find ourselves at the end of Q1. Nine more months to make this your best year yet! What went well for you in the last three months? What lessons can you draw out? What will you be focusing on and measuring in Q2? One of the short Darren Daily videos I watched in the last week reminded me of a concept I learned years ago – that to have more and achieve more we first have to become more.

A key question we can ask ourselves as we enter Q2 is this –

“Who do I need to be, to do what I have to do, to achieve the results I want?”

Sound strange? Well, if you are serious about having your best year yet in your property business, what you need to do is so much more clear when you see things through the lens of who you need to be.

This is becoming a big focus for Chris and I and we are defining our own flavour of behaviours, habits and characteristics that will help us become who we need to be, in order to achieve the results we want.

Here are two nuggets on this topic to leave you with that I noted down from the Q&A we had at VIP with Derek and Ray (thank you both for that):

Nugget #1 – In working through your day and striving to scale your business, regularly ask yourself, “Who can I get to do this?”

Nugget #2 – As above, and in decision making scenarios, ask yourself. “Would Rob/your chosen mentor do this?”

It would be great if you feel compelled to keep this thread going and share any other habits/behaviours/characteristics as they relate to “WHO YOU NEED TO BE”.

I jumped back into my daily work routine this week after returning from a fun filled and memory rich ski holiday with my kids and extended family. I love holidays but I do also love getting into the productive zone of a working week and prioritising growth activities.

This week had Chris and I back in the proverbial saddle doing SA set up and we are definitely feeling ready to find the best way to hand this stuff over and outsource. Here are some pics of our latest unit in East Lothian taking shape.

Delighted to say that we confirmed our first booking for our Glenrothes unit via airbnb and that first booking is close to covering the month’s rent for a five night stay! I’ve also started researching and contacting companies in Glenrothes direct to explore opportunities to serve them. Any other angles to serve business travellers in this area are welcome.

On the drive up to Glenrothes I was listening to an interview with Tim Ferriss. It was about accelerated learning and it really got me thinking. Tim Ferriss has repeatedly broken the accepted norm for his speed of skill acquisition, and by doing this has greatly accelerated the speed of achieving big results. His approach begins with the quality of questions he asks (both of himself and of his mentors). Things like if there are 10 steps to this thing, how could you get me to almost the same end result in eight steps, or six? Or, what if I did the steps in a different order? He continually pushes boundaries to find how to get the 80% of results from 20% of his efforts.

Why do I mention this? Well, it got me thinking about how we can apply this thinking to accelerating our own results as property investors.

What are some of the best questions you have asked that have led to accelerating your results?

This week’s little summary highlights why a ‘done for you service’ from the likes of Fusion is so valuable. Over the course of last weekend and spread over this week Chris and I put more hours than we care to tot up into preparing a 2 bed flat in Glenrothes for the SA market.

Yes, we are early stage in our SA business and we are “bootstrapping where we can” hence doing the full set up ourselves. A huge thanks to my awesome wife Emma who sourced all the items online (3 sets of brand new curtains for under £75!). This week we actually took a hybrid approach and employed one of Chris’ labourers for the day – a great move and big thanks to Yogi for a full day’s shift. From receiving deliveries of hotel beds at 2 sites on a Sunday morning to packing haulage vans on ‘Date Night’, and ironing valances, we know these are things that don’t and can’t scale if we want to grow our business.

So, our lessons:

• if we want to phase ourselves out of hands on set up but still have direct input, take a hybrid approach and employ a labourer
• ultimately aim to shift gear to fully outsource the set up as soon as possible so we can focus on the marketing and monetising of the unit. And then of course further acquisition.

As a totally different side note, I have a great book recommendation that has had me engrossed in my personal development this week. The book is called,  “The Code of An Extraordinary Mind” by Vishen Lakhiani of Mind Valley fame.

Have a great weekend

I’ve got some great notes collecting in my notebook from recent presentations/talks I’ve been at so this week I thought I’d share them.

Up first..

10 TIPS ON GETTING R2R SA DEALS (courtesy of Scott Weir)

Thanks again to Scott for the talk you gave at Edinburgh PPN a couple of weeks ago and sharing great insights from your experience.

Clearly, for all the juicy details you had to be there, but for those who couldn’t here’s a quick summary of Scott’s top tips to set you on the right track.

5 tips for approaching letting agents:

1.     Approach the right type of agent
2.     Try to always speak to the owner direct
3.     Offer Letting Agents the right incentives
4.     Ensure the deal is WIN-WIN-WIN
5.     Ask the letting agent for tenant find only properties

5 tips for approaching Landlords

1.     Find the Landlords pain or pleasure point
2.     Keep it very simple when pitching
3.     Make the deal irresistible
4.     Be 100% open and honest with them
5.     Consider looking for something different (i.e. things that aren’t renting might be good for SA)

For more on how Scott and his SA management company might be able to help you find R2R deals in the West of Scotland, you can look them up on http://www.pillowpartners.co.uk/ info@pillowpartners.co.uk

TIPS FROM RICHARD’S TALK AT VIP

The next set of tips are courtesy of Richard McGuire, thanks for sharing your experience and this week’s Scottish VIP

Here are a few nuggets I scribbled quickly whilst listening:

• Be open and honest with landlords.
• Don’t underestimate or misjudge anyone i.e. any landlord you speak to might just have a whole portfolio of properties they are willing to work with you on once the trust is there
• Treat each property like a competition i.e. challenge yourself to think, “how could I do better on the next one?” Then take the required action.
• DO invite landlords and agents back to the property once you have set it up for guests, this will get more buy in and likely lead to more properties.
• In terms to graduating up to blocks of flats, seek out private developers by simply walking the streets and starting conversations and/or look at your local planning portal for approved new build blocks. Remember, it makes new apartments more saleable to investors if they come with a guaranteed let.

Why not share some more great tips on SA for others here too.