As we enter June we are quickly approaching the half way point of the year. As difficult as it may be to believe, New Year’s Eve was over five months ago. If you are like most people, any resolutions you made are a distant memory. Hopefully you are following through on your goals and your business is in a better place than it was five months ago. Even if you have had some bumps in the road, you can change the course of your business in a moment’s notice. With the summer bearing down on us, now is a good time to take a step back and evaluate where your business is and where you want it to go. Here five steps to help evaluate where your business is at the midway point of the year.
- Take A Look Back. Hopefully you made a list of goals and plans at the beginning of the year. Even if you didn’t you can think back to what you have done over the past five months. Regardless of where your business has been and the success you have had this is an important practice. With everything going on with our day to day lives it is easy to get lost in the process. By looking at all the deals you were a part of you can use this as a learning experience. You should also take a hard look at the deals you lost and the missteps you may have made. Anybody can make a mistake once but the best investors vow not to make them again. Before you can make adjustments in your business you need to know what has worked and what should be scrapped. Always look back before you look ahead.
- Where Do You Want To Be. Close your eyes and think about where you want your business to be as the ball drops for 2017. As quickly as the last five months came and went the next seven months will go just as fast. Write down all of the goals and aspirations you have and how you are going to achieve them. Make a list of everything you need to do and what people or organizations you need to be a part of. Some of the most successful athletes talk about visualizing their success before it happens. As a real estate investor you can do the same. Think about the best case scenario and what you really want out of the real estate business. It is important not to be afraid to think big and reach for the stars. If you don’t have a game plan of where you want to go and how you are going to get there you will end up bouncing around from deal to deal without any direction.
- Action Plan. Once you establish where you want to go the next step is developing an action plan to make it happen. You can have the best plan in mind but if you don’t act on it you will never know. In most cases the failure to act is not about a lack of motivation but rather the fear of failure. Nobody wants to lose money or be exposed for not knowing the business. However to get to where you want to go you need to step out of your comfort zone and do some things you aren’t always comfortable doing. Next to every goal you have write down the action necessary to achieve it. This could mean joining an investment club or local networking group. It could mean knocking on doors, meeting with local realtors or promoting yourself on social media. The most important thing is the action. Planning will only get you so far. The action you take makes your goals a reality.
- Focus On What’s Important. As you think about where you want to be it is easy getting caught up in the big picture. This is the worst thing you can do. Instead of writing down ten areas you want to improve on or ten markets you want to explore trim your list to just a few. By focusing on what is really important and what you really want you will be more successful. Over the next seven months make it a goal to develop just one new solid contact. Instead of experimenting with several marketing options narrow your focus to just one. By trimming the fat in your business you can see what works and what doesn’t. It is easy to fool yourself that you are working hard by spending time on busy work. Busy does not equal deals. Focus on what’s really important.
- Time Management. One of the biggest adjustments that investors make is with how they spend their day. If they come from a corporate setting no longer is someone looking over their shoulder telling them what to do. While this can be a blessing it can also be a curse. You need to take a look at how you manage your time throughout the day. Do you waste hours every day on tasks that don’t produce a return? Do you take constant breaks to spend time on social media? Is there structure from the minute you wake up until you go to bed? If you are not where you want to be your daily habits and poor time management can be the cause. As you review the last five months ask yourself if this is an area that you can improve on.
The pessimist will tell you that 2016 is almost half over while the optimist will say that there is still plenty of time left in the year. Either way if you are looking to give your business a jumpstart there is no better time than now.
