If each time a task or problem comes up, whether you have one or one hundred properties, you jump on the task and try to sort it out yourself – you are just creating a job for yourself, very quickly you will feel overwhelmed & frustrated.
If you identify each potential problem and each recurring task as they occur, or up-front if possible, then work out who you can get to take care of it next time or how you can create a system to deal with it each time it comes up – you are creating a business.
If you have entered the Property industry to create money, and create the freedom required to enjoy your profits, you will need to systemise each operation to the point where you are working to make yourself totally obsolete. You should only have to deal with exceptional items or special projects you choose to do.
You may be asking; “What if I don’t have the resources to get people to work for me?”
People who work for you don’t have to be your employees, you simply make it in their interest to perform some role for you then you don’t have to do it. People work for commissions, fees, promise of future profits, in joint ventures and sometimes because they like or care for you.
There are also lots of online services and software which you can use to automate many activities, if the budget is tight you will be able to pay monthly for many of them.
It is not just people you need though – you will have a large percentage of your day spent on dealing with recurring tasks – you just need to create ways that these things get done automatically or reduce them down to a check list – just ensure you don’t have to think through these activities each time, make them routine.
You should be able to write down these routine tasks, the beginning, the key steps, key decisions and the end point. You should be able to create a process map of each of these routine tasks – If you can’t write it down you are going to waste a great deal of time in the future and you will almost certainly be operating inefficiently.
Mapping out these processes have 3 key benefits:
You can follow the system reducing your thinking time
You can easily identify the inefficient parts of the system
You can easily hand over the job (delegate it) when the time comes.
The second major benefit of this approach is that you can concentrate on building the business, concentrating on the strategic things which really bring in the benefits.
To think in a structured way, consider;
Most business frustrations are from poor or non-existent systems.
Systems allow you to get the bottom of problems & eliminate them at their source.
By creating a system solution, you are reducing the chances of the problem reoccurring.
You reduce your stress because business problems are no longer personal because it is just a break down in your system to fix.
You become a better business person because you are slower to criticise others you can concentrate on refining the system.
By creating, improving and installing systems in your business you have to think in a systemised way.
If you create written systems for everything you do in your business it is simple to delegate because everyone can understand the business as well as you do.
If your business is built on systems, it is easy to build it by refining the systems to cope with more business.
Anything you decide to do as a one-off activity is a PROJECT, this should be managed as a special project with clear objective(s), start, research period, implementation steps and defined end game.
TASK OF THE DAY - Work out what you can systemise in your future property business and how you can get help from other people & organisations.
