Whilst it certainly isn’t for everyone, property is definitely a cyclical thing for us. Coming off the back of our longest refurb season (8 months back to back) with multiple projects overlapping and on the go, it’s easy to get lost in the business.
Normally, we spend more time in conveyancing and waiting for that to go through than the actual refurb itself!
But the non active “in between” time is considered by “downtime”. The breathing space you need to plan, manage, systemise and strengthened the business, or what I call, Strategy Time.
And this can be broken down into 3 different segments:
1) Reflect
What went right?
What went wrong on the last project?
What would you do different?
Did you learn anything from it?
What changes need to be implemented to make the process more robust?
2) Operationally Plan Head What are my next steps? What time frame do I need to complete it in?
What are the consequences if this doesn’t work?
What’s my critical path? And if I fail, how do I bring it back on track?
3) Systemise Assess all current processes? How can I make this run without me?
What systems do I need to enhance, switch to or trial in order for this to be more robust?
How do I make it run more efficiently?
Is this really the easiest way from a customer perspective?
What new trends are we finding and how can we capitalise on this in the future?
All 3 are critical in understand where you are, where you are going and implementing a solid foundation to which to springboard your next stage of growth. I absolutely love downtime. It allows you to think instead of being in the “doing mode”. I spend this time in a few different ways - self care and wellbeing, routine exercise and meditation, volunteering in the local community, time with family and friends, absorbing books and podcasts on a more in depth level, going back to routine networking and property education which can sometimes fall by the way side during a heavy refurb season. Some may say “but that’s so boring”. For me - I need to space to think of the new strategic move before springboarding higher than ever before. Usually on an annual basis, I’m finding it’s now as big or as our project pipeline allows.