When you’re building a property business and also working or managing other responsibilities (childcare, domestics etc) finding the time to make it happen is really hard. Here are a few suggestions to make more out of what you have, to get better results in less time, and to scale up faster.

1. Recognise this is a marathon not a sprint. Create a rhythmic plan (just as if you were training for a marathon). When I ran the London Marathon I did three runs a week – a fast short one, a long slow one , and a medium paced one. In your property business, you will need to block out time to do viewings, finances, and admin. Which will you do and when?
2. Hire someone as SOON AS YOU CAN to help you. Whether this is a cleaner, a gardener, an ironing person, or a VA! Write a short description of what you want them to do and how you will measure quality. 

Examples:

• ROLE: Ironing lady.

• Purpose – to iron your clothes accurately and with a good turnaround time for a good price.
• Your role: Organise a time and date for them to collect. Ensure washing is ready and in the bag. 
• Quality measures: What is their price per item/ per bundle. What is the turnaround time? What is the quality of the ironing? Does this person save me time and money overall?

• ROLE: VA – Three hours per week. 

• Purpose – Finding suitable properties to view and arranging your appointments on a chosen day. Writing to local landlords and finding DTV deals. 
• Your role: Issue a spreadsheet with the metrics inside they can use (price, area, size, condition etc). Make a video to show them what to do. Give them an example letter
• Quality measures: How many properties do they come up with? How many are really deals? How many wasted / potential viewings have they created for you? 

This is not rocket science but will help you measure and track progress if you haven’t ever hired someone before.

3) Make sure you get enough sleep, eat nutritiously and exercise regularly. You are an engine and you need to feed and nourish the engine. If it means giving up sugar and alcohol and boozy nights out – DO IT! Give yourself a life-giving opportunity to have excess energy, sleep better than you ever have done, and enjoy what you do! If your downfall is lack of food planning – them create a weekly or fortnightly plan, order online and stick to it. You will also save tons of money.

4) Get up half an hour earlier to think and prepare for the day

5) Create a written plan every month to lay out your goals. Three per month is enough. 

6) Find someone to talk to about your goals and aspirations. Become their buddy and ask them to hold you to account.

7) Get as much buy in from your family as possible. Explain what you are trying to achieve and ask them to help. Can you share the cooking, cleaning, childcare ( – outsource the cleaning PLEASE)!!! Keep them in the loop with your results and activity. 

8)Focus on one strategy for 6 months. If you see no results, stand back and analyse why. Tweak, and re-set. Then go again.

9) Think of yourself as a high performance engine. Are you wasting time on things that don’t help this engine to perform? Are you putting the right fuel into the engine to go fast? Are the tyres on the engine inflated enough to adapt to different road conditions? What must you STOP doing and what must you do DIFFERENTLY? 

10) Answer emails twice a day only. 

11) Use an answering service if you are missing too many calls, or set up your answerphone properly to take calls and message you ( I use Answer4u and HulloMail). 

12) Limit your time in the shower in the morning to 5 minutes. I can get clean in 5 minutes and wash and condition my hair.  

13) Reduce complexity in your life. Buy less, live in fewer outfits, choose what suits you and stick to it. 

14) Tell your children when you are off-limits and need to work. Train them to respect your working time and then give them lots of attention and full on presence. Ditto with your partner.

I’m sure there are LOTS more ways to save time, be more efficient and make more from less. What have you found to be most effective?