It was four years ago this February that things turned around dramatically for our serviced accommodation business (‘our’ referring to Chris and I). Leading up to that point the business we’d started the summer before was in bad shape and actually burning cash rather than making profit.
Why was that? – you might ask.
Well, I have no shame in admitting that it was a business built on guesswork, hope and the sheer volume of summer tourist demand. Come the winter however, we were subsidising the business. Something had to change, and fast…..
Bill Gates said that, “Early success is a lousy teacher”. Well I can attest to that. In the first version of our SA business we certainly weren’t experiencing early success. We were instead experiencing something that many might, who embark on a new property endeavour with a cavalier attitude of hope and guesswork, and that something was a load of painful lessons.
However, that painful experience and associated lessons in the winter of 2016 brought out an incredible resourcefulness in me. It forced me to search hard and dig for solutions. Those solutions came in the form of a simple yet powerful approach to business I had learned a few years prior.
It was applying that approach that led me to starting again, from scratch, and create an SA business in a new location within 45 days, that was profitable from the beginning.
So in a short space of time, it really was a tale of two businesses – one based on guesswork, the other based on predictability and certainty, and I knew which I’d rather have more of.
That ‘pivot’ I referred to all started on 2nd January 2017 with one simple little email to find the demand first- that email I sent started an incredible chain reaction that transformed our property business. It led to several simple yet powerful conversations that saw me securing a 5 month booking before I even had a property to accommodate them. And within 45 days of sending that first email we welcomed a team of contractors to the property in the photograph attached. The rest, as they say, is history. We went on to grow a nice little business that has consistently served both our guests, and us, extremely well since.
If this true story strikes a chord of curiosity and interest, then I invite you to read about it in much more detail in my book Predictable Property Profits (you’ll find it on amazon).
Serviced accommodation is a phenomenal property business to be in whether as your primary focus or as part of your wider property interests. We made more pivots in our business during the early part of the lockdown that has enabled us to operate at phenomenal occupancy over this challenging period. And now all the signs are there for it to be a much more lucrative second half to the year for SA Operators.
So, which property investment strategy would you love to have working for you?
Single lets, HMO’s, serviced accommodation, commercial property, development …. the principles in my book ‘Predictable Property Profits’ apply to them all. You can read in detail about how we and other successful property entrepreneurs have applied these principles across multiple different property strategies.
Whatever stage your investment journey is at, this book can serve you because it’s all about better serving your own end users – your tenants/buyers/guests…whoever your end user may be.
For property entrepreneurs, it can feel like our work is never done. If you have even a slight inkling of perfectionism in you then you will likely be able to relate to this post (I confess I’m a recovering perfectionist myself). The thing about perfectionism is it can be your best ally at times, but also your worst enemy.
Here’s a handy definition from wikipedia for context:
‘Perfectionism, in psychology, is a personality trait characterized by a person’s striving for flawlessness and setting high performance standards, accompanied by critical self-evaluations and concerns regarding others’ evaluations.’
If you can relate to the above in any way then you’ll know that when it comes to goal achievement and productivity in your property business, and probably in most areas of life for that matter, having this trait means you can be extremely hard on yourself when it comes to what you did and didn’t get done.
That’s why it’s so important to have a healthy philosophy on productivity. You might be thinking, what on earth is he talking about…philosophy on productivity? Bear with me on this as for those that do, I’m confident it will serve you. This stuff is crucial to sustain momentum on your journey to success.
Your personal philosophy on productivity matters way more than you think. And here’s why – there are so many people doing amazing things yet being too hard on themselves because they are measuring the wrong things and philosophically just looking in the wrong place for what they think they should be measuring.
What we’re talking about here is the whole ethos for how you feel at the end of a work session, at the end of a busy day, and how you feel about yourself as you head into the weekend or time off. In other words, whether you feel as though you’ve done enough.
The sad truth about entrepreneurship is that you have a never ending list of to dos and regularly feel like “I’ll never be done”. If you’ve ever felt this then that is what getting a healthy philosophy on productivity is going to help with.
This is something I’ve personally wrestled with for as long as I can remember and I’ve actively sought to understand and reframe it. Having finally discovered a new paradigm for thinking about personal productivity, I’m excited to share it.
To explain, I need to quickly refer to the Zen Buddhism practice of enso circle drawing – the ritual of attempting to draw the perfect circle. Here’s the thing, when you sit down to draw one you are fundamentally attempting the impossible, for something to be a true circle it has to be perfect and no human being can draw a perfect circle.
The Zen Buddhists decided to make this a daily practice ie the decision to attempt something that strives for perfection yet cannot ever succeed at being perfect.
As they realised that perfection was out of sight, they dropped the game of trying to be perfect and started embracing imperfections.
This is a powerful metaphor for thinking about productivity, more than that, its the most powerful principle for thinking about my productivity day to day and week to week that I’ve ever come across.
The enso circle is a metaphor for what we do when we sit down to be productive as human beings. We seek to do something as entrepreneurs that is perfect ie we want to win, hit big goals, do 100% of what we are capable of but we need to commit to creative and courageous work that isn’t actually ever done ie we need to draw the perfect circle.
Borrowing the enso principle, we get to liberate ourselves from the belief that we have for everything we are working on to be perfect, by embracing imperfection. As I’m sure many will agree, embracing imperfection is essential to move people and process along in property.
Here’s the key – the magic of the Zen monks drawing these circles is not that they draw them one time, or that it looks a lot or a little like a circle. The magic is that they show up and do it every single day. It’s a ritual that generates incremental progress over time by showing up and striving towards perfection, imperfectly. Perfection is the goal but with the knowledge that they’ll never quite get there, however by consistently practising they actually create something of incredible beauty.
THE MOST IMPORTANT PHILOSOPHY WE CAN EMBRACE FOR OUR PRODUCTIVITY IS STRIVING IMPERFECTLY, EVERY SINGLE DAY.
We can approach our property goals and to do’s in the same way as an enso circle practice. When we plan out our week ahead, we’re creating a vision and a definition of perfection as it relates to what we aspire to get done. All we have to do is show up each day and strive imperfectly in that direction. And when you do or don’t arrive at that perfect place (ie when you’re reviewing on a Sunday night), no matter what happens you’ll have created something incredible (ie incremental progress in your property business) and you’ll have learned more about what it takes to get closer to that idea of a perfect week.
This week I had the pleasure and the honour of leading four property mastermind days. Four packed days, different people each day, different business plans, different geographic locations, different respective goals and challenges, yet one overarching and clearly shared theme – to create more of the life they want through the vehicle of property.
In his book Think And Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill explained the Mastermind principle as, “The coordination of knowledge and effort between two or more people who work towards a definite purpose in a spirit of harmony…no two minds ever come together without thereby creating a third, invisible intangible force, which may be likened to a third mind”, also known as, the Mastermind.
It is this collective intelligence we were tapping into across these four days. By way of a little glimpse behind the scenes, here’s just an overview of what our groups were sharing each day:
-ideas to overcome obstacles or capitalise on opportunities
-inspiration and belief
-support and challenge
-power team contacts
-strategies and tactics to level up
-mindset development
-resources and tools
-potential JV opportunities
-laughter and friendship
This is what makes these days so powerful and why I love them so much. And when we underpin it all with the key pillars of productivity, like specific process based goals stacked with accountability – this is how phenomenal progress and results happen.
Property entrepreneurship can often feel like a lonely and isolated journey. For the first 8 years of my own property journey I had no property friends, community and certainly no mastermind. And boy did it feel lonely at times. No one to ask questions to when I was second guessing myself, no one to discuss property ideas with or celebrate little wins with. The whole property and personal development thing was my ‘dirty little secret’ for years whilst living the corporate life. If only I’d been part of a property mastermind group back then, progress would have been so much faster and the journey more enjoyable.
I’ve been involved with various mastermind groups since 2013 and the growth and friendships that have come as a result has been remarkable. I really do love masterminds, and they will feature as a significant part of my life and business for decades to come. I can absolutely see myself masterminding with my peers in my eighties and beyond!
Chris and I have visions of designing and building amazing venues in spectacular locations for our Mastermind Retreats. Picture the beautiful wood and glass chalet in the snow capped Alps, or the cantilevered mediterranean villa overlooking the sea. These properties would serve the needs of Mastermind Retreats that we and others like us bring to the venue several times a year. The rest of the year these will operate as high end holiday homes with several weeks dedicated to causes close to our hearts. The big non commercial drive for us with properties like this is to give us the opportunity to help create rich and memorable experiences for others – in particular our aim is to donate holiday stays to families dealing with cancer and families whose children have experienced hardships in their young lives.
When people have asked me, ‘how do you get good at this property thing?’ my answer is always the same – you practice, consistently. And if you wanted to know how you get even better – the answer is you get around others who are practising. And if you want to become unstoppable?…..It’s community! But not just any community. I’m referring to the kind of community or tribe you find inside a mastermind group. A group of people learning, taking action, sharing, celebrating and growing together.
Jim Rohn once said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with”.
Who you spend your time with influences the person that you will eventually become.
Ask yourself – are the people that you are spending the most time with helping you grow and take your property business and your life to the next level?
This week I thought it would be helpful to bring you some more tactical tips on optimising your listings with booking dot com, ready for the staycation surge. (Sorry this post will bore the non SA peeps but letting you know now so you switch to another post 🙂
You may or may not remember I wrote a post on this back in December following a catch up with our account manager and I summarised key takeaways in a post (link at the bottom). This week we had another helpful zoom call so I thought it would be helpful to share with other SA operators.
While 80%+ of our bookings are direct, we still absolutely like to optimise the gaps with b.com so these calls are great for keeping sharp and understanding the wider short stay demand.
A BRIEF SNAPSHOT OF WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW
(these are some stats from our region of Scotland but likely pretty representative of the UK right now due to lockdown)
As you’ll know operators can only accept bookings from essential workers right now so naturally bookings are fairly low.
98% of bookings are from domestic guests (again as you would expect)
Searches on b.com have started to increase as families are ruling out foreign holidays and starting to book in UK holidays
There has been a noticeable spike in family bookings and the stay duration has increased for the average stay on last year with more stays stretching to a full week vs 3 nts.
Domestic bookings are increasingly being made on mobile.
COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITIES TO OPTIMISE B.COM
GENIUS vs NON GENIUS
*If you’re not already, consider joining properties onto the Genius program, as 57% of bookings made for our area are for Genius properties and this goes up to 75% of bookings in other parts of the UK. [Per property you will see this in the property extranet Opportunities > Genius Partner Program, alternatively you can opt in in bulk through the Group Extranet under Bulk Editing > Genius]
*The Genius booker sees all the genius properties first in their listing options and they can even filter to see only genius meaning the non genius property either doesn’t get seen or is seen last.
*B.Com stats show that the Genius booker spends 11% more on average than non Genius bookers
*Genius bookers give you a greater sense of certainty as they are more committed guests as have proven to show up as planned and not be fraudulent. They also tend to book longer in advance. (Contractors are often Genius bookers).
MOBILE RATES
*With 73% of searches being made on a mobile device, the Mobile Rates could be used to convert those guests and compete for business. [You can add per property extranet under Rates & Availability > Mobile Rate. Or you can do this in bulk across the properties in your group extranet in Bulk Editing > Mobile Rates]
*With increased numbers of millennials travelling, they will typically book via mobile and are more likely to leave reviews. So, if you’re actively looking to increase the number of reviews you could use mobile rates for a while. (these can be turned on and off easily)
PREFERRED PROGRAM
*39% of bookings come through the preferred program (where you pay an additional 3% for boosted visibility) and increases your ranking/visibility for all types of bookers ie genius or not. However do note that the added 3% commission stacks on top of the 10% genius so in total you are giving away 10%+15%+3% of your booking (you need to do the maths for your nightly pricing so it doesn’t become unviable).
OTHER OPPORTUNITIES
*If you already use Occupancy Based Pricing, Child Rates can be an easy setup and a great way to attract the growing demand from families. [You can set this in the property extranet under Property > Policies > Child Policies. Oor you can do this in bulk across the properties in your group extranet in Bulk Editing > Child Rates]
*The B.com analysis showed that France, Germany, the Netherlands and USA are starting to look and book for UK locations – whilst we don’t do this, you can attract them with a Europe or USA Country Rate. [You can build Country Rates in the property extranet under Rates & Availability > Country Rates. Or you can do this in bulk in the group extranet in Bulk Editing > Country Rates]
*The book window is fairly wide at the moment, so best to ensure you have availability loaded into your calendar right through this year.
*There has been a rise in the amount of 3-7 night bookings. To compete for this business, consider using a weekly rate to attract longer stays. [You can set this in the property extranet under Rates & Availability > Rate Plans > Add a new rate plan > Weekly Rate. Or you can do this in bulk across the properties in your group extranet in Bulk Editing > Weekly Rates]
Hope that’s been useful. Any other booking optimisation tips you can share with your fellow SA Operators?
So here we are 4 weeks into 2021 already! By now everyone has likely set their annual property goals, are working on their weekly implementation plans and have possibly introduced some new habits too.
All too often, human behaviour around this time of year follows a typical pattern -the intended good practices with exercise and business goals can slip away by February. As property entrepreneurs working towards lofty goals this year, we definitely don’t want to succumb to that. So, if you’re interested in making sure your good intentions for your property business don’t dissipate, here are 12 questions to check in on yourself. I learned these from Darren Hardy a couple of years ago and after having noted them in my journal I check in on them periodically. I hope you can benefit from asking these of yourself also.
HERE ARE THE 12 QUESTIONS TO CHECK IF YOU ARE DOING WHAT YOU KNOW YOU SHOULD TO GROW YOUR PROPERTY BUSINESS
[the short sentences in the parentheses highlight the harsh truths that may be going on inside your head, hopefully not however ]
#1: Do I have a weekly calendar with slots booked for my most valuable property business priorities, before each new day starts? [so I can create rather than react]
#2: Do I allow too many interruptions during the day from friends, family, customers, prospects, team members to interrupt my flow and deep concentration work? [because it’s a welcome relief from the hard work of creating and finishing something]
#3: Do I talk a lot, extending conversations into longer chit chats when unnecessary? [because it’s seemingly justifiable to delay the hard work of creating]
#4: Do I multi-task? [even though I know it reduces my intellectual ability and causes me stress and anxiety]
#5: Do I love the adrenalin buzz of being overly busy? [in order to feel a sense of importance and self esteem even though it’s at the demise of my actual productivity]
#6: Is living in chaos and constant motion more comfortable to me than stilling my mind and single tasking? [because I might fear to be alone with my own thoughts]
#7: Do I find it really difficult to say no? [because I am too needy for approval and lack the self confidence to stick to my own priorities]
#8: Do I often find myself in a crunch to finish projects because I’m in over my head? [because I allow myself to be everyone else’s whipping boy/girl and don’t protect my own priorities]
#9: Do I spend hours needlessly on social media? [to escape and distract me from what’s most important]
#10: Do I waste time doing repetitious, non-vital and inessential tasks? [because I haven’t put systems in place to automate or eliminate]
#11: Do I maintain control of nearly everything because I believe no one else can do it as well? [which makes me an egotistical and delusional narcissist]
#12: Do I believe I can’t afford to hire someone to help me? [because I don’t actually value my time, my family and my health appropriately]
You might be thinking woah- those questions can be quite harsh and cutting (that’s what I thought the first time I saw them). They are, but answering them for ourselves will only serve to help by shining a light on what we need to keep us progressing in an optimal way. For me personally, I’ve noted some refinement actions needed under questions under 10 and 11 (this time last year I worked on and improved areas 4, 7 and 10).
Which question(s) have prompted some proactive refining work on your part?
The topic of decision making is a crucial one, and a process none of us can avoid. Whether it be deciding what to cook or what property strategy to commit to, it’s something we all face, everyday. And in many cases, arriving at a decision can be a painful process.
Winston Churchill referred to decision making as ‘the long road of agony’- that agony being the period before deciding should I or shouldn’t I, this path or that path.
This post is completely inspired by a recent Darren Daily message, and it really resonated this week as I was deciding on and mapping my quarterly project plans. It made me think about the many property entrepreneurs out there making decisions about their year ahead, which is why I thought sharing this message would be a helpful guide. I do hope it proves to be.
I’m a firm believer in investing significant time over December and January (or whenever you choose to punctuate a year end) to do the heavy mental work of decision making about what you want for your year ahead, and to create the implementation plan behind it. Doing this in advance prevents you from beginning a week mid quarter wondering what to focus on.
Darren Hardy said ‘more failure has been caused by indecision than by poor decision’, and his mentor before him, Jim Rohn, is quoted as referring to indecision as ‘the great thief of opportunity’.
So, whether it be nailing down your annual planning or addressing more in the moment questions, here are FOUR powerful filters to help you make great decisions quickly and easily (I’m going to paraphrase my notes I took from Darren’s video, so all credit to him for this).
FILTER #1: MINOR OR MAJOR
We need to quickly discern whether a decision is a minor one or major one because way too much time is taken up with minor decisions. For example, what food to eat or what family movie to watch from the thousands on Netflix (or is that just with my kids in our house?). So to cut through the minor stuff quickly, ask yourself this:
-5 years from now, will this decision have significantly altered my life?
If it’s a no then its a minor, so decide and move quickly on as wasting any more time deliberating WILL alter your life 🙂
FILTER #2: COST OR WORTH
I love this one, and it’s particularly relevant for what might be investments in yourself. Darren reminds us that we need to be asking ourselves – ‘How much does this decision cost, not in money today, but in subtraction from your overall wealth?’ To put that into context he gives the example using compound interest that £1 today will be roughly worth £5 to me 20 years from now. If an item costs me £50 it really costs me £250 in future wealth. So that’s the actual cost side.
But we also need to evaluate what something is WORTH ie not what does this book cost, but what could it be worth to me through applying it? Not, what does this course cost, but what could it be worth to my future, my wealth, my health, my ability to positively impact and be of value to others? Getting clear on that completely changes the equation.
So to help with your cost v worth purchase decisions:
-first recalculate the maths of the cost by increasing it by 5 times, then recalibrate the worth because sometimes the worth skyrockets beyond the cost and sometimes not. That’s what you’ll need to figure out.
So for example the cost of renewing an older but functional consumer item is something where the cost will likely outweigh the worth. However with something like a specific course or mentorship, where the cost today feels high, with commitment to implementing said course/mentorship actions, the worth will far exceed the cost. I’ve actively invested in personal development, courses and mentorship for years and the real terms worth (ie equity, income streams, value I can add to others) from having implemented what I’ve learned far far surpasses the cost.
FILTER #3: WISH OR GLAD
I learned this one a few years ago and it’s been incredibly powerful in helping our family make decisions. Ask yourself,
“Years from now, am I more likely to say, I wish I hadn’t or I’m glad I did?”
The answer will hit you clearly and quickly. Jeff Bezos referred to this as regret minimisation- during an interview with Business Insider he said,
“When you think about the things that you will regret when you’re 80, they’re almost always the things that you did not do. They’re acts of omission. Very rarely are you going to regret something that you did that failed and didn’t work or whatever,”
So ask yourself, when I’m 80 years old will I regret not trying to start or scale a property investing business?
This question takes your mind away from the bits of short term daily confusion and turns a seemingly difficult question into a very easy one, because your 80 year self clearly tells you what you wouldn’t want to have regrets about having tried.
FILTER #4: GOOD WOLF OR BAD WOLF
This final filter relates to the Cherokee folklore tale that Darren has shared many times before- we each have 2 wolves living inside of us; one is the best of who we are ie our core values, our best selves when it comes to character, love, kindness etc; the other is the worst of who we are ie our fears, doubts and needy ego desperate for acceptance.
So the question to ask ourselves is this:
-”What choice would my good wolf make?”
Essentially that’s evaluating the decision through the filter of your best self, both now and in terms of who you want to become.
CONCLUSION
Either one of those filters on their own, or maybe even a combination of them will help you make decisions quickly, easily and without guilt or anxiety.
Circling back to that opening quote from Winston Churchill about agony, he concluded by saying,
“Once the decision is made all the agony goes away”.
It’s the indecision that causes the agony, not the decision itself.
So, which of those filters can help you with a decision you’re facing?
I want to share something that will be instrumental in how much progress toward your ambitious property goals you make this year. And to do it, I thought why not mix things up a little for this week’s blog post. I often challenge myself to share a message in under 500 words but typically end up well over 1000 each week.
I’ve been reading The Compound Effect, one of my favourite books, together with my 12 year old son to create that special memory and share with him these powerful lessons early on. The other night I was reading a passage that is so powerful yet so simple that I felt compelled to share it….and right now is the perfect time of year to share it since everyone is consciously thinking about their 2021 goals. Activating what I’m about to share could literally mean the difference between finishing the year with pride and accomplishment instead of frustration.
Since Darren Hardy’s words are more eloquent than mine I’ll borrow his, but rather than copy and paste the passage from the book, I thought I’d read it out to you in a short video. Listen to the words carefully so that either you learn something new, or you are reminded of something so important that you’ll want it front of mind as you kick off your year. [And have a giggle at the camera falling not once, but twice, sorry about that :)]
What will be YOUR ‘Why Power”that will be your fuel this year and beyond?
And we’re off…1 week into the new year already. Whilst I know there have been many jokes sent around about feeling like we’re in a continuation of 2020, the fact is we are where we are, and we need to take 100% responsibility for things we can control. Meaning, the things we choose to do, choose to not do and how we choose to respond to things.
So with that that said, where do you stand with your goal planning for 2021?
If you’re looking for a framework to help with the process then over the last two weeks I’ve shared posts on the annual process that Chris and I do each year to reflect on the past 12 months, and then plan out the 12 months ahead. This isn’t a quick process, but rather it’s an investment in time that pays us back with clarity, focus and saving time further down the line, because we know what we’re working towards and have outline implementation plans to get there. [If you missed those posts I’ll add links at the bottom of this].
So what about setting your own annual goals? I’ll take a safe bet that most people in the property community will punctuate this time of year with making resolutions and/or setting goals. Often, these will be ambitious financial based targets which may include numbers of properties, monthly cash flow increase from their BTL’s/SA’s/HMO’s, number of new developments/conversions and so on. In themselves, nothing wrong with goals like those, so long as planned out in the right context and with the appropriate alignment at a deeper level. However, without the right psychological alignment, goals like these can fall flat and fail to get off the ground year after year. Therein lies the problem that can catch many out in the goal setting process.
Below I am sharing one of the biggest insights I’ve ever learned on goal setting, here it is –
Don’t chase after goals that your subconscious mind doesn’t really want.
Now, you may be thinking, What on earth are you on about? But if you’re interested to understand this concept and transform your goal setting and achievement, bear with me and read on as it’s a pretty deep concept. If not, totally fine to jump out now.
Here’s what I’ve learned over the last few years from a specialist business coach and psychologist for entrepreneurs. Our unconscious mind has one sole job – to push us away from pain and towards pleasure. And because of this primitive fact, the subconscious controls our mental valve for motivation.
In other words, one seriously needs to consider the secondary and tertiary consequences of pursuing a goal because the subconscious will slam on the brakes if it thinks PAIN lies ahead.
As a simple example, if we start the year saying I want to double my income from property, the numbers sound attractive but we typically don’t take the time to consider the real consequences of pursuing that. In this example what that might look like is this- as time and activity goes by the brain realises that in order to actually double the income it would mean significantly more time sourcing/viewing/travelling…(you fill in the blanks of the secondary consequence) and therefore less sleep/more stress/less time with family (tertiary consequence). In other words those consequences are the potential ‘pains’ that the unconscious mind would see and cause it to procrastinate doing the required work. Does that make sense?
What I’ve just highlighted can’t be underestimated, it is a major cause of feeling ‘stuck’ during the year, chasing after what you THINK are the right goals for you. However, self sabotage can arise from pursuing certain goals when the unconscious mind doesn’t get the same excitement as the conscious mind, because it’s worried about the associated PAIN. But with alignment, motivation happens intrinsically, it isn’t something you need to will into existence.
So what’s the answer?
ECOLOGICAL GOAL SETTING
This is the real gold dust. This is the stuff that’s been taking me a while to embed but I’m really starting to see the power in it year on year. You may wonder what is meant by ‘ecological’ in relation to goal setting.
Meaning of ecology from the online dictionary
‘the branch of biology dealing with the relations and interactions between organisms and their environment, including other organisms.’
In the context of goal setting, the purpose of ecology is all about alignment between the conscious and unconscious mind. Having also learned about highest values from Dr John Demartini, I liken this alignment concept to his work on values ie we have to balance our financial goals with our other highest values. We will thrive more in business when other parts of our life thrive too.
So to optimise chances of goal achievement we must run the goal setting through a filter of well formed conditions.
These conditions include the following:
#1) The goal must be stated in positive terms (ie write it out as if already achieved and in present tense as if you are describing who you are, what you have, how you are living a year from now)
#2) The goal must be initiated and maintained by you (this is crucial, no point setting goals that require majority inputs from others as that will be out of your control)
#3) The goal must use sensory based descriptions of outcomes and steps
#4) The goal is ecological in every sense ie think through how it will affect other areas of your life (ie the secondary and tertiary consequences/positive ripple effects)
Some starters to get you thinking for ecology:
-what will you hear/see/feel when you attain the goal?
-What will the outcome get for you/allow you to do? (you want to uncover now if there is a part of you that doesn’t want this outcome as that will undermine your success)
-What will happen if you don’t get it?
#5) There is more than one way to achieve the goal (ie giving yourself flexibility)
You can see this is a completely different process compared to just writing out a list of exciting things you would like to have or happen. Thoroughly thinking through goals like this is designed to set your unconscious mind building a map, a reference place and foundation for what’s involved in achieving these goals.
I appreciate this is a lot to digest so if you got this far, well done. Even better, if you choose to act on this and implement it with your own goal setting you will be doing the work to set yourself up for a great year ahead.
Let me know if this stuff strikes a chord with you. And if you’re genuinely keen to work on more of these questions for alignment and ecology then reply and I can post a few more on this thread.
To your goal attainment and enjoying the journey this year.
If you followed my post last week on ‘Intelligent Reflection’ then you will have put a psychological bow on 2020. In other words, the point of last week’s post was to highlight the fact that there is so much value in what you have done, experienced and accomplished in the last 12 months that you need to go harvest that gold through intelligent reflection.
If you missed that post and want to go back you can find it here:
WARNING: This post requires some heavy mental lifting but if you’re serious about your growth this year then read it to the end, and more importantly, take action on it.
So, with the reflection bit done, the natural next step is to follow up with some deep thinking around setting the right kind of goals for YOU, and creating an implementation plan for them. That’s what I’m going to outline here.
So, what do I mean by the ‘right kind of goals for YOU?” Well, before jumping in to write out your goals, please be clear in your mind that they are psychologically optimised goals that are congruent ie your conscious and unconscious mind are aligned in relation to the goals you set. Getting this right at the beginning is essential!
By way of quick explanation if you were to set the goal of doubling the revenue of your business, on the face of it that sounds great but what would the reality of that mean, and what would be the secondary and tertiary consequences of pursuing it? Eg. would it mean working twice as many hours, sacrificing weekends with your family? Or can you genuinely see how to accomplish the outcome on your terms.
All I’m saying is just be careful to choose goals that are aligned with what you really want. This quote from Stephen Covey captures my point perfectly:
“If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step gets us to the wrong place faster.”
In the goal setting process it’s easy to get excited in the now by writing down a big goal but the science of achievement requires us to connect the dots between a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) and what exactly we need to be working on quarter to quarter, month on month and how we’re using our time each day.
The big rationale behind artful implementation is to take the time to do strategic planning now so that at no time during the quarter are you at the desk on a Monday morning wondering what to do to get started (or at least it will be significantly minimised).
An implementation plan prevents that brain fog, but sadly investing the time to create such a plan is the most common part of goal setting that people skip. But not YOU, and not this year! It’s often looked at as too much like hard work- and you know what, it is hard mental work! Most good things do require some uphill struggle, but it’s also where we can get most clarity. I heard a brilliant quote a while back from one of the greats that ties into this point, it goes;
“People have uphill hopes, but downhill habits”
– John C Maxwell
In other words, we all want the things that require ‘uphill’ efforts, but are we willing to put in the work that builds the ‘uphill habits’ that will get us there?
You need to take your big 2021 goals and translate them into a project plan. This part of the process is uncomfortable, which is why people skip it but having a well thought through plan will keep you aligned, in the zone and knowing what you have to do next. BHAGs don’t manifest on their own, it takes real intentional work to dream them up, plan the road map, and then of course execute on that plan.
Here’s a quick summary of the process for artful goal implementation that I’ve been taught and continue to use each year. (Chris and I do invest multiple hours in goal planning in the opening weeks of Jan)
IT’S TIME TO BUILD THE FOUNDATION OF YOUR YEAR!
STEP #1: List your key projects
Taking everything into account, list 5-20 projects that would have an immediate impact on your property business. With this list you are thinking up all the growth driving activities that move you closer to achieving the BHAG (ie various strategies and tactics you want to try that would/could result in a net positive to the business).
STEP #2: Now eliminate all but 3, and ask yourself:
– are you able to complete each of those shortlisted 3 in a 12 week period if you focused on one at a time (ie allocate each project a full 12 week sprint)?
– can you complete these with your current resources ie time, people, money?
– prioritise those projects that can feasibly meet the above
STEP #3: BUILD THE OUTLINE PLAN
Now for each project, build the outline for your implementation plan by completing a handful of answers to these 4 foundational productivity questions:
For project 1
#1 What specifically needs to happen…to get started? To continue? To finish? Can you specify now what your completion point will look like (really push yourself to do that)?
#2 How can you measure progress along the way? (ie no. of viewings/offers per week. Booking revenue, occupancy by month..) When answering these questions think about what can be ritualised/repeated by you and/or your team. Think about the input activity required to achieve the desired property outcome.
#3 What deadlines need to happen within 12 weeks? Think it through and allocate deadlines you can put into your diary (and physically PUT those deadlines into your diary). These will serve as milestones and checkpoints towards your completion point and get your mind clear on hitting them by certain dates.
#4 How can you stack multiple layers of accountability onto this project. In other words, who all can you inform, involve, make a pledge to etc that will help you follow through on your promise. Think mentors, family, advisors, peers). It’s a fact that getting things done is a social phenomenon so enlist the power of public declaration.
Do the same for Projects 2 and 3. It’s a good idea to have no more than 3 projects in a quarter, and if one is particularly all consuming then stick with just that one project for the entire 90 days.
STEP #4: 12 WEEK PROJECT PLAN
The final stage to this is creating your 12 week project plan where you literally create a grid with 84 days and then populate it with dates, specifics and deadlines (as per your answers to the Q’s above) to work to each day and week. Schedule this stuff in using the mechanisms that work for you, phone, outlook calendar, a wall chart or whatever. Allocate sufficient time and protect it in your diary.
And there you have it. With clarity on what your goals are and your planning complete, now its all about taking action consistently each week, measuring the progress and feeling good about showing up to put the effort in. [HINT – one of the keys to sustained productivity is feeling good about what you do. So please don’t look at what didn’t get done or how far your dream lies in the distance, instead show up, put the effort in each week and celebrate that step of effort input and the progress it creates].
I’d love to know if you complete this exercise, let me know if you do and you will massively increase the likelihood of following through.
I hope you’ve been enjoying some quality family Christmas time, making memories with the loved ones you are able to see, and replenishing yourself for the projects of Q1 2021.
I love the magic that Christmas brings, but also the quiet space from the march of a typical week. These final few days of the year and the first week of the new year offer us the time to pause for reflection and design, with intention. I hope you look back on your 2020, and despite all the challenges of the year, you can acknowledge all of the incremental progress that has been made on your journey in property investing. It is important to think about the past year intelligently because past performance is the best predictor of the future.
Reflection is one of the most important things an action oriented entrepreneur can do – why is it so important to reflect and acknowledge progress? We tend to unconsciously discount the progress we have made and be painfully conscious of the shortcomings in the immediate future.
If that sounds like you, then this quote may be helpful, “Things are never as bad or as good as they seem”. It’s been attributed to a few different people so not sure who originally said it.
So, this instructional post is building on a mini tradition for me to share at this time of year – and it contains absolute gold for you, if you choose to invest the time to work through the following 6 sections and answer the questions for yourself and your own last 12 months in property.
This intelligent reflection forms the most important part of the year end review – a powerful way to reconcile the last 12 months and transition into planning the next 12. In my questionable opinion it’s essential to punctuate this time of year with such a process. I am starting this exercise myself now and it forms the first part of the overall review and goal setting process that I invest significant time in over the final week of the year, and first week of the new year. I will follow up this with my summary on the goal setting process next week.
Happy New Year when it comes, and wishing you health, wealth and happiness in 2021!
Below are the 6 phases of the intelligent reflection process with all the questions for you to answer.
PART 1 – GRATITUDE REFLECTION
*What new capabilities did I master?
*What behaviours really caused me to win?
*What are my personal current strengths?
*What are the business’ current strengths?
*What were your biggest accomplishments this last year?
*What marketing or business development won this year?
*What was the best thing your property business created for you?
*What was the most extraordinary value or customer experience that you created? (who did we really move the dial for?)
PART 2 – CONSTRUCTIVE REFLECTION
*What were the most important lessons learned?
*What were your weak points, what do you need to improve?
*Are there any threats to your business or market?
*Any missed opportunities?
*What are the current weaknesses of your business?
*Were there any ways to improve customer service in the last year?
PART 3 – GETTING REAL
*Specific metrics for your business this last year (what was it you were focussing on? What were you trying to grow? What were the conversion rates you were trying to improve?)
*Products/services I sold in 2020?
*2020 gross revenue?
*2020 Expenses?
*Split expenses into 3 categories- what percentages were:
Marketing _
Operations _
Income/Salaries/dividends _
*2020 net profit
PART 4 – MEASUREMENT (need to compare year on year, power of measurement)
On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your:
[assess all those that are relevant to your property business. NB, even if you don’t think you are marketing there is a good chance you are ie your version of lead generation may be networking to identify potential JV partners]
*Lead Gen –
*Lead conversion –
*Customer fulfilment (following through on the promise)-
*Human resources (are they the best people in their roles)-
*Financial Systems (how clear on numbers month on month)-
*Market research –
*Satisfaction of the people in the business –
*Satisfaction with your work life balance –
PART 5 – LETTER TO YOURSELF
Write a letter to yourself (having reflected on each section). Write it as if you’ve gone back in time and are writing the letter on 1st Jan 2020 explaining the bumps, scrapes, wisdom to come (and wow there were many unexpected bumps due to covid). So to give you some guidance notes, you could be writing to yourself about what you will face (in the year that was), where you will despair, where you will draw strength, what beliefs will be tested, what capabilities will be gained, don’t forget all the good stuff to come.
Why do this? This exercise helps you examine the past with a present perspective. It works on the idea of reconciling expectations from a year ago with where you really are today. Essentially, this puts a proverbial ‘bow’ on the last 12 months and who we have become.
PART 6 – NAME IT
What single word would put a name to your 2020? (look to be constructive with this).
See you next week with part 2 on the goal setting process.
