Sometimes it's fun to ask an audience the question "What's stopping you from becoming a successful Property Developer?"
I've never actually tallied up all the responses to get a definitive Top 3, but I'm pretty sure if I did, the list would be time, money and education.
But can you guess what's missing from that list?
Before I answer the question, I should point out that all 3 answers are valid.
Becoming a Property Developer requires time in order to develop your skill and do the research. That can be tough when you're working long hours and still trying to fit in family time. Building a successful property development business takes consistency and long-term focus.
Becoming a Property Developer also requires money. Unfortunately the magic finance fairies won't just wave their wands and give you unlimited money for deals. Of course it doesn't necessarily have to be your money! You can use creative property development finance strategies to scale faster.
Becoming a Property Developer requires education. You absolutely need to learn the skills required to be a successful developer. Some people learn them haphazardly over the course of a number of deals, other people pay a mentor and do a program like Property Development Formula to learn the skills. Either way you need to educate yourself.
Okay, this isn't a TV reality show where I need to drag out that “final results” moment for as long as possible to drive the audience crazy so here we go... the thing that's missing is people skills!
Yep, you heard me - people and networking skills. Hopefully right now the light bulb has gone off for you and you're nodding in agreement, as this is a really important thing to understand.
You see, so often someone who wants to be a Property Developer, thinks all they need to do is learn HOW. And yet in reality, property development is a people sport. Strong networking and communication skills are critical for property development success.
Stop and think about it for a moment. How often in the property development process do you need to interact or network with people?
For starters you'll be talking to vendors and/or real estate agents about potential deals. Add in some negotiating skills at this point as well.
Then to get the deal moving, you'll need finance. So that involves conversations with a broker, potential investors, financiers etc. Prior to even finding the deal you'll likely have been networking to build up a base of investors to call on.
You'll also have at least some members of your team involved as part of due diligence:
This is only a very short list - the bigger and more complex the site, the longer the list gets! Building the right property development team is essential for reducing risk and improving project outcomes.
Once you've purchased the site and you're into the Development Approval stage, your team of experts widens.
And with every interaction, you need to understand what the other person needs from you. The more effectively you build rapport with that person and deliver what they need, the better the outcome of the interaction.
Now, some of you may be social butterflies whose favourite thing to do in life is interact with other people. But for many of us, it takes effort to build up a set of skills that work effectively in your engagements with others.
A good place to start is to understand your own personality traits. What is your natural communication style? This then leads on to understanding how others communicate.
The more quickly you recognise someone's personality type and communication style, the easier it will be for you to adapt the way in which you're communicating information to them.
As an example, a highly dominant person is likely to want information communicated in a fast, confident way so they can make decisions quickly. If their communication style is visual, this might be with charts or graphs, but if they're an auditory learner, clear and concise explanations work better.
You can also adjust your language to include words that appeal; "can you see what I mean?" if they're visual, "I hear what you're saying" if they're auditory, for instance.
Just to prove that I put my money where my mouth is on this, in Property Development Formula you have access to both a property mentor AND a coach.
What's the difference? The property mentors are there to help you learn the necessary skills to be a Property Developer.
The coach is focussed on developing you as a person. While that often means helping you unpack and resolve personal roadblocks that might stop you moving forward as a Property Developer (eg fear of failure, procrastination), it's also to help you deal with people.
Because the reality is, for a lot of students dealing with people is scary. It might not even be the interaction itself that's the issue - it could be the fear of rejection, or lack of self-confidence. And you need to work on that as part of the journey of becoming a property developer.
I've never actually tallied up all the responses to get a definitive Top 3, but I'm pretty sure if I did, the list would be time, money and education.
But can you guess what's missing from that list?
Before I answer the question, I should point out that all 3 answers are valid.
Becoming a Property Developer requires time in order to develop your skill and do the research. That can be tough when you're working long hours and still trying to fit in family time. Building a successful property development business takes consistency and long-term focus.
Becoming a Property Developer also requires money. Unfortunately the magic finance fairies won't just wave their wands and give you unlimited money for deals. Of course it doesn't necessarily have to be your money! You can use creative property development finance strategies to scale faster.
Becoming a Property Developer requires education. You absolutely need to learn the skills required to be a successful developer. Some people learn them haphazardly over the course of a number of deals, other people pay a mentor and do a program like Property Development Formula to learn the skills. Either way you need to educate yourself.
Okay, this isn't a TV reality show where I need to drag out that “final results” moment for as long as possible to drive the audience crazy so here we go... the thing that's missing is people skills!
Yep, you heard me - people and networking skills. Hopefully right now the light bulb has gone off for you and you're nodding in agreement, as this is a really important thing to understand.
You see, so often someone who wants to be a Property Developer, thinks all they need to do is learn HOW. And yet in reality, property development is a people sport. Strong networking and communication skills are critical for property development success.
Stop and think about it for a moment. How often in the property development process do you need to interact or network with people?
For starters you'll be talking to vendors and/or real estate agents about potential deals. Add in some negotiating skills at this point as well.
Then to get the deal moving, you'll need finance. So that involves conversations with a broker, potential investors, financiers etc. Prior to even finding the deal you'll likely have been networking to build up a base of investors to call on.
You'll also have at least some members of your team involved as part of due diligence:
- Your lawyer checking the contract and working for settlement
- Your town planner / designer confirming what can be done with the site
- Your quantity surveyor / builder etc confirming build costs
- Your arborist about trees on site
This is only a very short list - the bigger and more complex the site, the longer the list gets! Building the right property development team is essential for reducing risk and improving project outcomes.
Once you've purchased the site and you're into the Development Approval stage, your team of experts widens.
And with every interaction, you need to understand what the other person needs from you. The more effectively you build rapport with that person and deliver what they need, the better the outcome of the interaction.
Now, some of you may be social butterflies whose favourite thing to do in life is interact with other people. But for many of us, it takes effort to build up a set of skills that work effectively in your engagements with others.
A good place to start is to understand your own personality traits. What is your natural communication style? This then leads on to understanding how others communicate.
The more quickly you recognise someone's personality type and communication style, the easier it will be for you to adapt the way in which you're communicating information to them.
As an example, a highly dominant person is likely to want information communicated in a fast, confident way so they can make decisions quickly. If their communication style is visual, this might be with charts or graphs, but if they're an auditory learner, clear and concise explanations work better.
You can also adjust your language to include words that appeal; "can you see what I mean?" if they're visual, "I hear what you're saying" if they're auditory, for instance.
Just to prove that I put my money where my mouth is on this, in Property Development Formula you have access to both a property mentor AND a coach.
What's the difference? The property mentors are there to help you learn the necessary skills to be a Property Developer.
The coach is focussed on developing you as a person. While that often means helping you unpack and resolve personal roadblocks that might stop you moving forward as a Property Developer (eg fear of failure, procrastination), it's also to help you deal with people.
Because the reality is, for a lot of students dealing with people is scary. It might not even be the interaction itself that's the issue - it could be the fear of rejection, or lack of self-confidence. And you need to work on that as part of the journey of becoming a property developer.
