Month: September 2020

As we transition into October this coming week, it creates that reflection point for the 3rd time this year of quarter end. 

If we’re serious about our growth then we owe it to ourselves to take stock of the past 90 days and use those lessons to tee up a strong finish to this unusual year. 

Reviewing each month and 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.

Here are a selection of questions, I learned from Peter Voogd, that I’ve been using for a couple of 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 used the accountability of writing this post to get my own review done before hitting publish and it does only take 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? 

These will likely be related to your highest values but only you will know.

• 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.  

If you aren’t consciously making a decision to put things in your diary that will keep you alive and vibrant, even in these times of restricted freedoms, you will become complacent. Be creative and plan in some things you know you can do within the guidelines outdoors and in. It’s more important than ever now. 

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?

To add to this, based on what’s currently happening, who can you make a conscious effort to connect/reconnect with virtually in Q4?

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?

If you have a team, what can you do to help assure and engage them in during these uncertain times. 

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. 

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? Because high achievers always ask better questions, and they are always investing their past mistakes/lessons into their future preparation.

If you’re inspired, use this post thread as your accountability buddy and hit reply to say you’ve reviewed your quarter.

When actor Matthew Mcconaughey (starred in films like Gold, Sahara, Failure to Launch) was asked during an interview who his hero is he famously said that it is himself ten years from now.

What a wise reply that was. 

What about you- if your future self was to be your hero, who would you want to become? 

A property entrepreneur with x number of properties and income? 

A location independent traveller and online entrepreneur?

A developer of affordable homes, or maybe luxury homes?

Or maybe a master deal sourcer and packager?

The key point is you get to choose.

Whilst on holiday for a few days this week I’ve taken time to work through a 30 day Future Self Program from psychologist Dr Benjamin Hardy.

I’ve summarised one of the key takeaways in this short video.

Here’s a great quote I noted from Ernest Hemmingway that captures the same message – 

“True nobility is not being superior to your fellow man, but being superior to your former self”.

The big lightbulb we all need to understand is that our view of our future is actually the thing driving who we are today. 

So, what is the future you imagine for yourself? Are you clear on it, and is it driving your daily behaviour?

I’ve been eager to post an update on our commercial deal for some time as it’s fair to say that the lockdown period set us back a little. Some reading this might remember that I shared a post in November titled “WE BOUGHT A SHOP”, that was when we just picked up the keys and excitedly gave a video tour and talked through our plans [I’ll link to that below if you’re interested to see the shop pre-rip out and conversion]. 

Some key milestones have been hit in the last few weeks so now seems like a good time to provide a wee update for anyone interested in following the progress as we explain how the deal is coming together. We are now in the position that we really wanted to be in back in the spring but c’est la vie. 

I thought it would make sense to pick up where I left off in that first post, so worth going back to it for more detail if you’re interested, but for quick reference here’s a little context:

• High St Shop that extends to over 2400 SQFT on the ground floor plus an upstairs that was used as storage.
• Purchase price just under £100K and we could see our way to multiple exits, so risk was minimised
• Primary plan to split ground floor commercial from upstairs storage, create a shell to let out, create 2 flats upstairs for single lets, refinance and hold long term.

SO WHERE ARE WE UP TO NOW?

One of the reasons we bought the building was based on there being demand interest from a couple of local businesses, and if that failed some good options for creating smaller units to multi-let. 

Over several weeks between the end of last year and beginning of this year we initiated and nurtured a relationship with one of those local businesses, a prospective tenant. We sought to understand the vision for their business and discussed how our unit could provide the solution. 

Fast forward a few months and our conversations are now formalised as a contract for a pretty  long lease starting at the end of September. 

We are well under way with refit to provide a ready to move in shell for our tenant – we pay the rip out and provision of a functional retail shell, and the client is paying for some bespoke internal configuration for their purposes. We have worked together to create an ideal space for our tenant long term – it is a bakery so the rear section of the building will be for baking and dispatch (from a rear exit), the middle section will be for finishing pastries etc, and the front will be retail counter and a small cafe.

In terms of upstairs we now have full planning permission to convert the upstairs into two flats – a 2 bed and a 1 bed in the attic space, both accessed by a separate entrance at the rear of the building (which was a former fire exit).

We are just awaiting the building warrant and our quotes, then work can start on that once the shop is finished and tenanted.

Why write more when a video captures the full context! – Here are a few short clips where Chris explains what we’re doing. 

• The first 3 clips explain how the commercial unit is coming together

• The next video explains how we are creating 2 flats out of the former office/storage space upstairs. 

Hope it’s helpful to see how a building like this transitions through the stages of concept to creation. We’re getting near completion of our works on the commercial unit so will share another update in the coming weeks. 

[PS Link to our first post introducing this shop deal click here

Have you ever been tagged on facebook to a picture that captures such brilliant memories that it literally makes to you stop and reflect for a while?

That happened to me twice this week from my friends George and Giuseppe sharing memories from the business retreat we were on in the Italian lakes. It was exactly a year ago, the first week in September 2019. Thinking about that experience again has compelled me to share some of the amazing things that happen when you choose to invest in yourself to go on a business retreat like this.

Here’s a quick fire reflection on some of big hitting benefits:

INSPIRATION

I found that inspiration comes in many forms on a trip like this. To reference a few, it comes from the stunning location (like where we were in the Italian lakes); it comes from listening to and learning from your mentor, who’s done the thing you are pursuing; it comes from working (and socialising) with a like minded and ambitious peer group; it comes from listening to the journeys and aspirations of others in your group; it comes from giving yourself headspace away from the weeds of your day to day business.

Inspiration is a key ingredient in getting anything off the ground, especially in writing your first book, which is what many of us were there to do.

CLARITY AND ACTION STEPS

All transformation begins with awareness and that starts with seeking clarity. In most cases clarity doesn’t just pop into your head, it takes being intentional about asking questions, deep thinking and probably seeking advice or validation from your mentors and peer group. Getting to the point of clarity with the action steps to make it happen is definitely accelerated when you immerse yourself in a trip like this.

I can specifically remember sharing the concept of my book for the first time with all the group. Having that honest yet supportive feedback was exactly what I needed to get clarity so I could move forward with gusto. I shared a handful of options for the underlying investment model I had created to write about. Thanks to the group feedback I was able to quickly overcome indecision and pick out the D.I.C.E model acronym as the favourite, and that became central to the book. 

CONNECTIONS & FRIENDSHIPS

When you connect with others on a level of values and similar goals you can’t not become friends. Through work groups, meals, drinks and dancing we created wonderful rich memories and friendships that live on. 

ACCOUNTABILITY & DEADLINES

Getting things done is actually a social phenomenon. So when you share your goals with a like minded group and commit to getting it done you will amaze yourself with how productive you become. 

I recall late nights in the hotel room typing into a google doc and then reporting back progress to the group the next day. When we all got back to the UK we then used a whatsapp group to continue hitting deadlines for the next couple of months. 

Leveraging the right conditions to get the best out of yourself is crucial to making big progress.  And the cool thing is you can draw on these tools to help you progress in any area of life, and have a lot of fun doing it too.

CONCLUSION

So there are 4 big benefits of a retreat designed around a specific focus, and there are so many more. 

Without this trip, I would not have the wonderful memories and friendships, but I most likely would not have written my first book. Or at least it would have probably taken me inordinately longer. 

I chose to share what I’ve learned over the years in a book because I believe that it can play a small part in positively impacting others who strive to create more of the life they want through property. The philosophy I share in ‘Predictable Property Profits’ walks you through 4 simple steps to remove guesswork and get more certainty on your property deals.

One year down the line I’d like to say a huge thank you to Paul and everyone who was part of the Italy Retreat. 

Thanks also to all those who have purchased my book since it launched, I truly hope it’s serving you. 

If you haven’t yet bought it and would like it, you can get on amazon by clicking here

PS. I know there will be many who have bought my book but not yet accessed the vault of online companion resources that help you get the most out of the book – be sure to get as much value from that as you can here’s a reminder of what’s in there