Month: April 2021

Has what you read 16 years ago shaped who you are today?

Last April I gave an insight to what I was reading back in 2005 after I did a mini spring clean of my office filing trays – I’d found a plastic folder with 5 articles dating from the summer to autumn of 2005 (picture attached). Just for fun here are the headlines of those articles so you can get a sense of what the green but eager 25 year old version of me was reading:

“Building a fortune out of beer money” – about renting property]

“Fifty ways of saying carpe diem and stop carping” – [50 reasons why everyone should become an entrepreneur]

“The buying game” – [a basic guide to buying property]

“How to quit a 9-to-5 life on £400,000” – [about how to retire before the traditional age]

..and last but not least…

“11 Keys to Success & Wealth” – [what it says on the tin]

In 2005 I would have been a little over a year into building a corporate career, and whilst enjoying it, couldn’t help searching for something more entrepreneurial, and at that point the property light bulb had gone off thanks to reading Rich Dad Poor Dad. 

In property related conversations I often refer to the “Reticular Activating System” within our brains – that part of our brains that when consciously programmed to look for what you want, it helps you find what you’re looking for in the sea of information flooding past our senses. 

By evidence of these articles, clearly I was searching for insights on wealth creation and entrepreneurship back in 2005, and it hasn’t stopped since. It was a trip down memory lane re-discovering and reading these articles again. It’s incredible to think that everything I was reading back then that felt new, complex yet inspiring and exciting is now part of what I am living today. Whilst my wild ambitions and impatience of 2005 haven’t always materialised as quickly as the 25 year old me may have wanted,  (I’m still very much on the continuous growth journey), I’ve nevertheless become what I started dreaming of 16 years ago- an entrepreneur in property. 

Here are the 11 Keys to Success & Wealth that I got from one of the first property talks I attended, and these points were put together and shared by an American property entrepreneur called Jim Francis. Reading through these I was reminded that they are just as relevant 16 years later, especially given the current environment we’re in. Here’s my paraphrased summary of Jim’s words:

#1: DREAM BIG

Jim referred to the common denominator with all the millionaires that he’d interviewed – they all had big dreams and believed they were worth more than a 9-5 they didn’t overly enjoy. All with the dreams, they were prepared to take some risks by taking some of their hard earned money to try something new ie build a small business or invest in property. 

#2: GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE

You must attack your comfort zone and get outside of it. Push yourself to try new things, to break your limiting beliefs and poor habits. All successful people know that growth happens at the edge of your comfort zone. 

#3: WORK SMART AND NOT HARD

Millionaires tend to work smarter, not harder. It’s not that they don’t work 16 hour days, but they use their time much more effectively. They have a better plan for making money and if they are going to work 16 hour days, the fruit of their labour will be their own, not for someone else. They make their money work for them in property, in their own business and in the stock market. 

#4: THE QUICK AND THE DEAD

One of the major rules of the wealthy is taking action. While you are thinking about this right now, someone else is taking action. Don’t analyse things to death but do your diligence, make sound judgement and take fast action. 

#5: TAKE EMOTIONS OUT OF DECISIONS

Too often people are stopped by FEAR- fear of failure, fear of loss, fear of rejection. Millionaires learn to conquer fear, they simply look at 3 things – 1st, the investment, 2nd the return, 3rd, the probability of success. If those things stack up they go for it…

#6: TOTAL COMMITMENT

Successful people give their all, they work their 40 hour week job and then put in another 20 hours plus to start investing in property or start their small business. Even if you are tired, don’t let it be said that you “missed your dreams because you were watching TV”. Schedule time for success, take action as scheduled and the results will follow. 

#7: MENTORS

..Are worth their weight in gold. Why? Because mentorship and coaching work! You can only learn so much from a book, a self study manual or a video or a website. A coach or mentor can get you on the path to success quickly and help cut your learning curve in half. 

#8: STUDENT OF SUCCESS

Millionaires never stop learning. They study success habits. They study money, property, business and asset building. They have a thirst for new knowledge and invest a significant amount in training and self development.

#9: BOUNCE WELL

Millionaires have failures. They have lost, but they keep a positive attitude – “I’ll figure it out, I’ll work harder or smarter to get the result, I’ll apply a better plan”. They remember that a flat ball doesn’t bounce, so they have to keep it pumped up. (Great analogy for the current times).

#10: SELECTIVE MEMORY

There are no failures, only learning experiences. ‘If they swing at a baseball they do not remember the 66% of the time they miss, they remember the 34% of the time they hit.’ The problem for most people is that they remember the last time they failed – no wonder they stop swinging the bat. Selective memory is key to success. 

#11: DON’T QUIT

The character of man or woman is not measured in the number of failures, but in the number of times they come back from those failures to attempt to win! Ask Edison – 10,000 plus attempts at making the lightbulb. Do not give up. Success is just a decision and some action away!

I hope these 11 keys resonate and feed your mind as they have done, and continue to for me. 

I’d love to hear which one of these 11 keys to success strikes chord with you right now, shoot a quick reply here.

What kind of activities and tasks occupied your time in (or on) your property business this week?

For me and a team of mentor friends, 4 out of the 5 days were allocated to masterminding – mentoring small groups of property entrepreneurs to help them work around obstacles and add fuel to the fire of opportunities. 

These were 4 highly productive, enjoyable and rewarding days, and during our various group conversations there were several key themes that emerged everyday, even though working with different groups. One of those key themes was all about teams – and these related both to power teams and the building of one’s own business team. Everyone went away with a goal to add a ‘WHO’ ie to add someone to their team this quarter who will help them get more done and go faster. 

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post all about how ‘every property business needs a ‘WHO’ in Q2’. It’s all about how we can step change the next 90 days and accomplish so much more with the help of others. [If you missed it and want to catch up, here it is http://adaeroproperty.com/your-property-business-needs-a-who-in-q2/]

If this is striking a chord with you, where would you bring someone in to help you accomplish more in your property business?

To help you identify the things that you could outsource first, here are 2 great questions that I’ve recently been intentionally asking myself as I work through the week.

ANSWER THESE TWO QUESTIONS:

#1: What tasks am I currently doing that don’t need to be me?

#2. Of those tasks, which ones take the most time?

By answering these two questions over the period of a couple of weeks you will start to identify the tasks that could literally make up a job spec for someone. 

When you identify your highest value tasks and the lower value things that still have to get done (but don’t have to be you), then you can start to allocate your time for higher leverage and greater outcomes. And a virtual assistant is likely to be your first team hire. Even if that VA only works for 10-20 hours a month, that’s 10-20 hours you’ve just got back!

[If anyone is a bit stuck on where to start with the whole VA thing, I’ve captured a 7 step manual on the entire end to end process on how to hire and onboard a VA, you can find it at the bottom of the page here: http://www.devenirplus.co.uk/ebook

Here are some of the activities Chris and I have outsourced/delegated to a VA, a permanent staff member or members of our power team:

-Bookkeeping

-Some social media posting

-General admin (ie utilities management etc)

-An element of property sourcing

-Property Management

-Project Management

-Property viewings

What about you, what tasks would you look outsource/delegate first?

ANSWER 5 QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU IDENTIFY OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH AND NEW REVENUE

Reading news headlines today it certainly feels like there is some good optimism in the air for the economy. It’s unbelievable to comprehend how the world as we knew it was turned on it’s head just over a year ago. 

It lead me to reflect on what I was posting about last April when we were just a few weeks into lockdown. In doing so, one of my posts in particular stood out because it ran through 5 great questions and it got me brainstorming again. I felt that now is just as valuable to share these questions. 

Whilst the last year has thrown up a load of problems, it also means there are a new problems just waiting for entrepreneurs to show up and solve (or do a better job of solving). 

In my March post called “TRAIN YOUR PROPERTY ENTREPRENEUR BRAIN AND GET BETTER RESULTS” [link at the bottom if you missed it] I shared the basic backbone concept of a business – that being a CUSTOMER using a MECHANISM of some kind to get a desired end RESULT. In other words start with finding what end result that customer needs. The last year has created many new needs and pain points and that is opening up incredible opportunities for innovative property people and entrepreneurial thinkers.

Last April I sat in on a brilliant one off live presentation that Darren Hardy broadcast this which focused on a specific set of questions business leaders need to ask themselves (and find answers to) to prepare their comeback. He shared a great Peter Drucker quote which went something like this, 

“Great ideas are birthed through the labour of asking great questions, and finding the answers.”

Discovering answers to questions like the ones I’ll share below are what will help you adapt, possibly pivot but either way fuel the next level for your business. 

I’ve selected FIVE questions, from the many Darren walked through, that I felt would be most relevant for those with property businesses. On one hand, these questions are designed to guide us through creative thinking and strategic analysis to help minimise potential risks; and on the other hand, they will help discover the incredible opportunities that are emerging in our new reality. 

QUESTION #1

WHAT CAN WE DECONSTRUCT AND REINVENT?

To arrive at your answer, start by thinking along the lines of what result(s) your property business is already good at delivering. Ask yourself, despite the events of this last year, what hasn’t changed? ie the population still need housing/accommodation, but your audience may have shifted. Then ask yourself – What would our business look like if we started from scratch right now?

Where can you take your core areas of expertise in adding value and now meet a new high demand market? Is it the staycation market? Is it the commercial sector in some way? Is it playing cupid between landlords and new tenant buyers?

QUESTION #2

CAN WE REDEPLOY OUR KEY SKILL SETS?

The skills that you/your company excels at may be a source of growth or new business if applied to a different set of problems.

What are those key skills and where might they be redeployed for essential services or current high-demand markets?

Have a go at listing out what you see as essential services and high demand markets and see where your skills may link in.

It’s fair to say that residential property remains in high demand and there will be many with investment pots looking to access property but perhaps don’t know how to go about doing it. How can they be identified and served for a win win outcome?

QUESTION #3

WHAT ELSE DO OUR CLIENTS NEED THAT WE CAN HELP THEM WITH?

Darren reminds us that we are not in the “product or service-selling business. We are in the problem-solving business for our target client.”

Ask yourself, what else does my target client want or need that I might not currently offer, but could?

Then take this a level further and validate any ideas by testing it/offering the idea to your client base.

QUESTION #4

CAN WE PRE-SELL OR BULK SELL OUR PRODUCT/SERVICE?

This one might be particularly relevant to those in the serviced accommodation space, especially if an injection of cash flow is needed to sustain things.  

Ask yourself – can we pre-sell or bulk sell our accommodation? What kind of incentive can we offer to pre-sell/bulk sell our accommodation to advance cash collection?

During the early part of the lockdown our strategic choice to pivot the majority of our SA properties towards serving our local council’s emergency accommodation needs was one of the best things we did. 

Just this week I met our key council clients to discuss further refinements and how we can position ourselves as a key provider long into the future. 

If you serve contractors, that will be another audience where you may be able to pre-sell longer stays as they will need to book early so as not to be pushed out by the staycation audience. You will know the right blend for your business. The key thing is to think through these questions and then act on it. 

QUESTION #5

HOW CAN WE MAKE IT EASIER TO DO BUSINESS WITH US IN THIS NEW REALITY?

Over the last year we have been forced to adopt digital solutions and virtual interactions it’s opened up an incredible number of ways to reach and engage with new customers.

Darren posed this question which may help your thinking, 

“Using digital solutions and virtual interactions, how can we adjust our business model or work practices to radically reduce costs or rapidly scale our market penetration?”

We already know that property agents are doing virtual house tours, what else could be done along these lines?

No matter what realm of property you are in there will no doubt be ways and means to reduce friction and make it even easier to do business with you, even if that means a reminder to self to respond faster to messages 🙂

I hope re-visiting these 5 questions get you thinking creatively and help to unearth ideas and solutions, whether for new beginnings or for growth  

LINK TO THE POST ABOUT TRAINING YOUR PROPERTY BRAIN

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”- Helen Keller

With the end of Q1 last week I shared a post outlining the importance of investing a little time to review your last quarter and plan out your next. I thought I had a pretty effective process in place for that, but I’ve recently learned about a powerhouse of a question that I haven’t been intentionally asking myself each quarter, until now, and I want to share it with you.

For a few years now it’s been part of my routine to carry out a quarterly review. Acknowledging progress and getting clarity on the next 90 days are what I really value about that process, and I thought I’d been doing a pretty good job with my quarterly reviews. That was until, during my Sunday bike ride last week, I heard a key question that has the power to step change things when I consciously ask it more frequently. 

The book I’ve been listening to whilst training to cycle the length of the country is ‘Who Not How” by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy. 

It’s such a powerful book, and the basic premise it this: 

If you want a bigger future for yourself, you have to stop asking yourself, ‘How can I accomplish this?’ 

Typically, society teaches us to focus on HOW, and to work in isolation. That will limit results and cause frustration. But if we want to succeed at the highest levels, we need to shift from a “HOW” mentality to a “WHO” mentality. 

The new and better question we should be asking is,  “WHO, can help me achieve this?”

Here’s one of my favourite extracts from the book that we can all take on board and remember because it sounds like a Dr Seuss rhyme:

“Every WHO needs a WHO, this includes you. Whatever it is you are trying to do, you need a WHO.” [say that out loud really fast for a bit of fun 😁]

It’s only through teamwork and collaboration that we can achieve the bigger and better results. 

The Author Benjamin Hardy makes the key point that, 

‘With each ascending level of success, our ability to achieve bigger and better results will be more dependent on WHO’s rather than HOW’s. By focusing on who we work with rather than how we achieve our goals, our levels of accomplishment and freedom will dramatically increase in all areas.’

Everyone needs a who. I’m a who to my business partner Chris, he’s a who to me, our Ops Manager is a who to us….and so on and so forth. 

STEP CHANGING YOUR Q2

So, back to that initial point about step changing the quarterly review and thinking about our next 90 days. 

Here’s a the powerhouse question I took out of the book to put into my quarterly reviews:

“What are the 3-5 new jumps or progress you can now go for that can make your quarter great regardless of what happens?

Then ask yourself, WHO can help me accomplish this?”

“Here’s a personal challenge, add at least 1 who to your goals over the next 90 days. 

By adding a who your commitment will increase and your behaviour will improve, as a result your confidence that you can achieve bigger results in that area will improve.”

We are in the final stages of hiring 4 new WHO’s into part of our business. More often than not a property entrepreneu’s first hire will be a Virtual Assistant (VA). A few years ago I captured our exact process for hiring Virtual Assistants into a manual (we’ve done it several times now).

Some may choose to pay someone to recruit team members for them, or you can learn to recruit people yourself. I was an executive recruiter for 8 years so I know a bit about recruitment processes and chose to draw on that. 

For those keen to develop the skill of finding and hiring virtual team members, I’ve attached a link to the exact process that we use. I’ve captured it all in a step by step manual with template documents to accompany each step. The manual that can be purchased for a small investment and a donation to a charity that means a lot to us. 

If you’re interested, you can find it at the bottom of this page: http://www.devenirplus.co.uk/

Looking at the quarter ahead, I’m excited by the challenge of adding a brand new who as part of our Q2 goals. 

What could your property business accomplish in Q2 with the help of a ‘WHO’?