BREAKING FREE OF A BELIEF THAT OFTEN HOLDS US BACK FROM STARTING IN BUSINESS & PROPERTY

I was reading a selection of interviews this week about some fairly new entrepreneurs talking about the transformation in their beliefs that happened from starting a business. The transformation of limiting beliefs to empowering beliefs – it reminded me of some of my own past limiting beliefs that had to change when starting out in business 7 years ago. Some of these same limiting beliefs may be stifling others out there reading this.

Our ‘new reality’, this shock to the economy, is making everyone think seriously about their financial security. Those in employment may be thinking about the uncertainty of their jobs and looking at others ways to make side income; those with businesses may be thinking about how they can adapt and possibly even start something new; those investing (or thinking about investing) in property may be reconsidering their strategy on how to get started or to grow their portfolio. 

And with that thinking there will undoubtedly be some people who know how to proceed, but there will inevitably be those who feel stuck and totally unsure. One of the big sticking points is likely to be rooted in a limiting belief, similar to what I was referring to at the beginning of this post. Hopefully by exposing this big limiting belief and highlighting the kind of thinking required to get started, it can help some people to take the next productive step. 

Here are some of the beliefs I used to have about getting started in business:

*Starting a business is painful, it’s blood, sweat and tears, and takes many years

*It takes money to make money

*You need a business plan

*You need a website, a logo, a business card and a company email address

Anyone else believed anything like this at some point, or maybe still believe that?

This thinking is not conducive to getting started at all. 

Now I know that none of these are true. To get started, you need some sales of a product or a service that solves a real problem. 

This is so obvious to me now but it wasn’t back in 2013/14, and it took a long time for the transformation to really take hold in my brain. 

However, this is the single biggest belief that transformed our (Chris and I) thinking and approach to business and property. Anyone who’s read my book “Predictable Property Profits” will be familiar with how I learned the concept of pre-selling from mentors on a course about starting a software business. When it finally twigged to apply that formula to serviced accommodation, we were able to turn a failing business into a profitable one.

The reason for bringing this up and sounding like a broken record to those who know me 🙂 is because now more than ever, in this new reality, this one empowering belief could be responsible for your big discovery and breakthrough. So’ I’ll lay it out again here:

To get started, you need a sale (or some kind of commitment to buy in advance) and a product or service that solves a problem. Here’s some examples:

In the context of property that might be finding a tenant buyer who can pay a small financial commitment now for a 3 bed terraced house in XYZ location. Then you go search and invest to order.

In the context of community small businesses, that might be finding a load of dance studios that lost their revenue due to the lockdown and need help getting online, and then approaching them with a solution to set them up with the right technology to broadcast lessons and easily collect payment online. For which of course you charge a fair set up and ongoing tech maintenance fee for. 

This is the kind of thinking and approach that will give you the ability to de-risk an investment, or uncover a new problem that you can solve for an existing client, or create a brand new revenue stream having never done anything like this before. 

There are problems all around for us to solve, if we are intentional about seeking them out and exploring potential solutions with those that have them. 

Our small management team engaged in a highly productive brainstorm this week for our SA business that has led to multiple action points around exploring potential problems to solve. These actions are what will now fill our priority activities for the days ahead. And it won’t stop there, as will revisit the process and do it again. 

What could you be turning your problem solving brain to in the week ahead?

If you’d like to take the time to reflect on powerful solution oriented questions for your own business (property or other), then you’re welcome to join an open brainstorm session on Tuesday at 11am where we can walk you through the 5 key questions we set our minds to work on. 

You can reserve your seat in the brainstorm by clicking HERE.