When you're starting out in Property Development, the road ahead can seem pretty daunting. There are lots of different pieces to the puzzle, and depending on the size of your first development, anything from a little to a lot of money is at stake.
It's common, however, once Property Developers have completed a couple of developments and expanded their knowledge and skill base, for them to start having more than one development "on the go" at the same time.
While this is definitely something I recommend if you're keen to do it, there does come a point at which you're going to have to work smarter, rather than harder, in order to keep on top of it all.
In fact, the most important skill you can develop is the ability to delegate. The trick is learning how to do that effectively, so that you enhance your Property Development business, rather than ending up in a deep dark hole where you don't have a clue what's going on or how things went wrong.
Realistically, being a Property Developer puts you in essentially the same position as any person starting their own business. We all know the stereotype of the typical small business owner - they often wear every possible hat in the business, from cleaner through to CEO, working really hard for long hours. And assuming the business is successful, at some point the business owner starts to pass a few hats out to other people so they can focus their own energies on the core money-making activities.
Side by side with that is an old business axiom "you should spend more time working ON your business, than you do working IN your business". Again, when first starting out the sheer craziness of trying to reach some sort of critical mass and hopefully profitability tends to override everything else. Nevertheless, it's when the business owner eventually breaks the surface and takes a deep breath of air that they finally have a big enough vision of the ocean they're swimming in to see there's an island not that far away and start swimming towards it.
The same is true of having a Property Development business. And that's why you have to find a way to DELEGATE. I bet all you control freaks just quivered in your boots, reading that word. And I get it. Knowing every little detail of a project is often vitally important in your day to day functioning as a Property Developer, particularly when you go from consultant to consultant, discuss finer points with your Builder or are negotiating construction finance. All of these people expect you to have the answers they need at your fingertips.
I don't know about you, though, but in any work there are bits that you enjoy a lot more than other bits. Personally, if I'm making millions developing property, then I am absolutely NOT going to choose cleaning the toilet myself over working on the latest deal.
Still, delegating is tough, particularly early on. Sometimes, by the time you try to explain to someone how to do a task, it just seems quicker and easier to do it yourself. Or, even though you know it would help if you didn't spend time cleaning the toilet, the fact is it really doesn't take that long - is it worth the hassle of organising and paying someone else to do it, when in reality it's only going to free up a few minutes of your time?
And yes, delegating takes planning. The last thing you want to do is chew up part of your profits on people who are basically sitting twiddling their thumbs because they don't have enough to do.
So let's take a look at some simple steps you can take that will help you find ways to transition from doing everything yourself to being a superb delegator.
Draw Up An Organisational Chart
Okay, so this one might sound rather funny, but it's actually really valuable. Look at your property development business and determine all the different "bits" that come together to create a successful development project. Now, you might immediately come up with a list of consultants on your team, which is something I've covered before. But although these people are definitely part of your business and should be on your organisational chart (your Accountant, for example) I want you to think bigger.
I also want you to spend some time looking at all the different tasks you do yourself on a day to day basis. And while things like cleaning the toilet at home might not specifically be a task required for a development to be successful, if you spend a chunk of time each week on home duties, well, there should definitely be a box on the chart for "office cleaning".
Often, there are plenty of other tasks you do that may not be project specific, but are still necessary for your growing property development business - things like:
Once you've drawn up the chart, put in the name of the person who currently fills that role. Initially, apart from a few specific consultants, all the boxes will most likely have your name in them.
What Do You Like Doing?
Next up, think about the bits of your business you like, and the bits you don't. On your chart, highlight the things you really dislike doing, and look to see if they're all grouped in one section of the chart, or whether they require a similar skill set. These are the tasks you should be delegating as a priority.
Going back to our earlier example of cleaning the toilet, maybe the first role you can delegate is house cleaning. Pay someone to come in once a week or fortnight for a few hours to do the main housework.
Highlighted a square in the area of sending letters to vendors? Maybe you can have a regular arrangement with one of your kids, or someone local who'd like to work from home, to create, print and then hand address your letters for you. Potentially they could even walk around delivering them too.
If numbers and spreadsheets aren't your thing, then pay someone to spend a few hours each week keeping your books up to date, paying invoices, reconciling accounts etc.
Now, it's quite possible that you won't be able to suddenly just offload a whole bunch of tasks, both because of the time involved in training someone, and the cost. But if you pick just one, work out how to delegate it, get that running smoothly, and then pick another, you might be surprised how quickly you can free up a lot of your time from mundane, simple tasks and focus on the bigger picture of your business.
Remember, too, that there's often more than one way to delegate an area of your business. For example, finding deals. Some Property Developers find themselves a Buyer's Agent they're comfortable with, and essentially delegate deal finding to them. Others may train a virtual assistant to complete 10 minute checks on properties in their chosen suburb, then take the resulting shortlist of properties and start pursuing the best option themselves, because that's what they enjoy doing.
In the end, there's no "right" way to delegate within your business, because it's a very personal choice based on your skills and preferences.
And a word of caution - if you have strong financial resources, it can be tempting to delegate as many things as possible as quickly as possible. While you may find that successful, the bottom line is that you're responsible for the final outcome of everything that's done in your property development business. You need to understand how and why things are done, and what standard of work is required, before you can hand it over. Otherwise, how will you know if the person you delegate to is doing a good job?
So if you are in a position to delegate sooner rather than later, then invest some of your resources in making sure you're educated and know exactly what you need and how you need it to be done, so you can understand the required outcomes from the people you delegate to.
Happy delegating!
It's common, however, once Property Developers have completed a couple of developments and expanded their knowledge and skill base, for them to start having more than one development "on the go" at the same time.
While this is definitely something I recommend if you're keen to do it, there does come a point at which you're going to have to work smarter, rather than harder, in order to keep on top of it all.
In fact, the most important skill you can develop is the ability to delegate. The trick is learning how to do that effectively, so that you enhance your Property Development business, rather than ending up in a deep dark hole where you don't have a clue what's going on or how things went wrong.
Realistically, being a Property Developer puts you in essentially the same position as any person starting their own business. We all know the stereotype of the typical small business owner - they often wear every possible hat in the business, from cleaner through to CEO, working really hard for long hours. And assuming the business is successful, at some point the business owner starts to pass a few hats out to other people so they can focus their own energies on the core money-making activities.
Side by side with that is an old business axiom "you should spend more time working ON your business, than you do working IN your business". Again, when first starting out the sheer craziness of trying to reach some sort of critical mass and hopefully profitability tends to override everything else. Nevertheless, it's when the business owner eventually breaks the surface and takes a deep breath of air that they finally have a big enough vision of the ocean they're swimming in to see there's an island not that far away and start swimming towards it.
The same is true of having a Property Development business. And that's why you have to find a way to DELEGATE. I bet all you control freaks just quivered in your boots, reading that word. And I get it. Knowing every little detail of a project is often vitally important in your day to day functioning as a Property Developer, particularly when you go from consultant to consultant, discuss finer points with your Builder or are negotiating construction finance. All of these people expect you to have the answers they need at your fingertips.
I don't know about you, though, but in any work there are bits that you enjoy a lot more than other bits. Personally, if I'm making millions developing property, then I am absolutely NOT going to choose cleaning the toilet myself over working on the latest deal.
Still, delegating is tough, particularly early on. Sometimes, by the time you try to explain to someone how to do a task, it just seems quicker and easier to do it yourself. Or, even though you know it would help if you didn't spend time cleaning the toilet, the fact is it really doesn't take that long - is it worth the hassle of organising and paying someone else to do it, when in reality it's only going to free up a few minutes of your time?
And yes, delegating takes planning. The last thing you want to do is chew up part of your profits on people who are basically sitting twiddling their thumbs because they don't have enough to do.
So let's take a look at some simple steps you can take that will help you find ways to transition from doing everything yourself to being a superb delegator.
Draw Up An Organisational Chart
Okay, so this one might sound rather funny, but it's actually really valuable. Look at your property development business and determine all the different "bits" that come together to create a successful development project. Now, you might immediately come up with a list of consultants on your team, which is something I've covered before. But although these people are definitely part of your business and should be on your organisational chart (your Accountant, for example) I want you to think bigger.
I also want you to spend some time looking at all the different tasks you do yourself on a day to day basis. And while things like cleaning the toilet at home might not specifically be a task required for a development to be successful, if you spend a chunk of time each week on home duties, well, there should definitely be a box on the chart for "office cleaning".
Often, there are plenty of other tasks you do that may not be project specific, but are still necessary for your growing property development business - things like:- building a social media presence
- networking
- sending out letters to vendors
- bookkeeping
- looking for potential sites
- keep going!
Once you've drawn up the chart, put in the name of the person who currently fills that role. Initially, apart from a few specific consultants, all the boxes will most likely have your name in them.
What Do You Like Doing?
Next up, think about the bits of your business you like, and the bits you don't. On your chart, highlight the things you really dislike doing, and look to see if they're all grouped in one section of the chart, or whether they require a similar skill set. These are the tasks you should be delegating as a priority.
Going back to our earlier example of cleaning the toilet, maybe the first role you can delegate is house cleaning. Pay someone to come in once a week or fortnight for a few hours to do the main housework.
Highlighted a square in the area of sending letters to vendors? Maybe you can have a regular arrangement with one of your kids, or someone local who'd like to work from home, to create, print and then hand address your letters for you. Potentially they could even walk around delivering them too.
If numbers and spreadsheets aren't your thing, then pay someone to spend a few hours each week keeping your books up to date, paying invoices, reconciling accounts etc.
Now, it's quite possible that you won't be able to suddenly just offload a whole bunch of tasks, both because of the time involved in training someone, and the cost. But if you pick just one, work out how to delegate it, get that running smoothly, and then pick another, you might be surprised how quickly you can free up a lot of your time from mundane, simple tasks and focus on the bigger picture of your business.
Remember, too, that there's often more than one way to delegate an area of your business. For example, finding deals. Some Property Developers find themselves a Buyer's Agent they're comfortable with, and essentially delegate deal finding to them. Others may train a virtual assistant to complete 10 minute checks on properties in their chosen suburb, then take the resulting shortlist of properties and start pursuing the best option themselves, because that's what they enjoy doing.
In the end, there's no "right" way to delegate within your business, because it's a very personal choice based on your skills and preferences.
And a word of caution - if you have strong financial resources, it can be tempting to delegate as many things as possible as quickly as possible. While you may find that successful, the bottom line is that you're responsible for the final outcome of everything that's done in your property development business. You need to understand how and why things are done, and what standard of work is required, before you can hand it over. Otherwise, how will you know if the person you delegate to is doing a good job?
So if you are in a position to delegate sooner rather than later, then invest some of your resources in making sure you're educated and know exactly what you need and how you need it to be done, so you can understand the required outcomes from the people you delegate to.
Happy delegating!
