Is it possible to grow a business for low-cost or even no-cost?

Well, that’s our mantra! For many years I bought simple, single buy-to-let properties and self-managed them. After all they were really no hassle. Once they were ready, we advertised them locally, rented them with few problems and when the tenant moved out, repeated the process. It wasn’t hard nor was it time-consuming.

Fast forward a  few years though how things changed! We started to invest in Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs) and were catapulted into the delights of all-inclusive rents (which meant we had to manage and pay the bills), 3 or more unrelated tenants sharing a house, with all the disagreements and problems that can raise, and a whole cupboard full of keys! Suddenly one house could create 5 tenancies starting and ending at different times, rents coming in on different days, and a lot more maintenance issues being reported (as now it was down to us to fix it).

I soon realised that I was in danger of creating another full-time job for myself unless I was careful. We needed to find a way of releasing time, without spending masses on systems or staff. Carefully and methodically we analysed a lot of the so-called ‘technical solutions’ out there for landlords and found that although they were good-looking and very easy to use, were expensive, not scalable and not very flexible. If we adopted one of these systems the chances were that in time we would still need a spreadsheet to oversee other aspects of the business like key tracking, regular and customised maintenance inspections and pin codes for any locking devices.

We couldn’t find a system that included all the necessities AND allowed us to customise it to our preferences, without spending an arm and a leg on design, programming and implementation.

We were using many of Google’s tools already such as sheets, forms and drive, to store, share and scale our business. Why not see if we could use Google as our main form of data collection and integrate that into our accountancy system? So without spending an extra penny, we started to load up our business onto Google. Three systems all with separate KPIs and processes (Development, Tenancies, Management and Financials). All integrated and managed. All with the ability to scale, systemise, simplify and suit our needs. And above all, totally secure!  And the best part – FREE!

If you would like to know more about how you can use Google to Supercharge your growth please come along to the inaugural Lifestyle Property Network meeting on Monday 18th September at 7pm. Tickets are just £15 and include a glass of champagne and canapes!  You can buy your tickets here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lifestyle-property-network-property-network-manchester-tickets-37753791607

I look forward to meeting you and sharing how you too can Supercharge Your Growth Using Google!

Comment below if you will be coming along!