One thing I’ve learned in my property journey is that going it alone is the biggest risk you take. In my first year of developing HMOs I paid my mentor over £7000 to help me create enough income to get out of my job. It was a HUGE amount of money to me, but it worked, and in just 18 months I had resigned from my well-paid but stultifying job.

From that point forward I ALWAYS sought out experts to guide, advise and support me.

This year, I wonder if you are thinking about investing in HMOs? Maybe you’ve decided that enough is enough. Your current business is making money but it’s certainly not passive. Your job is well paid, but you’re concerned about being trapped for the rest of your life. Unless you do something this year, nothing will change, and you’ll be in exactly the same position next year.

If you want to make a change you’ll need three things:

Courage, commitment and confidence.

1. Courage. To do something completely new takes courage. To step outside of what you know takes courage. I know when I’m being courageous because I get that mixture of feelings in my chest that says ‘you’re-crazy-and-what-will-people- think-and-why-on-earth-do-you-think-you-can-do-this- and -you- go- for- it- girl- and- don’t -let -anything- stop you’!

You may believe that the first step to is to get more knowledge. Yes this is important, but just ‘cos I know HOW to mow the lawn, doesn’t make me do it!

The first step is deciding to do it, and that takes courage. I bet there’s something you aren’t doing in property because you doubt yourself or you are fearful about the outcome.

I would encourage you today to determine to do THREE things that will take you outside your comfort zone. How can you be more courageous?

2. Commitment. Doing what other people think is crazy, risky and downright irresponsible takes courage. But doing it in a crazy, risky and irresponsible way is STUPID. Approach your new project with rigour – do your due diligence, your research, your figures and your numbers. Find someone you can run your ideas past to get their opinion (someone who has done what you want to do). This is a crucial step which many entrepreneurs resist – but their ignorance and pride often leads to problems!

Determine to be committed, as this step often brings with it a magic of things falling into place. Commitment shows you are determined to make things happen, and that you’re willing to take action to shape and plan that course. Yes it will take investment, and time to learn it. But if you’re committed, it is the BEST investment you could ever make.

3. Confidence. Your confidence will grow when you start to take action. It won’t change by sitting in your chair being comfortable! When you step into your problems, and face them, then your doubts and insecurities will begin to fade away. Making a decision to DO something like starting to invest in HMOs even if you have a busy job or business will immediately raise your confidence. You’re telling your brain ‘Right then, we’re going to do this’ and it starts to look for ways to make it happen. You’ll be amazed at how fast your confidence will grow when you make that decision to change your life through property.

A practical task to help get you started is to take an A4 piece of paper, and subdivide it in to 5 columns. Down the left hand column write down all the fears and worries you have about HMOs. Every Single One. Take your time to do this. Then across the top of each of the other middle 3 columns head them ‘Courage’ ‘Commitment’ ‘Confidence’. Now, with each of the fears and worries you had, tick off which of the three traits you need to address each of the fears or worries.

So, for example, if your fear is ‘running out of money’ then against that you might tick ‘courage’. If it is ‘not knowing how to create an HMO’ then against that you might tick ‘Commitment’. Then in the far right hand side column make a note about what you will do to address each of these fears and worries. If it is ‘courage’ to move forward against the backdrop of worry about running out of money, you might tell yourself to ‘start now and see what happens’. If you have identified that you need to increase your knowledge so that you can be more committed to HMOs, then add that.

You’ll find that this simple activity will bring to light the fears and issues holding you back, and help you create a way forward that will immediately give you clarity and direction.