Adaero Property

This week I wanted to share 4 seemingly small yet potentially super powerful tips which could see you hitting bigger goals, if you’re interested. 

 

Have you noticed that youtube started pushing clever notifications to you? So that whilst you are laser focused on something a little pop up suggestion of a recommended video appears in the top right of your screen. I’m normally pretty disciplined to ignore these pop ups but a few weeks ago one video headline caught my attention, for two reasons. One – because it was by Brendan Burchard and I know he makes valuable content, and two- because of the title, ‘How to Visualize and Manifest Bigger Goals’.

 

I watched the video intently and noted down the four tips he shared, and over the last few weeks I’ve been consciously referring back to them, actively incorporating them and telling others about them in mastermind groups. Clearly that’s too short a time frame to prove or disprove whether these techniques work, but what I will say is that I like them, and fully believe they will pay dividends. Hence I wanted to share them. So without war and peace, here are my summarised notes I took from Brendan:

 

TIP #1: VISUALISE FUTURE SCENES

You have to see yourself in scenes that you want that don’t currently exist. Most people write down goals and to do’s rather than taking the time to see the desired scenes in their mind’s eye. Everyday we need to visualise the desired day ahead, but also the bigger picture goals we are striving for. Regularly engaging in future thinking like this will help maintain clarity of why we are putting in the ground work, and it will tune our mental GPS system to look for all the ‘how’s’ to get us there. I know we all know this, none of that is new, but are we actually doing it? Are you visualising scenes in your mind of the completing the kind of property deals you aspire to?

 

I think now more than ever we have so many demands on our attention that we are whizzing about life each day like the Tasmanian Devil with a dust cloud of chaos around us. I recognise this and I’m sure you do too. So, I’ve consciously added in a little more time in my morning routine to visualise future scenes, and I have to say I’m liking it. 

 

TIP #2: BE PREPARED TO PRIORITISE SKILL BUILDING

Sometimes along this journey we have to prioritise skill building over stability. An example Brendan shared was of an unpaid intern. In other words the young graduate working for nothing to learn the skills that will deserve and grow them into that career over time. You could say the same thing about getting started in property- the first phase might feel like an unpaid intern exchanging your time for not much return at all whilst you learn the new property strategy. The question is- are you willing to compromise the stability/quality of your life a little bit whilst you acquire those new skills? Your why and what the end payoff means to you will dictate your answer to this. The hungry ones out there will be looking to accelerate through the skill building as quickly as possible, but it still requires that understanding of upsetting the equilibrium for a period.

 

TIP #3: GET THE NETWORK FOR IT

You have to build your network relevant to your big goal. Who would you want to be friends with and who would you need to know in your chosen space to help achieve the abundance you seek? Brendan reminds us that if you don’t know the networks that can help realise your dreams then those dreams will remain really far away. That’s why he, and indeed many mentors, advocate that we need to tell everyone about what we are doing and want to do. These communities and all the live events are great for that. Have I told you I have a book coming out soon… 🙂

 

TIP #4: MAKE BOLD MOVES TOWARDS THE DREAM SOONER RATHER THAN LATER

I really love this one- Brendan said that sometimes the trick is to put yourself in play in the dream sooner than you think, you don’t need to wait for all the conditions to be just right. I have been thrilled to hear some very special goals of service and significance lately around mastermind tables. In hearing those dreams it is exciting to discuss with delegates what can be done to start experiencing those dreams sooner, ie in a scaled back version now? Chris and I dream of designing and building amazing properties that sit in beautiful locations so we can host game changing mastermind retreats. Whilst goals like that sit further out into the future, we can absolutely live out a version of that sooner with rented venues that inspire what we might build.

 

So to summarise for you how to visualise and manifest bigger goals, you have:

1- VISUALISE IT

2- SKILL UP FOR IT

3- GET THE NETWORK FOR IT

4- GET YOURSELF IN PLAY SOONER THAN LATER

 

Which of these resonate with you, and which will you implement starting today?

It would be a fair assumption to make that the vast majority of people in these social communities want to use property to live life on their terms- to create additional income, maybe be location independent, and most important of all…to create time freedom to engage in the things most important to them. 

The wonderful thing is that all of this is completely possible thanks to the technology we have access to and the specialised property education we can invest in. It’s possible for property entrepreneurs to create and control multiple property income streams either alongside a day job, or from sunny holiday locations of their choosing. Property education combined with internet tools, clever apps and virtual assistants have created this phenomenal opportunity and there’s never been a time like it in history. 

However, the same exciting opportunity that is empowering us to live life on our terms, comes with a massive, often overlooked challenge. Property educated and technology empowered people are facing an accountability crisis. People working towards their personal property goals, and typically doing so on their own, are inadvertently placing themselves in a state of limited accountability.

Whilst property income streams present one of the best opportunities to create freedom from conventional nine-to-five work life, the ironic thing is that the solo pursuit to create that property income lacks the accountability layers you typically get working in the day job. If you are working for yourself, you only have to be accountable to yourself, and we all know who the easiest person to let down is don’t we? Ourselves.

Those of us choosing the entrepreneurial path to create an income stream from property (or any self endeavour for that matter) are the most vulnerable to feeling feeling ineffective, unfocused and unmotivated. And here’s the big reason why – we often lack the accountability that focuses our execution powers on the biggest opportunities. 

So how do we combat this human weakness and get the best out of ourselves?

Here’s the key thing you need to know – getting things done and being productive is a social phenomenon. Human beings are social primates and the way we have evolved proves that we work better when accountable to another human. 

That’s why when you ‘lift the lid’ on ultra-successful people you find they have surrounded themselves with empowering webs of supporting advisors, investors, staff and accountability coaches. Doing this helps protect them from experiencing overwhelm, procrastination and self sabotage that creeps in when pursuing what might be quite a lonely and isolated business goal.

With true accountability in place, these successful people don’t have to fight so hard to push themselves to execute, instead they more easily show up as the best version of themselves week after week. 

Scientific research and studies by psychologists have proven that accountability is one of the most powerful tools for improving human behaviour and performance. 

This week we’ve been working hard on 3 days of masterminds, and the brilliant delegates we work with are experiencing the power of accountability month after month by pledging committed actions to their mentors and peers. 

Leveraging accountability effectively will be your competitive advantage and your psychological advantage. 

What can you be doing to stack multiple layers of accountability on your property goals?

 

P.S. if you’re interested to read further about accountability, here are a couple of other posts I’ve written on the subject

Accountability In Property Is All Or Nothing

 

Leveraging the Pillars of Productivity

 

 

After 9 months of activity, we are now in the final few days of the Touchstone Millionaire Maker Challenge. For the benefit of anyone who hasn’t followed the competition, this has been the first of it’s kind ‘X-Factor’ style property competition where a group of investors battle it out to be crowned overall Millionaire Maker of the year. In keeping with the title the aim is of course to get as close as you can to creating £1m+ worth of new property deals and property related revenue in the time frame given. Each month the candidates would be put through a series of challenges that have all be recorded and broadcast as episodes over the Touchstone Education Youtube channel. The viewing public have then had the opportunity to vote for their chosen candidate to keep in the competition.

 

From a starting pool of over 30 applicants, the presentations and voting challenges have trimmed the numbers down to a final group of 5. And following a final online vote over Sunday/Monday, there will be a LIVE final where the last 4 contestants will compete for the audience’s vote on Tuesday 8th October.

 

I wanted to use this weekly blog post to say a massive thank you to Paul and all the Touchstone team for creating this competition, and to all the viewers who have voted to help keep Chris and I in it to this stage. As a small gesture of thanks I’d like to share some of our greatest lessons and tips that have come out of this experience so far. 

 

#1 A MODEL FOR STRUCTURING A PROPERTY ENTRPRENEUR’S WEEK

Here is the MEND model that Paul taught us in January. This is a simple and memorable model that will help guide and structure your week to move your property business forwards. So at the beginning of a week you will be asking yourself what can I do to increase/grow each of the following:

 

MONEY – what activities are you doing to increase money flow?

[For money insights from the Millionaire Challenge see episodes 13, 21, 25, 29 & 30]

 

EDUCATION- what skill or capability gaps do you need specific education for to move forwards and what will you do to educate yourself in those areas?

 

NETWORK- who is it you want to target and bring into your network? How are you doing that?

[For more about the importance of Network see Episodes 18 & 19]

 

DEALS- What are you doing to get more deals into your short list for analysis?

[For more on deal flow see episodes 10, 11, 12 and 23]

 

Then at the end of the week you can reflect by asking, over the last 7 days what have I done to increase/grow in each of these areas?

 

#2 GET CLEAR ON WHAT PROPERTY STRATEGY YOU WANT TO PURSUE

This one is more important than you think, if there’s a part of your unconscious brain that is not in alignment with your chosen strategy and goal then you will end up procrastinating and not last the course to see the results. When you are 100% clear and committed on why and what, you will be able to figure out the how. 

 

If you are learning new skills to support the chosen strategy then it will massively accelerate the progress if that proactive new learning time is focused to one strategy, rather than trying to spread it across three. Furthermore you will be able to pick out specialists in that area or who have done what you’re aiming to do who can help provide some answers. 

 

# DON’T UNDERESTIMATE WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW

Even though Chris has been 18+ years in the building trade, he is very honest with himself and humble when it comes to possible knowledge gaps in relation to covering all the considerations of analysing a multi-unit site. Therefore we recognise when we need to draw on the specialist skills and experience of others around us. Don’t assume or guess, but become proficient at figuring out how to get to the point of feeling you have comprehensively covered the questions and gaps you don’t have the answers for. 

 

# 4 HARNESS THE POWER OF DEADLINES AND ACCOUNTABILITY

A big attraction to Chris and I of doing the Millionaire Maker Challenge was because we knew it would manufacture certain conditions that would get more out of us, namely real deadlines and accountability of public pledges. One example of this was the challenge we had in April to secure a R2R property in 2 hours. It’s amazing how much more resourceful you can be and how much more you can get done when you are working towards a goal that you care about and within very real deadlines. 90% of the Millionaire Maker candidates came up trumps and secured a R2R. We went ahead with ours and opened it as an SA unit in June.

 

#5 FIND THE DEMAND/END USER FIRST, THEN THE PROPERTY/SITE

This is an approach we used to start and grow our SA business and one that we have now adopted when it comes to commercial and development sites. Over the course of the year Chris and I have picked out multiple mixed use sites up and down the country to analyse. Every time we have approached the deal from a position of knowing who the end user/client would likely be or when we we’ve had some kind of local competitive advantage, the analysis and decision making has been so much easier. On the other hand when we have approached a deal by just starting with a property that looks possibly interesting and then try to figure out the end user/s, it has been a much harder beast to arrive at conclusions. 

 

#6 COMMERCIAL SURVEYORS ARE ONE OF THE BEST SOURCES FOR DEALS

You’ve probably heard it many times before – go out and build relationships with commercial surveyors, tell them what you are looking for…but are you actually doing it? We have fully embraced that approach this year and it has been able to uncover a much better quality of potential deal than previous attempts without surveyors on board. Commercial surveyors not only have a more ‘investment’ led perspective than you think, they can also tap into a network of fellow professionals where they actively pass deals between them.

 

#7 THE IMPORTANCE OF DEAL FLOW

It is only natural that at some point you might become quite emotionally attached to a potential project. In other words, you can want it so much that you end up compromising on your criteria, your budget, your standards etc to secure it. Well the antidote to that, as Paul taught us, is to have steady deal flow. Make sure you have enough deal potential to consider, analyse and only proceed with the ones that meet your strict criteria. 

 

#8 PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE

I only need to borrow the wise words of Bill Gates to explain this point, 

 

“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”

 

Along this journey we regularly have to temper big ambition with patience, and that’s OK. If being a property entrepreneur will be your life’s work, like we have chosen it to be, then those before us have shown that patience and perseverance pays off. 

 

#9 START CREATING YOUR SYSTEM NOW

Start recording what you are doing to get results in your property business now. Doing that will enable your growth, rather than trying to grow without having a system.  

 

#10 BE VERY CONSCIOUS ABOUT VALUING YOUR MOST PRECIOUS ASSET: TIME

In amongst all the hustle make sure there is time scheduled for the important things in your life like loved ones and health. From a commercial perspective, as you grow your knowledge, experience and value in the market place there will come a time where it is perfectly acceptable to charge for your time and contribution.

 

#11 GET COMFORTABLE BEING UNCOMFORTABLE

This can relate all sorts of scenarios as the circumstances that feel uncomfortable will vary from person to person. It might have to do with the phonecalls, or specific actions you need to do in order to progress your property business. For Chris and I this competition has meant that we’ve had to get more comfortable putting ourselves out on videos and on social media. As Dr John Demartini always says, “Growth occurs at the border of support and challenge” and that’s going to feel a little uncomfortable. 

 

I could go on but the post will turn into war and peace.  Thank you for all the votes so far and please be sure to vote this evening and tomorrow when the vote opens.

https://www.touchstoneeducation.co.uk/touchstone-millionaire-maker-vote-now

 

This week brings a close to the 3rd quarter of the year, and makes way for the final 90 day sprint. How are you tracking on the big goals you set at the beginning of this year?

 

Wherever you stand with your property goals, you can still win in Q4! 

 

All games in the sporting field and in business typically come down to the final push. That’s when the deadline of the final whistle causes most points to be scored, and it’s when the retail industry make the majority of annual salesThis is our last 90 day cycle of the year, so lets make it count. Inside each 90 day cycle we have multiple smaller cycles – monthly, weekly, daily and then hourly time block cycles. You get to decide what goes in them to access the highest leveraged version of you.

 

To help get you fired up for the last quarter, I’m borrowing a page out of this week’s ‘finish strong’ messages from Darren Hardy- here’s a quick summary of three Olympic finishes he referenced to inspire our final push for the year.

 

#1- The example of Billie Mills, who in the 1964 Olympic 10K race, emerged from behind the front 2 runners to win Gold in the final stretch. He had never run the 10K in under 29 minutes while the race leader held a world record of 28.15. His winning time of 28:24.4 was almost 50 seconds faster than he had run before and set a new Olympic record for the event. He was the first American to with the 10K and remains the only one still. 

 

[Message – even at the end of a tiring year long race, you can still draw the strength to finish strong with a sprint to the finish line.]

 

#2 There’s nobody better at finishing a race stronger or harder than Michael Phelps, winner of 23 Olympic Gold Medals. To reach his target of 8 Gold Medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics it was all down to his final race, the 100m Butterfly. In that race Phelps won by just ONE-HUNDREDTH of a second over Serbia’s Milorad Cavic.

 

Post race he admitted that his winning margin of one-hundredth of a second was almost impossible to see, but it was because of…ONE SMALL DIFFERENCE.

 

“On the final stroke Cavic lifted his head up just slightly which acted as a mini speed bump and I kept my head down streamlined.”

 

[Message – Small stuff matters a lot! Do all the little things right as all the slight edges add up. Keep your head down, stay focused and streamlined on your goal right to the finish line.]

 

#3 The example of GB Athlete Derek Redmond who, at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona,  tore his hamstring in the 400 metres semi-final. Having collapsed to the ground in agony, he courageously picked himself up to try limping to the finish. With assistance from his father, and against the wishes of Olympic officials, he managed to complete the full lap of the track as the crowd gave him a standing ovation.

 

[Message: Sometimes we need the strong shoulder of someone else to finish, don’t be afraid to ask for support or accept help. You may also need to wave off the naysayers who try to stop you doing it your way.]

 

These sporting examples that Darren had picked out served as the perfect analogy for different circumstances we might find ourselves in with our business goals in the final stretch. They certainly helped stoke the fires under my proverbial behind and I hope it does the same for you. 

 

To finish, here are some closing words borrowed from the man Darren, 

 

“How strong we finish 2019 will determine how fast we start 2020, and the momentum will carry us far ahead”.

 

Who’s committed to finishing the year strong?

How lucky were we to get the sun this week? To be sitting outside at 6pm in the sun, in Scotland, with a G&T on 21st September is remarkable (yes the pic attached is from drinks in our garden on Saturday).

 

The G&T was a reward after cutting the grass in the heat, however during the grass cutting I was absorbed in a podcast interview hosted by Joe Polish, founder of Genius Network (a mastermind group of top entrepreneurs and marketers). 

 

The interview was with Tony Robbins and Dean Graziosi and the subject matter was what it takes to launch, grow and scale a business in a sustainable way.  There were some key messages that stood out for me:

 

• Don’t fall in love with your product or service, fall in love with your customer
• Understanding the psychology necessary to wage the battle that is growing a business
• The two key ways to grow a business – Innovation and Marketing

 

Did you know that a staggering 96% of businesses will fail over a 10-year period of time? That was an alarming stat that Tony shared. 

 

Being a Serviced Accommodation business owner in our third year, we have already closed down the first iteration of our SA business (I shared those lessons in a previous post). The second iteration has been significantly more successful however it’s so important that we don’t let ourselves become complacent. We’ve slipped into that mode before and had to work hard to get momentum back. So, listening to this interview about growth and sustainability I was naturally running the ideas through the filter or our SA business, in so far as how could the principles apply to us. 

 

REFRAMING INNOVATION

From that list I shared above it was the reframe around innovation that really jumped out at me.

 

It is probably fair to say that when we think of innovation it conjures up images of introducing new technologies and things like that. But Tony and Dean were encouraging us to look at it from a different perspective, to think differently. And the key behind all of this is to get to know more about your customers than they potentially even know about themselves. It’s about figuring out how can you add more value in your market place than anyone else, and do this consistently over time. These things can’t be a one off or a quick fix.

 

I think in the SA space it can be easy to focus on our product ie a beautifully dressed property, or the fact it might be in a prime location. Those factors of course play a massive role in the success of an SA business, but its when the seasons change that we can get caught out. Anyone can make money in the summer months, when demand for accommodation is always high. But what happens when demand drops off along with the temperature? The differentiator is finding and understanding; who is ideal customer, what do they want most, what do they fear most, what annoys them most about XYZ product or service?

 

Then upon learning all this, what is your irresistible offer?

 

I’m focusing in on SA examples here but these principles of continuous innovation in order to deliver more value apply across all property businesses (and any business for that matter).

 

To get more answers we need to get new voices around us and ask more questions. In other words, speak to more customers and ask more questions – if we want better answers we have to ask better questions.  

 

Below are some simple examples of small innovations we’ve introduced in our SA business over the last couple of years. These are merely scratching the surface but they each contribute to the overall result of satisfied guests and repeat bookings. We ask, we observe, we listen and we respond, but there is always more we can do. We just need to be intentional about asking good questions, especially as winter is coming. 

 

Some simple examples of what we’ve introduced:

-providing oversized stock pots in each contractor property for the hearty soup/goulash dishes that we found they like to cook

-adjusting the timing of weekly cleans where needed to accommodate guys working night shifts

-changing our invoice periods to help help make client’s accounting life easier

-introducing an e-sign tool for clients to sign our booking agreements and terms of hire on the move, instead of having to print, sign and scan back

-within economic and logistic reason anything to make doing business with us as easy as possible

 

Whilst we can’t help but feel like it’s been summer this last week, the reality is that winter is coming, and in more than one sense of the word. Seasonally, the colder months and the reduced tourism travel will be upon us soon. Economically, there are four seasons too and many commentators would also say that a period of winter is coming, a major correction in financial and property markets. We don’t know exactly when, but when it does happen, here’s what Tony said, ‘businesses will freak out and cut back on marketing, they’ll cut back on added value to the market place, they’ll cut back on everything, and that will be your greatest opportunity if you are MADE FOR WINTER”. “61% of the fortune 1000 companies in the US were born in the ‘winter’, ie in a depression or a recession (eg Disney, Fedex, Pizza Hut). If we can do well in the tough times we will dominate when the economics change.”

 

Get good now and be ‘ready for winter’ is the big message. This is what really resonated and will be a philosophy we carry forwards in all of our businesses, especially our SA business- that we can be innovative and be winter ready. It all comes back to these points of understanding how to serve your ideal customer, adding more value into the market place than anyone else and committing to innovation. 

 

So, what can you do to be ‘winter ready’ in your property business?

This post is a one-two punch highlighting two critical factors for success (and enjoyment of the journey) that we were discussing in our recent mastermind sessions. Punch one is at the high level, to do with your big picture focus. Punch two is at the day to day level, to do with your habits. 

PUNCH #1: Gaining Clarity

What is your vision for what you want to be/do/have in 3-5 years? These will likely be the more tangible things that you can dream up in your mind and visualise ie the house, the family lifestyle, the business, the bank balance, the material things…The bit that requires some real brainwork however is to get clarity on WHY you are doing it. There is so much truth in the quote, “if your why is big enough you will figure out the how’. That quote has been attributed to many different people I don’t know who actually said it but regardless, please take it on board, because it’s true. 

 

Having clarity on what you want for your life will give you a filter through which to decide what you give your attention to. It will prevent overwhelm and distraction because here’s the thing that we all know but often forget – everything you say ‘YES’ to will force you to say ‘NO’ to something else. So if you say yes to a 9am informal meeting, you are saying no to your first head down focus session working on a priority project.

 

For me, a step change in my clarity came from reading the book ‘The Values Factor’ and spending a full weekend with the author Dr John Demartini. That experience several years ago helped me identify my highest values. The wonderful thing about understanding your highest values is that once you do, it enables you to tune into them and live in alignment with them. If that sounds a little abstract, don’t worry it’s actually quite a simple concept, I recommend you at least start with reading the book, audible is easier, and take it from there. In the meantime though, here’s something very straight forward you can get started with now if you are interested in gaining more clarity.

 

This is a simple little framework to help you think through and craft your vision and give you more clarity, it will essentially be your definition of success. 

 

*WHAT do you want to be doing?

*WITH WHO?

*HOW do you want to be doing it?

*FOR WHOM do you want to be doing it, ie serving who?

 

Being really clear on what we really want gives us the inner strength and confidence to protect that want.

PUNCH #2: Morning Routine

I’m guessing that most people have heard about or currently have a morning routine.

You may wonder, ‘Why have a morning routine?’ Again you need to start with some clarity..

Why start with why? Well, put simply, if you don’t know why something is important then it is unlikely you will be compelled to do the hard work necessary to change your behaviours. 

 

If you are in any doubt about why have a morning routine, here are 4 big reasons I borrowed from Darren Hardy:

 

#1 Having a predictable morning routine grounds and stabilises you

• You want to be operating from your best self, not your reactionary self and this routine quiets the mind from the fight, flight or freeze reactions that can come from yourself up to  phones alerts or email first thing.
• Give yourself the gift of at least the first hour of the day without the phone on.

 

#2 The morning is when your brain is scientifically proven to be at its best

• The circadian rhythm of cognitive strength and will power is at its best first thing in the morning, and most vulnerable at night.

 

#3 The way you start almost anything is the way you finish it 

• You want to train yourself to start the day strong and give yourself a competitive advantage to also finish the day strong, because you feel a sense of accomplishment rather than spending the day on back foot reactionary mode.

 

#4 Too much of society has become soft 

• We are losing our grit and discipline in favour of distraction, entertainment and escapism.

• It’s not easy to get up early and stick to a morning routine, but if we don’t put in the hard work we’ll continue to have a hard life.
• Sticking to a morning routine re-asserts your discipline, in fact it makes discipline easy by automating it into a habit. 

 

I’ll wrap this up with a wonderful quote from Darren about the morning routine, 

 

“It gives you a foundation to build your dream, and the stronger, wider and more solid that foundation, the higher and mightier your dreams can be.”

 

If you’re looking for guidance on how to structure your morning routine, the book of choice would be ‘The Miracle Morning’ by Hal Elrod. 

 

The great thing about a morning routine is that it really doesn’t matter what is in it, only that you have one. You don’t need to be prescriptive and try to fit into exactly what someone else does, don’t get hung up on what a superstar celebrity does. Instead, take inspiration from what you read and figure out what works for you. Most importantly keep it simple so that it’s something you will do every day without fail. 

 

Who’s committed to gaining clarity and implementing a morning routine?

So often we hear that ‘your network is your net worth’, and time after time this is proven to be the case. Jim Rohn famously said that ‘we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with’. So how much time are you willing to invest in your network? A few hours a month? A day here and there? With that kind of contact, what kind of rapport and relationships are you able to create with people. The answer will likely be that you can create a base level of rapport, find some shared interests, exchange some useful information, maybe a little more. You will certainly be adding people to your network but will they make it to your inner circle. Will those environments and encounters create the kind of conditions where those deeper connections can be made?

 

Now, what happens when you take a group of ambitious and dedicated people to a beautiful location for a week (ie the Italian Lakes) with a specific purpose? Seven days in an inspiring location with dedicated and supportive people. That’s when amazing things can happen. That’s when you have people moving towards the next best version of themselves and accessing new levels. We’re talking another level of:

*thinking and ideas

*belief (in yourself and in what is possible)

*friendship (the inner circle kind)

*support (the kind to see you through any situation)

 

And putting these elements together – physically, mentally and emotionally, these are the kind of experiences that lead to:

*levelling up (and raising your bar of ‘normal’)

*massive action

*new found momentum

*new joint ventures

*lifelong friendships

*trajectory changing for the better

 

This week we have collectively immersed ourselves in learning, action taking, comfort zone stretching, and a healthy dose of fun [meals, drinks, F1 Grand Prix].  There have been transformations in each and everyone present as we transition from consuming mode to creating mode. So much has been created this week, that will be of massive value to others, because we ignited the four key ingredients of productivity –

#1 SETTING SPECIFIC GOALS 

#2 MEASUREMENT OF PROGRESS

#3 THE POWER OF DEADLINES

#4 MASSIVE ACCOUNTABILITY

Since we become like the people that we (choose to) expose ourselves to, it makes sense that we can accelerate our personal growth in whatever direction we desire by spending time with people who already are living out parts of who you want to become.

 

In what part of your life do you want to ‘level up’ and how are you investing in your network to do that?

Strange headline for a blog post you may think, but it is a genuine question. A book idea that I believe would carry a lot of value to others, is about the concept of more predictable property investing. In other words, how can an investor remove as much guesswork as possible from a property deal, and replace that with more predictability of a positive outcome. What would that mean for your investment decisions, your deal selection, your profits, your sanity, your ability to secure JV partners?

 

Here’s a small snippet of how this approach applies to a real property scenario for us. Last year I shared a blog post called ‘START-UP LESSONS FROM A CITY CENTRE RENT-TO-RENT SA BUSINESS’, which highlighted key learns from our first foray into serviced accommodation. Chris and I have had 2 iterations in our SA business. The first took the naive approach of ‘build it and they will come’ (have you seen Field of Dreams?). 

 

We set up an expensive R2R SA business in Edinburgh city centre thinking ‘we can’t go wrong because its our capital city, it’s the UK’s second largest Financial Services centre in the UK, we have year long toursim, blah blah blah’. We essentially set up 4 units in quick succession, threw up listings on the online travel agent sites (OTA’s) and hoped for the best. 

 

Was that clever?

 

We quickly realised it wasn’t as easy as that. Whilst any newbie can make money in the summer, those properties limped along for 2 yrs and we closed them down in Q3 of 2018. 

 

Iteration 2 was a completely different story, like night and day. This time we applied an approach I learned from software entrepreneurs – to first go out and find the pain point in the market to solve- in other words find the specific audience demand to serve. I made it my mission to find a problem that we could help solve with accommodation and get as close to pre-selling the solution as possible ie taking an advance order. If I write the book I can go into the specific detail detail but for the purposes of keeping this post short, I secured a demand in advance of having the property. In other words a contracting company that needed accommodation for about 5 months for 6 guys, plus the promise of more to come if I could deliver. 

So here I was with a pre-order for a serviced accommodation property, if I could come up with the goods in a set time frame, then we would have the business. 

 

See the difference in the business model? Version 1- throw a property up and hope for the best vs Version 2- A corporate client ready to pay us for a 5 month booking, all we have to do is deliver the property. Do you think we bent over backwards to deliver on that? You bet we did. 

 

Delivering on this new type of business model, and further validating the demand, led to us expanding with confidence that year as we rolled out a further 9 more properties serving the same audience. 

 

Looking back and connecting the dots I can see where this approach has served been and at play and where it hasn’t, and the outcomes are vastly different. For example, the first investment property I bought in 2007 because it LOOKED CHEAP. The poorest performer in my portfolio by far, and it’s because I wasn’t applying the investing approach then that we have developed over the years.

 

Now moving forwards, all of the deals Chris and I seek out, look at, and analyse are derived from this approach and have to satisfy enough of the predictable criteria for us to commit. And we’re not just talking serviced accommodation, we apply this investment approach to all nature of deals, especially where a large chunk of our time is spent now – diversifying into development and commercial deals. In fact, this approach is even more important when moving into a newer strategy where your experience hasn’t yet revealed the major patterns and learns.

 

So that’s the concept I learned from mentors in starting a software business back in 2014 and eventually started to weave into our approach to property investing from the end of 2016. Start with the end user need/problem to solve, validate the solution by getting commitment from the end user, then go ahead and deliver it.

 

Having invested with and without this formula, we feel it’s such a powerful approach that there’s huge merit in sharing it. To help others de-risk property deals and invest with confidence. That’s the conversation going on in my own head at least, hence the reason for asking you wonderful people – would you buy a book about this?

 

I’d be excited to write about not just our experiences but also want to report on other examples where savvy investors have taken a similar approach to their property investing. My thinking is that drawing out these lessons and articulating them into steps that others can implement could have a massively positive impact on others by accelerating their learning curve. 

So in closing, would you buy a book creating more predictable property deals?

And if so, what would you want to get from reading it?

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read and reply

This week I was logged into my personal HMRC account so I could download previous year’s SA302’s for an HMO refinance. The portal had changed since I was last logged in and I was presented with a new dashboard showing options to look at ‘Income’, ‘Benefits’ and ‘Pensions’. I spotted a link to a ‘View your state pension forecast” so I clicked in for a bit of fun. …..the reality is far from fun however.

This screenshot attached shows exactly what I, and many others, would have to look forward to at the state pension age of 68 (which is what it will rise to for the late 70’s/early 80’s babies, and who knows how much it will increase for younger generations.)

What this forecast is telling me is this – for a man born on or after 6 April 1951 and
a woman born on or after 6 April 1953, if you’ve had at least 10 years working where you paid National Insurance contributions, you’ll be eligible for a state pension of £8,797.31 per year.

So, if I had spent everything I earned by age 68 and not invested in property or private pension, my income would be £168.60 per week, which is £733.11 per month. We all know you can’t do much with that, it doesn’t even rent you a 2 bedroom property in the East of Scotland. Thankfully that will not be my reality, nor will it be for anyone else who has figured out a way to significantly change their future for the better. For me the solution came from self education, specifically in the area of property investing, more on that in a moment.

In the same week I heard a talk from Tony Robbins and Dean Gaziosi on how there is a massive problem to be solved in the world- the problem being that the ‘traditional education’ system is broken. Whilst definitely not a catch all statement, in broad terms, the real world of commerce and industry has advanced beyond the ideals of traditional education. In other words, the plan of yesteryear to study hard at school, progress through higher education, get a good job and retire with a pension is outdated.

The talk I was listening to cited a statistic that only 27% of graduates get a job related to their degree and of those people 52% hate their job. While these are US figures I would imagine that would likely reflect a similar picture in the UK.

[Just to be clear, I’m not saying that university is bad choice, I loved the experience and I hope my kids will too, what’s changed however is that traditional education can no longer be the ONLY option as it’s no longer delivering, and many authors, speakers and mentors are saying the same thing. In fact, Robert Kiyosaki has been telling us that message ever since he published Rich Dad Poor Dad back in 1997 (ironically around the time I was about to go to university).]

Tony and Dean went on to share that the ‘problem is solved through self education’. And I really do agree, as do many others. Jim Rohn is famed for saying,

“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”

The knowledge industry is currently estimated to be worth about $355m/day and Forbes Magazine predicts that in 15 years it will be worth $1billion per day. These figures in themselves validate the point that the smart people in today’s economy would rather pay for specialist knowledge (delivered by someone doing the thing) where they can action it immediately to get a return vs learning from professional teachers teaching things that are out of date. The smart people are choosing to cut their learning curve in half and accelerate their results by investing in specialist knowledge shared by people who have the results they want.

CIRCLING BACK TO THE PENSION CHAT
According to research by insurer Royal London in May 2018 called ‘Will we ever summit the Pension Mountain?’, you’d need a pension pot of £260,000 if you want to avoid an uncomfortable retirement. This sum would provide a pension income of just over £9,000 a year in addition to the new state pension of £8,797 a year.

Would £18K income a year support the kind of lifestyle you want to lead in retirement? I’m guessing you’re all thinking a resounding ‘definitely not!’. Research shows that amount would only really cover basic living costs, no nice holidays, no extra needs covered. So what about provisions for elderly care, where would that come from?

It’s alarming to read that the average pension pot of UK workers is around £35,000! Clearly there is a massive shortfall for the average worker in hitting that threshold to avoid ‘uncomfortable retirement’. Hopefully not the case for you smart cookies in these property communities though, many of you have and are investing in self education.

My journey with self education started around 2004 with a book, followed by courses, followed by mentorships and masterminds, and the investment in all of these continues. I’ll be eternally grateful for all of the books, courses and mentorship that have contributed to the different stages of my property businesses, past, present and future. And whilst I have no intention of ever ‘retiring’ in the traditional sense of the word, I have peace of mind in knowing the actions I’ve taken to date, and will continue to take, mean that that come state pension age life will be more than comfortable.

What self education will help you create the life you want to live now, and in retirement?

Several weeks ago I wrote about the importance of deal flow for property investors, which proved to be a popular post. It feels right to revisit the message of that post because this week played out a hand that saw us experiencing some of the typical highs and lows of property investing. But you know what, it’s all manageable, in most part thanks to the mindset we have taken the time to work on and develop over the years. So much of this property game is mindset, and that can often be forgotten. 

 

I’m going to touch on three of our deals below that have been part of our recent Millionaire Maker journey, to draw out a few of the emotional/mindset aspects they might benefit others working on their own property deals. 

 

DEAL #1- A LONG AWAITED PURCHASE COMPLETION

On Tuesday we experienced the feeling of joy and success with the completion of a purchase for a simple little 2 bedroom BTL. The property is simple, but the purchase process was anything but. We had an offer accepted back in early May and here we are completing almost 3 and a half months later. You’re no doubt wondering why did such a simple deal take so long to go through the conveyancing? Well it came to light during the legal searches that there was a restriction on the title – in other words an RX1- meaning that the property couldn’t be sold without the consent from a particular party. 

 

What is required legally is a signed RX4 form that withdraws the restriction, and this is what took so long. After 3 and a half months we finally own the property and can progress our plans to refurbish, refinance and let. 

 

DEAL #2- PLANNING A REFURB OF AN HMO FOR USE AS SERVICED ACCOMMODATION

On Wednesday, Chris and I walked round an HMO I’ve owned with a JV partner for many years to finalise a top to bottom refurb so we can drop it into our SA management business. Although we successfully got an HMO license on the property a few years ago (we got that to widen our tenant pool and cash potential) we have never actually had to formally use it since the property has been long term tenanted by a family through the Local Council. When I say a family, I mean 3 generations and maybe 8-10 people at any one time living in a 4 bedroom semi. 

 

We have been trying to regain possession for almost a year but had had to be patient with the council and the tenants to let them go through the process of finding an alternative house. Needless to say, years of heavy wear and tear, smoking, multiple kids, virtually no garden maintenance has left the place looking extremely tired. I’ve attached a walk round video explaining what we are doing to the place over the coming weeks.

 

So with the feeling of relief, the excitement of a fresh start and a new SA property, comes the sinking reality of a refurb budget much higher than you would like. 

DEAL #3- OFFER REJECTED ON A COMMERCIAL BUILDING WE REALLY WANTED

Chris and I viewed a building at the end of June that showed real promise, if purchased at the right price of course. To arrive at what that right price would be took many conversations and hours of analysis because we were looking at optimising 2 commercial units and anywhere from 4-6 flats above for either SA or single lets. We even got things to a point where we had meaningful conversations live with a prospective commercial tenant. 

 

Back from a holiday this week I picked up with the agent to learn there had been a flurry of interest in the last week and that we’d need to submit our best offer asap if we want to be considered. Within 24 hours, Chris and I, along with our JV partner, formulated what we felt was a fair offer. When you submit an offer like that for a pretty big building, even if you are competing against other investors, you can’t help but harbour a quiet excitement in the back of your mind all day long…thinking ‘what would it be like if we do secure this, how cool would that be?’

 

I got the call at 4.30pm on Friday with the news that our offer was rejected. I let myself feel properly p@ssed off and disappointed for a few minutes before reminding myself that we have some other strong potential deals in the pipeline. This one that we wanted and offered on may come back to us, but for now we need to turn our focus next week to progressing our analysis and thinking on two other great mixed use deals, one of which even has the potential to bring in a pizza chain. 

 

Without the knowledge of more shortlisted potential deals moving into our front line focus (ie our deal flow) we would be dwelling on our rejected offer for way longer. Experiences like this really emphasise the importance of deal flow. We know that being in a mental state dwelling on rejection, frustration and disappointment, we are not at our best and most resourceful to help move our business forward. 

CONCLUSION

If anyone reading this has heard me speak you may well have heard me reference the Kelley & Connor emotional cycle of change model (see the diagram attached). Knowing the reality of this emotional rollercoaster that property entrepreneurs have to cycle through weekly, monthly, yearly – this is why mindset is such a big part of the property game. You can’t one up the universe and avoid these highs and lows, but you can develop a mindset to work through the dips as quickly as possible.  

I encourage you to keep watching the progress of the remaining Millionaire Makers on the Touchstone Education Youtube Channel (new episodes are broadcast every Sunday). A massive thank you to anyone who has voted to keep Chris and I in the competition, we hope to be in it for as long as possible so we can continue to share our learnings.