Does anyone love property paperwork? Whilst some do, I’m imagining it will be very few.
There is so much about property that is just fantastic, from the value we can add to the end users of it, the joy of creating the end product, the jobs and wealth it creates….and so much more.
However, one thing we can’t avoid is the admin that comes with it. And the more property you have, the more paperwork you have – utilities bills, business rates forms, refinance applications, planning related admin, legal paperwork for purchases, invoices from trades people, forms, forms and more forms.
At every stage in the value chain from buying, financing, holding, building, managing and selling, there will be a pile of paperwork that we have to work through and keep on top of.
Seeing how much paper mail a property business owner receives could put you off, but it shouldn’t have to. The benefits of property far outweigh the admin burden 😊
So I’m curious, have you tamed the ‘property admin beast’?
I can’t say that I have ‘mastered’ my admin per se but I’ve certainly come a long way in the last few years and figuring out how to be a higher leveraged version of myself (i.e. by delegating lower value tasks and focusing on higher value tasks) is a key theme of this year.
Here are 2 key things I’m working on which may be helpful for others – 1 mindset thing and 1 tactical thing:
THING #1 – THE MINDSET TOWARDS ADMIN
A recent conversation with a coach I have gave me a real ah-ha moment and reframe that is serving me well. This is what came up in our conversation – the goal is not to be an admin superhero and get it all done everyday. Instead it’s about finding a way to feel good about NOT doing it all because you’re confident that you’re not missing anything.
So, it figures then that in order to feel confident about not missing anything, you need some sort of system and/or person in place.
THING #2 – A SIMPLE SYSTEM
When it comes to the mountains of paper mail that I get, here’s the simple system that I’m experimenting with right now.
-paper mail comes in and is sorted into 3 filing trays labeled as follows:
- Top tray is ‘TODAY’
- 2nd tray is ‘NEXT WEEK’
- 3rd tray is ‘NOT URGENT’
Then it comes down to the execution, so lets say I have 1 item in the ‘TODAY’ tray, the night before I need to schedule time in the diary to get it done. At the end of each day I am forming a habit to quickly review the progress of the ‘TODAY’ admin item – if it’s not fully done, it stays in and more time needs to be scheduled tomorrow.
If it’s fully completed I need to move something else up, so scan what’s in the ‘NEXT WEEK’ tray and pick the 1-2 things I might want in the ‘TODAY’ tray for tomorrow. Once again, a little time needs to be scheduled in the diary or it ain’t gonna happen. And so the merry dance begins again with the aim.
The key thing for me mentally is not to feel overwhelmed by seeing a pile of open mail with no order, or worry about missing a deadline for something important.
So, this is what I’ve been trialing and have to say I quite like it.
How do you master your property admin?