Written by John McTavish – Specialist Real Estate Business Coach

Here’s a quick test to diagnose the problem.  Take your yearly rent and multiply it by 20. Now compare that figure to your gross income. If the income is greater you have an expense problem. If the income is less then you have a production problem.  Now this might not be a perfect analysis 100% of the time and its always wise to get an outside expert in to help if you’re losing money but you would be amazed how accurate this rule of thumb is.  And while we are on the subject of profitability did you know that the majority of real estate business owners who concentrate on controlling costs go out of business WHY? – because what we focus on is what gets our time and energy and so by focusing on NOT spending money the business spirals down and down until there is nothing left.  Smart owners focus their attention on their team and making sure the attitude in the organisation is positive and happy.

A good business coach can show you how to make this happen while putting into place procedures which automatically restrict expenditure to predetermined levels. Take the temperature of your business right now.  Is it a happy place to be – are your people smiling all the time and giving generously to all around them.  If not then maybe you need to take a quick look in the mirror. Without exception every problem I have seen in the hundreds of offices I have worked comes down to leadership.  

“It’s not what’s happening – it’s what you do that counts”

In a tough market like we are currently experiencing it’s all the more important to have a clear strategy for success. These are my 5 clever strategies to making a huge gain against your competitors in a tough market.

1.       Get up early and get started. Increase our work rate and your work effectiveness by at least 20% to gain an immediate advantage over your competition. This has a compounding effect over time. If I ran a mile each day and you ate a Pizza, by the end of the year we would be 365 miles apart and 365 pizzas apart. One of us would also have a 10 to 15 year life expectancy over the other – one of us would look far better as well. Start now it’s never too late.

2.       Have a Plan. Start the day with a plan to get in front of the money. Prioritise your focus on the Dollar Productive Activity first -leave ‘busy stuff’ to last.

3.       Get Tough- to survive in a tough market you need to get tough! Harden up and make some tough decisions to ensure your survival. If it’s a cost you don’t need, then get rid of it now! Avoid emotional attachments – just make the call and act on the decision that is required.

4.       Review everything – what was relevant a year ago, a month ago, or a week ago may not be now. Be prepared to change and despite all your beliefs calling you back into your old comfort zone, be prepared to change direction to one that meets the current climate.

5.       Don’t listen to anybody else! In a tough market there are more doomsayers preaching the sky is falling than positive people looking for the raft of opportunities that are right there in front of them. Work out who you are talking to and stick with the positive group. Divorce the others and no matter what, stick to your new plan and don’t deviate from it, no matter how hard others try to influence you.

‘It’s not the strongest or the most intelligent that survive, but the most adaptive to change’

-Charles Darwin

One of the major obstacles we have to overcome is our selves. We simply get in the way of our own journey

This style of obstruction comes mostly from our belief systems, what we believe to be true, even if it is completely wrong. For many of us, these beliefs, about what is fair, the way things work, or what we deserve or can expect, are in place by the time we reach our late teens. The problem is most of them are wrong, in some cases not just a little bit off the mark but up to 180 degrees away from reality.

Carrying around these beliefs is in effect a disability, as it restricts us in our ability to make an informed decision about the next best move forward.

Often our beliefs are passed on by those around us. These people may be seriously under qualified to give an opinion and they just continue their cycle of belief through into us. What they know and believe may once have been true; but could now be a generation out of date, and has long been passed by with the advance of discoveries in technology, science, medicine or finance, to name a few.

The dream we have, to achieve something specific in our lives, can be easily quashed by someone near to us who doesn’t believe it is possible and voices that opinion. A dream can be diverted or diluted by someone who wants to protect us from failure and so convinces us to take a safer option. The result in the end can be a journey much further away from our original goal, so far in fact that the end result is the ‘other person safe dream’, not ours.

Many wonderful singers, who as children may have taken the brave step to sing out loud only to be told, it wasn’t good enough, or to be laughed at for trying, quietly retreat away, never to sing again.

When people pass comment about us, they are telling us all about themselves. The person, who told the child they couldn’t sing, didn’t want to sing themselves. Or did want to sing, but didn’t have the courage. They passed on their beliefs and fears to the child. The result a disaster for both parties!

So the first step to success is being careful who you share your dreams with, make sure they are people who will support you on the journey, and that they will be able to put wind under your wings.

The next step is to ensure that if you need advice; to only get it from someone skilled in that area. Why would you take financial advice from someone poorer than you? Why would you take medical advice from a builder, or take real estate advice from a restaurateur.

So you can see how others can affect your journey, and that can be much easier to see because you will have someone ‘external’ to blame.

You need to remain totally focussed on the outcome of your goal or your dream and no matter what, no matter who tries to divert you, who tries to dilute it or who tries to contain it or whoever tries to quash it, you remain true to yourself and to your dream!

But what about yourself? The number one internal terrorist to achieving your dreams!

The last step is to deal with your internal conflict, and perhaps the greatest hurdle to overcome, is getting started then sticking to the plan. A test I like to use when I have to complete a task that I don’t really want to do, but needs to be completed to get me one more step closer to my end goal is the ‘Pleasure or Pain’ test.

It is simply this, no matter how bad the next task is, how much I fear it or how much it puts me out of my comfort zone, – will the end result be more pleasurable of more painful to me.

If it is going to be more pleasurable then I do it. If the end result is more painful I don’t.

Everyone will have an opinion about why it can or can’t be done. You will be bombarded with facts and figure, opinions, strategies and ideas but….

Just remember this!

“If the dream is big enough – the facts don’t matter”.

visit my audio series at www.secretstoswonderfullife.com

And the price is not often in cash, most of the time it’s about paying for what you want by way of commitment, sacrifice, change, time or beliefs.

An investment property may require holding off on that next holiday or new car. Losing 5 kilos may require the discipline of choosing the right foods and exercise. Creating a better relationship may require committing time.

But most importantly none of this is possible is your belief structure is wrong. First you need to be able to believe all is possible, only then can you start the journey!